OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: Its January and we are still talking about Handball!?! Currently 10-6

[Zirakzigil]

Definitely not in the first round. I'm ok with using a up to a 2nd round pick on a RB if someone like a Caleb Johnson falls that far. This is a very deep draft for RBs and it feels like there will be very good players in Round 3-4. For reference, last year, there were 6 backs rated 83.0 or higher on NFL DraftBuzz, this year there are 15. PFF had like 2 guys in the Top 80 last year, this year they have 7.

Same with DL, last year there was a dearth, this year is a bumper year for guys in the late 1st through 3rd round. The Steelers should lean into those strengths.

But we all are in agreement, WR, DL, CB, RB are the primary needs of the team. I'd throw G in there as well. So they need to spend some money this offseason to fix some of those positions.

My preference, would be to sign a G and CB in free agency. I think they could bring back Jackson on a reasonable deal (6-7mil AAV) and sign another guy like Davis from DET or Byron Murphy from the Vikings.

And then for Guard. Man if Trey Smith makes it to FA. The Steelers should go hard after him. He is only 25 and has four years starting at RG and at a high level. If the Steelers really wanna be this run first, play action team then they need to lean into it. All the other guys are on rookie deals, pay Smith 20-22mil AAV and you are still not spending that much on your O-line.

In parallel they need to sign a decent WR, at least a guy making 8-15mil. I like Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. Big, 6-3" 220, good blocker and knows how to score TDs. Can play in the slot or outside. Plus he stays healthy.

Then head into the draft and take the best guy at WR or DL in the first. Don't reach!



McMillan has zero chance of making it out of the top 10. He is one of the Elite players in this draft. Burden III could be there, same with Egbuka.

Have to wonder about how people see Egbuka with Jeremiah Smith blowing up. That being said, I like his game a lot and he would never make it to the 2nd round pick. So.....

Another interesting pick would be a TE. I know they just signed Muth, but if they want to run alot of 12 or 13 personnel. Then another top end TE may make sense. Whether Warren or Loveland make it that far is probably 50/50. Nad a really good receiving TE can be just as good as a WR, just look at Bowers, LaPorta, Kelce etc. But if they don't that means other good players are sliding.

I was basing it on McMillan being 15OVR in the latest ESPN rankings I could find. I kind of agree with you, which is why I called it iffy. It's possible he slips like Quentin Johnson did a few years ago. Not impossible if we have our usual 1st rd exit.

I think Egbuka is really underrated. Depends on where our 1st ends up landing though.

I would probably be fine with that, but the problem with going into FA to fill CB spot is that the good ones are going to be in their late 20's which means you're lucky if they have another season or 2 before they start aging out. It shouldn't take until Week 18 to work out the communication issues, but still, it would be nice to have some stability for a while.

I'm not going to get too demanding about how they fill the incipient WR/RB/DL/DB holes because obviously you've got to work with what the shop has got, but I would prefer it if they could solve some of the DL/DB stuff in the draft because the defensive side of the ball needs to get younger and build a post-Watt/Heyward plan.

I'd also add that I'd support a double dip at both positions (or keeping Ogunjobi and drafting a DL high). I don't think the DL is where we want it to be right now and DB ideally needs a boundary CB and a slot guy (or maybe even a slot/FS guy). I don't know whether it can be done, it probably can't, but that'd be the ideal.

And, much as I want them to beef up the offensive side of the ball, I do think that to a certain extent they've played most of their cards there and it's now a matter of seeing how they develop.

Another factor will be what they decide to do with Pickens. If they decide he's not worth the headache, they MUST either sign Higgins, make a trade, or use their first on a WR. Maybe even trade up for a WR if necessary.

If they keep Pickens for at least another year, I think they could sign one of the lesser FA or use a 2nd. The 1st would still be on the table, though.

Frankly, Pickens attitude the last couple of weeks has shifted my opinion somewhat. I could be onboard for trading him for a pick(s), drafting a WR in R1, and then using the pick(s) from the trade to build up other holes. I don't know what his value would be, though. I don't think he'd bring back a 1st, but if you could get a 2nd+3rd or something?

I think the issue is that we don't know how quickly a highly drafted CB will be a good NFLer. I'm not against drafting a CB high but I think they need more immediate CB help than what a high pick would likely give him. Even with Porter being good immediately, he has had some issues himself.

I'd prefer to get a more proven veteran CB1/2 to pair with Porter than rely on another young guy with growing pains, especially in the context of Porter's struggles this year.



