OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: 5 and 2 Justin who? Hand the Fields to Wilson

[WickedWrister]

Reading a mock draft article on the NFL. The author quotes an anonymous scout as saying "only one guy would have been top 10 last year". My desire to trade this year's 1st for one next year only intensifies.

Bruglers? My takeaway from the mock was that it's a polarizing class lacking in any real consensus outside of the top few guys. Generally agree though that this is a bad year for teams with a top 5 pick needing a QB.

Had us taking a CB round 1:

Would not be shocked to see us take an RB on day 2 as that seems to be a strength of this class as well as a need if Najee walks. Brugler had Kaleb Johnson from Iowa going a pick before us.

 

[WickedWrister]

This doesn’t make any sense. Bateman got hurt DJ is playing for a contract blowing up Bmore means no money next season

I mean he's already got like $30m in the bank, I don't know the guy personally but it's not crazy to think that once he got paid, he stopped giving a shit.

I wish Hard Knocks would've showed him refusing to come into the game lol

 

[xlm34]

You gotta think they take a WR relatively early in the draft. I’m just so curious to see what they do with Pickens. I think there’s a 99.9% chance he’ll “hold in” during camp so they’re gonna have to do something with him.

Talent wise he’s a no brainer to get a big deal. I just don’t know if they’ll want to put up with his antics all that much longer.

 

[pistolpete11]

Huh. It seems like just a month or 2 ago people were raking Khan over the coals for trading DJ.

And for the record, I thought it was mistake to go into the season with these WR and still do, but DJ can go kick rocks.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

You gotta think they take a WR relatively early in the draft. I’m just so curious to see what they do with Pickens. I think there’s a 99.9% chance he’ll “hold in” during camp so they’re gonna have to do something with him.

Talent wise he’s a no brainer to get a big deal. I just don’t know if they’ll want to put up with his antics all that much longer.

Tomlin is openly flirting with Higgins i think they look into signing him and then extending GP and not drafting a wr until day 3

 

[ImporterExporter]

Huh. It seems like just a month or 2 ago people were raking Khan over the coals for trading DJ.

And for the record, I thought it was mistake to go into the season with these WR and still do, but DJ can go kick rocks.

THIS.

I don't want to hear or see any memes or pot shots because 90% of this fanbase thought Johnson for Jackson was Khan getting hosed.

Johnson can't catch, runs backwards, doesn't play through the whistle, and quits on his team. This wasn't/isn't a new phenomenon.

He's a loser.

Khan has been a God send for this org after the final years of Colbert.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Huh. It seems like just a month or 2 ago people were raking Khan over the coals for trading DJ.

And for the record, I thought it was mistake to go into the season with these WR and still do, but DJ can go kick rocks.

It wasn't a mistake to trade DJ, it was a mistake to not replace him. That said, I don't miss him whatsoever. Addition by subtraction IMO.

Pickens as WR1 and Austin as WR3 are perfectly fine, they still need a WR2 though.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Lol Dionte

Even with the massive hole at WR this team has, not having him is addition by subtraction.

I told everyone when we traded him the dude was a quitter.

The guy we got in the trade? He's got 5 INTs
Yea I'd say Carolina got Khan'd

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Bruglers? My takeaway from the mock was that it's a polarizing class lacking in any real consensus outside of the top few guys. Generally agree though that this is a bad year for teams with a top 5 pick needing a QB.

Had us taking a CB round 1:
View attachment 940005

Would not be shocked to see us take an RB on day 2 as that seems to be a strength of this class as well as a need if Najee walks. Brugler had Kaleb Johnson from Iowa going a pick before us.

Just don't think the STeelers go this high at CB. In fact, considering how well Jackson has played my guess is he'll get resigned here.

They'll go DL/WR in some order with their first couple of picks.

Then RB/DB in some order the next picks. Because 1 of Harris/Warren/Patterson won't be back

 

[Peat]

Bruglers? My takeaway from the mock was that it's a polarizing class lacking in any real consensus outside of the top few guys. Generally agree though that this is a bad year for teams with a top 5 pick needing a QB.

Had us taking a CB round 1:
View attachment 940005

Would not be shocked to see us take an RB on day 2 as that seems to be a strength of this class as well as a need if Najee walks. Brugler had Kaleb Johnson from Iowa going a pick before us.

Yeah that one.

The Hairston pick was part of what prompted me to see it this way. That little bio doesn't fill me with excitement. I can live without taking a shot on Hairston for two 1sts next year and a mid-rounder this. Maybe there's some other guys still on the board that are more exciting, I didn't keep reading.

I would add that personally CB seems unlikely to me depending on how the board goes. I think they'll sign Donte Jackson to try and get some year to year stability there for a while. For me, the two biggest targets for a 1st round pick are a DL or WR. DL because that unit isn't all that without Cam and he's on a timer and there's going to be a lot of snaps vacated by Ogunjobi soon enough; WR because this team needs Pickens insurance.

I also think that as things stand, this team drafting a RB is incredibly safe.

 

[ImporterExporter]

It wasn't a mistake to trade DJ, it was a mistake to not replace him. That said, I don't miss him whatsoever. Addition by subtraction IMO.