I don't see how this is the case. Yes, they've drafted a full OL and need to let it develop, but they've completely neglected the WR position.

I don't mind not drafting a RB because you can sign another guy like Warren and run with that guy and Warren, but not drafting a WR in the 1st round would be inexcusable IMO.

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[Empoleon8771]

I definitely don't mean this as a defense of their QB room from last season, but it's going to be kinda funny if going from Pickett, Trubisky and Rudolph to Fields and Wilson only improves them by 1 win despite the pretty significant improvement at QB there.

Just shows how there are other huge issues on this team outside of QB.

 

[pistolpete11]

@Empoleon8771

I think the issue is that we don't know how quickly a highly drafted CB will be a good NFLer. I'm not against drafting a CB high but I think they need more immediate CB help than what a high pick would likely give him. Even with Porter being good immediately, he has had some issues himself.

I'd prefer to get a more proven veteran CB1/2 to pair with Porter than rely on another young guy with growing pains, especially in the context of Porter's struggles this year.

I don't disagree it's hard to rely on CB right away, but that's always going to be the case. So the sooner you can get another one in here, the better, even if it means you sign a veteran as insurance as well.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

I definitely don't mean this as a defense of their QB room from last season, but it's going to be kinda funny if going from Pickett, Trubisky and Rudolph to Fields and Wilson only improves them by 1 win despite the pretty significant improvement at QB there.

Just shows how there are other huge issues on this team outside of QB.

We have got 7 more td passes between JF and RW than those 3 combined. We have 20 passing tds from RW and JF

 

[Empoleon8771]

We have got 7 more td passes between JF and RW than those 3 combined. We have 20 passing tds from RW and JF

Yeah but this team is probably only going to go from 9-8 to 10-7 despite that pretty significant improvement from the QB position.

 

[Peat]

@Empoleon8771 - the key word in that last post of mine was "most". Yes, they need WR help. They need to replace Harris and tbh, I think Warren is not good enough to be the 1A back of a team that wants to run as much as this. There's also questions about OT depth and maybe they should consider TE...

But even with all that, there's still going to be a lot of draft picks and cap space left over for defence.

I definitely don't mean this as a defense of their QB room from last season, but it's going to be kinda funny if going from Pickett, Trubisky and Rudolph to Fields and Wilson only improves them by 1 win despite the pretty significant improvement at QB there.

Just shows how there are other huge issues on this team outside of QB.

Eh. I was always dubious as to how significant an improvement it was.

But yes. Plenty of issues. Some improved a little from last season to this, some actually managed to get worse. And also some gigantic strengths that Tomlin does a great job of leveraging to a honestly very impressive record for what the team is... but where's the improvement? Two games minimum left to show it.

 

[xlm34]

Yeah but this team is probably only going to go from 9-8 to 10-7 despite that pretty significant improvement from the QB position.

They beat the bad teams by more than they used to, but the performance against the good teams isn’t really that much better than what they used to get. Which to be fair is for various reasons.

 

[Empoleon8771]

@Empoleon8771 - the key word in that last post of mine was "most". Yes, they need WR help. They need to replace Harris and tbh, I think Warren is not good enough to be the 1A back of a team that wants to run as much as this. There's also questions about OT depth and maybe they should consider TE...

But even with all that, there's still going to be a lot of draft picks and cap space left over for defence.



Eh. I was always dubious as to how significant an improvement it was.

But yes. Plenty of issues. Some improved a little from last season to this, some actually managed to get worse. And also some gigantic strengths that Tomlin does a great job of leveraging to a honestly very impressive record for what the team is... but where's the improvement? Two games minimum left to show it.

See it was a significant improvement though. Both Fields and Wilson had good statistical seasons and the Steelers passing game ranked out pretty well overall. The only stat they didn't rate out well was in yards/game, but that's because they were 29th in pass attempts. Not only that, but you extrapolate Wilson's season into a full season, they'd also be 10th in yards/game.

They were pretty consistently in the 10th-15th range for stats like Y/A (13th), AY/A (12th), Y/C (11th), passer rating (12th), TD% (14th) and INT% (5th). In 2023, the Steelers tended to be in the 20th-25th range for those stats, and that was with having a better WR room as well.

It seems weird to say this because I didn't think Wilson was that incredible, but the Steelers got a borderline top-10 QB performance out of Wilson this year statistically.

 

[pistolpete11]

A lot of their wins last year were fluky. I don't know that I'd say that about any of the games this year.