Pickens as WR1 and Austin as WR3 are perfectly fine, they still need a WR2 though.

Do they? They're 9-3 with a run first OC. We're doing just fine without this mythical #2. I agree an injury to Pickens would hurt certainly but there were more pressing needs like DB, OL, etc.

I'm not writing off Roman Wilson next year or Mike Williams as the year progresses either.

This was one take I never understood with our fanbase.

I've been wrong to some degree on Wilson (thought the OL wouldn't hold up and he'd get killed/pressured into a lot of mistakes) and honestly, can't believe I'm saying this, pleased with how Tomlin has handled this year, for the most part.

But in the end, the only thing that matters is playoff football. Until we win in that arena, I'm not pulling my critiques of MT.

For this franchise, you win in the playoffs within a reasonable timeframe or you should be gone. Going on a decade has been too long a drought. I've given up on them moving on at any point from Tomlin, but I'll never back down on his regular season accolades being overrated, outside of a few years when the QB play was atrocious.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Do they? They're 9-3 with a run first OC. We're doing just fine without this mythical #2. I agree an injury to Pickens would hurt certainly but there were more pressing needs like DB, OL, etc.

I'm not writing off Roman Wilson next year or Mike Williams as the year progresses either.

This was one take I never understood with our fanbase.

I've been wrong to some degree on Wilson (thought the OL wouldn't hold up and he'd get killed/pressured into a lot of mistakes) and honestly, can't believe I'm saying this, pleased with how Tomlin has handled this year, for the most part.

But in the end, the only thing that matters is playoff football. Until we win in that arena, I'm not pulling my critiques of MT.

For this franchise, you win in the playoffs within a reasonable timeframe or you should be gone. Going on a decade has been too long a drought. I've given up on them moving on at any point from Tomlin, but I'll never back down on his regular season accolades being overrated, outside of a few years when the QB play was atrocious.

They were doing just fine with fields at qb and would have won 10 games with him at Qb. They would still be a run 1st offense The reason the team has a chance to win in the playoffs as is is because of Wilson. Pickens Muth and Austin were actually unlocked under RW.

 

[JTG]

DJ quit on his team. Like we haven't seen that before. Trading him for anything was a good deal. Getting a starting CB and a pick was huge.

 

[Peat]

This doesn’t make any sense. Bateman got hurt DJ is playing for a contract blowing up Bmore means no money next season

My theory on how it makes sense for Diontae.

He knows that Baltimore aren't going to give him the platform to put up any sort of numbers. They've got him but don't want to use him. He can go into the game as a break glass option but nothing he can do will keep him from going back behind the glass the moment Baltimore are fit again.

If he can't positively help his cause, he's got a choice between reputational hit of being a malcontent vs potential hit of getting injured and deciding which is worse. Which, when angry about how things are going...

I'd also add that if he'd somehow persuaded Baltimore to cut him, he'd probably be a Chief now. They've been linked to him many times before and they're desperate at WR. Which is why he's suspended and not cut.

I'm curious to see what happens to him this off-season. i can easily see him getting blacklisted and getting crap. I can easily see him getting a decent one year contract from a team that thinks Diontae Johnson's problems is he's been in situations a WR doesn't want to be in for a long time and they'll get reasonable behaviour if they put him in a strong situation.

 

[WickedWrister]

Not exactly breaking news but Jeremy Fowler echoing Rapoport's comments earlier about Smith being viewed favorably in some of these HC job searches

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Not exactly breaking news but Jeremy Fowler echoing Rapoport's comments earlier about Smith being viewed favorably in some of these HC job searches

View attachment 940031

North Carolina is after Summeral from tulane who is bringing his freshman qb with him.
I think smith will only leave for a job with a real Qb and the available coaching opening aren’t great outside of Chicago

 

[Peat]

Not exactly breaking news but Jeremy Fowler echoing Rapoport's comments earlier about Smith being viewed favorably in some of these HC job searches

View attachment 940031

In today's edition of Peat overthinking things, that feels like a really weaselly way of saying it. He's not saying he's heard that teams like the looks of him or have him on their shortlists. He's saying that his conjecture from Smith's response to Pittsburgh about the Tar Heels job suggests his chances of becoming an NFL HC are good, and that he was the Tar Heels' biggest target (but they're a kinda second tier NCAA team, right, not exactly attracting the best of the best and obviously having a dad who could be super booster makes him even more appealing) so obviously people love him...

And none of that seems super solid. None of it's "I'm hearing from my sources around the league that a lot of teams are looking at Smith".

And if journos have fluff pieces on Smith as a HC candidate that don't really seem to come from anywhere, then it feels like the agent is the most obvious source. Which would be worrying if true.

I'll wait for more rumours if they come but if Smith really wants to be a HC again asap, that's not ideal.

 

[MrBrightside]

Finally watched Hard Knocks. Tomlin makes me crazy at times during games and his in-game strategy continues to be an issue, but the leadership and motivation is pretty unparalleled, even in the universe of NFL head coaches.

 

[Peat]

Tis the season