 

[pistolpete11]

Yeah but this team is probably only going to go from 9-8 to 10-7 despite that pretty significant improvement from the QB position.

FYI, they went 10-7 last year, so they could end up with the same record.

 

[Peat]

They beat the bad teams by more than they used to, but the performance against the good teams isn’t really that much better than what they used to get. Which to be fair is for various reasons.

They played more atrocious teams this year from the looks of it, which is probably part of it. Last year the only sub 5 win team they faced was the Pats, and that game was wasted on Trubisky. This year they got the Giants, the Jets, the Browns twice, the Raiders... good year to make hay.

See it was a significant improvement though. Both Fields and Wilson had good statistical seasons and the Steelers passing game ranked out pretty well overall. The only stat they didn't rate out well was in yards/game, but that's because they were 29th in pass attempts. Not only that, but you extrapolate Wilson's season into a full season, they'd also be 10th in yards/game.

They were pretty consistently in the 10th-15th range for stats like Y/A (13th), AY/A (12th), Y/C (11th), passer rating (12th), TD% (14th) and INT% (5th). In 2023, the Steelers tended to be in the 20th-25th range for those stats, and that was with having a better WR room as well.

It seems weird to say this because I didn't think Wilson was that incredible, but the Steelers got a borderline top-10 QB performance out of Wilson this year statistically.

Oh, I was talking about talent. I know people will argue but I always put most of it on Canada.

Yeah, the numbers are a ton better. Think we were at cross purposes there.

 

[Empoleon8771]

A lot of their wins last year were fluky. I don't know that I'd say that about any of the games this year.

Yeah that's a good point, they won a bunch of games late by a field goal last year and got blown out when they lost. They've been winning more handily with their wins this year.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Yeah but this team is probably only going to go from 9-8 to 10-7 despite that pretty significant improvement from the QB position.

They were 10-7 last year

 

[JTG]

See it was a significant improvement though. Both Fields and Wilson had good statistical seasons and the Steelers passing game ranked out pretty well overall. The only stat they didn't rate out well was in yards/game, but that's because they were 29th in pass attempts. Not only that, but you extrapolate Wilson's season into a full season, they'd also be 10th in yards/game.

They were pretty consistently in the 10th-15th range for stats like Y/A (13th), AY/A (12th), Y/C (11th), passer rating (12th), TD% (14th) and INT% (5th). In 2023, the Steelers tended to be in the 20th-25th range for those stats, and that was with having a better WR room as well.

It seems weird to say this because I didn't think Wilson was that incredible, but the Steelers got a borderline top-10 QB performance out of Wilson this year statistically.

I do not think Russ is washed at all, like people said. I think he is slowing down, and they definitely didn't help him giving him one receiver. He has desperately been working to make Austin into something and last game was the first game where I thought Austin looked like a legit #3 pass catching option.

And I'll just say, Russ is corny. Parts of his game are beyond infuriating, but that dude has been great for this organization and city. If Austin develops, I give Russ a bunch of credit there. If Fields develops, I would give Russ a bunch of credit there. The things he has done in city itself has been incredible. He's EVERYWHERE. He's opening schools and centers and parks and constantly visiting hospitals and centers. He's a good dude and he's great for the city.

Part of me wants to see him re-signed, but another part of me wants them to rip the band-aid off for the QB class of 26.

 

[End of Line]

I’m just expecting a fat L tonight. Yes, Cinci’s D is bad, but we also gave up nearly 40 points to them a month ago and they’re scorching hot right now.

The amount of locker room dysfunction that’s been bubbling again which is just a theme of Tomlin’s teams at this point is too hard to ignore. Then there’s the diva who wears #14. The house of cards is being blown away in the wind. Year after year they just just repeat the definition of insanity. Which is the real “The Standard is the Standard” word salad bullshit.

 

[cookthebooks]

i don’t care if he’s a diva i love pickens. dude wants to win so badly and is always front and center celebrating his teammates big plays

 

[xlm34]

I’m not sure what else he’d say but I’d like to see Fields back in some capacity next year. Not sure how the math would work out, but I think you could give both Wilson and Fields contracts that are structured so the cap hits are low in year one with easy outs in future years.

I don’t want them to go into next year with something like a Wilson/Kyle Allen QB room and working with Fields another year seems way more appealing than any of the draft options.

 

[Empoleon8771]

They need to keep both Wilson and Fields and expand on the role Fields had in the second half of the year. Fields' legs are a massive threat offensively and they need to integrate him in the offense more.

There's no reason to not keep both Wilson and Fields, the 2025 QB draft class stinks.

 

[pistolpete11]

I don't think it's a stretch to say Fields is the best backup QB in the NFL. It's a no-brainer to keep him....depending on cost.

 

[Peat]

Part of me wants to see him re-signed, but another part of me wants them to rip the band-aid off for the QB class of 26.

Nothing stopping them for re-signing him and going hard at the 26 QB class except maybe their own philosophies


Also re Fields... well, yeah, it's a no brainer depending on cost and role. But I'd mostly be hoping someone is offering him a better role than the Steelers.

edit: I'm just going to clarify that. I'm not going to gripe that much if he's brought back as next year's starter in isolation. I doubt the Steelers get a starter who is definitely better. The only way that happens is Darnold better real deal at a very considerable risk... and also a very considerable chunk of cap for someone who I suspect is not truly good enough. I won't be that angry if they do bet on him to make the best out of the last years of Watt either. It's a low odds shot, but so is everything else at this point.

I will worry a bit about them intending to tie themselves to Fields for a while if that happens, and grumble if it comes to pass without a radical upshift.

And perhaps influenced by that, he's not my first choice for a starter, and I'd hope someone else offers him a starter role. I'd also add that there'd be a touch of worry about them intending to tie themselves to Fields for a while if he took a back-up role too, depending on what contract they give the starter (presumably Wilson) in this case.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Shoot for a qb in 26. Tank for Arch?

 

[Goalie_Bob]

Shoot for a qb in 26. Tank for Arch?

They will never tank on purpose. AR II will never let it happen. It’s why he loves Tomlin.

Tomlin keeps the team “competitive” and in the hunt to the last games of the season and thus keeps the stadium filled.

That’s all he cares about since the team is his business.

For them to get a top ten pick it would have to arrive organically probably through several key members of the team having season long injuries and someone like Kyle Allen starting 14 of 17 games.

Just feels like teams give up a lot sooner than they used to. Look at this season, 9 teams have 4 wins or less. That’s like a third of the league.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

I do not think Russ is washed at all, like people said. I think he is slowing down, and they definitely didn't help him giving him one receiver. He has desperately been working to make Austin into something and last game was the first game where I thought Austin looked like a legit #3 pass catching option.

And I'll just say, Russ is corny. Parts of his game are beyond infuriating, but that dude has been great for this organization and city. If Austin develops, I give Russ a bunch of credit there. If Fields develops, I would give Russ a bunch of credit there. The things he has done in city itself has been incredible. He's EVERYWHERE. He's opening schools and centers and parks and constantly visiting hospitals and centers. He's a good dude and he's great for the city.

Part of me wants to see him re-signed, but another part of me wants them to rip the band-aid off for the QB class of 26.

When it comes to bringing back RW it’s going to be about cost. He doesn’t have 3 years left and not even sure he has 2 years left. On a team that wants to be heavily play action you need a Qb who can attack the in breaking routes and seems that’s not his strength. He is going to eat sacks because he is always hunting the deep ball teams know he will not take the intermediate pass that’s available to him. His mind is willing but body isn’t capable of extending plays like he used to. He had 1 wr in Denver he used and they did a lot of max protection te delays. If he wants 3/100 let him walk. You don’t want to be like Atlanta and cutting him after next season eating dead money

 

[Peat]

They will never tank on purpose. AR II will never let it happen. It’s why he loves Tomlin.

Tomlin keeps the team “competitive” and in the hunt to the last games of the season and thus keeps the stadium filled.

That’s all he cares about since the team is his business.

For them to get a top ten pick it would have to arrive organically probably through several key members of the team having season long injuries and someone like Kyle Allen starting 14 of 17 games.

Just feels like teams give up a lot sooner than they used to. Look at this season, 9 teams have 4 wins or less. That’s like a third of the league.

I dunno about that. Last season had 4 teams with that record. 2020 had 6 iirc. I think it just comes and goes and this season has a whacky number of teams that are dealing with really bad decisions that had hamstrung them.

But I absolutely agree with the rest.


Also, re tank talk, it's not guaranteed Manning even comes out in 2026. Among the things I've learned about the NFL is that while you can look at a year and say "this isn't the year to draft a guy", you can't say "but next year will be". NIL will only make that more so.

 

[The Old Master]

Yeah that's a good point, they won a bunch of games late by a field goal last year and got blown out when they lost. They've been winning more handily with their wins this year.

the new punters should have gotten you as much as that