OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: Post Draft - Still dont need no QB

[bigdaddyk88]

DK got kicked out of stadiums for fighting in the nfl used his helmet as a weapon in joint practice takes off games if he isn’t targeted early enough.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

I am so excited about this because they finally have a plan to go for a QB and they are collecting picks.

Tank, tank hard. Hopefully this means that they know Rodgers isn't coming. Though there are some decent WRs still out there. They could sign one of those guys as well. Gabe Davis was just released as well.


Totally disagree with this assessment. Last years WR class was far superior to this year's class. Wilson would have been a high/mid 2nd.

Tanking doesn't really work in the NFL. There are too many positions to fill to easily climb back up the ladder after dumping all your good players.

 

[metalan2]

I just saw the news. Good value for the Steelers, but I'm a little confused. Are the Steelers going all-in or retooling? You don't trade your #1 receiver without having someone to step up (I don't see that happening) or you just drafted someone (they didn't). How do you take a DT / RB in the first / second rounds when you know Pickens is leaving?

That is yet to be seen. You would think they have a plan to recover what they lost with Pickens immediately, but maybe they don't. You can never know with them. I wouldn't be surprised if we just go into the season with this wr Corp.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

That is yet to be seen. You would think they have a plan to recover what they lost with Pickens immediately, but maybe they don't. You can never know with them. I wouldn't be surprised if we just go into the season with this wr Corp.

We sat here all last off-season saying when are the gonna add someone to take DJ’s place.

 

[T1K]

 

[Empoleon8771]

Tomlin's right in this case.

The failure was on Khan for not getting a replacement, not Tomlin for pushing Pickens out.

 

[TooManyHumans]

Kaboly: A Steelers trade that made no sense and all the sense in the world

Mark Kaboly / Steelers Correspondent
For The
@PatMcAfeeShow


PITTSBURGH — When Mike Tomlin feels it's time to move on, you better believe that it’s time to move on.

It quickly got to the point where the squeeze wasn’t worth the juice for the most tenured head coach in North American professional sports, so, well, it was time, even though the timing couldn’t have been worse.

Less than two weeks after not drafting a receiver that would seemingly indicate that the Steelers were going to ride out the final year of George Pickens' rookie deal, the Steelers shipped the talented yet mercurial Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys.

The Steelers got a third-rounder next year and a late-round pick swap in 2027, thus ending a once-promising future in Pittsburgh for another high-round receiver.

It’s a move that could’ve been timed out much better and makes little sense in terms of how the Steelers have went about constructing their offseason roster, especially with Aaron Rodgers still very much in play, but when it is time to go, it’s time to go regardless of talent, worth and compensation.

Make no mistake about it, Tomlin – who has gone out of his way in the past to defend Pickens -- is the one who decided that the Pickens rehabilitation project needed to end a year early.

The ultimate decision had very little to do with general manager Omar Khan (although he signed off on it, too) and of course it was OKd by team owner Art Rooney II.

Pickens didn’t ask for a trade. It was the Steelers who decided to ship him to the Cowboys.

A report out of Dallas, not long after the trade was officially announced, said that Pickens isn’t interested in an extension this year and wants to prove his worth in the final season of his rookie deal before hitting free agency.

If that applies in Dallas, surely that would’ve applied with the Steelers.

And good for him and good for the Steelers and Tomlin.

Now, it might not be good for the Steelers’ offense and coordinator Arthur Smith, but maybe there is something to the narrative of addition by subtraction being thrown around since the trade was announced.

If so, Pickens fits the bill.

The Steelers finally realized that it wasn’t worth the potential distraction from a proven ‘me-first guy’ who has been known to take off plays, not wanting to block for his teammate because he might get hurt, wear eye black with cuss words on them in front of a national televised night game, routinely getting into scuffles with opposing players, and showing up late including to the Christmas Day game against the Chiefs.

Just imagine the stuff we don’t know about with Pickens, yet Tomlin was always there to massage away the distraction.

It is difficult to win a championship, let alone games, for an organization with players like Pickens.

Saying that, this draws a line in the sand now or at least reinforces the line that has been set for a few years now.

The Steelers have pretty much overhauled their roster over the past few years in the way of jettisoning the ‘difficult’ players and putting more of an emphasis on football-loving, good humans.

The decision makers might disagree with that, but malcontents have been replaced by players who want to be part of the team.

If you don’t want to be part of the Steelers, then goodbye. This has happened at many levels of the organization since the end of the 2023 season.

They traded Kenny Pickett after he voiced his displeasure over the signing of Russell Wilson. They traded Diontae Johnson after a myriad of incidents, including a locker room scuffle with Mitch Trubisky and later with Minkah Fitzpatrick, giving up on plays, and criticizing officials.

Chase Claypool was traded after some me-first stuff, Chuks Okorafor was released the first chance the Steelers got after the tackle was benched during the 2023 season for insubordination.

And even Najee Harris, to a lesser degree than the others, was a victim as he wasn’t even offered so much as the fifth-year option to return, and they let him go to the Chargers this offseason.

If the Steelers are not suddenly making a concerted effort to weed out the bad seeds and replace them with known good guys, then it’s a great coincidence.

What makes this one a little more palatable, yet still head-scratching, is that the Steelers traded for DK Metcalf in the offseason and have more upside in their receiver room with Calvin Austin III, the recently signed veteran Robert Woods, and last year’s 84th overall pick, Roman Wilson.

“You need more than one receiver in this league …,” Khan said at the Annual League Meeting in March.

Moving on from the mercurial Pickens seemed like a plausible course of action after dropping a franchise-record $150 million on Metcalf that all but anointed him the unquestioned No. 1 receiver on the depth chart heading into the season and beyond.

Many outside the organization assumed that would signal the end of Pickens’ time with the Steelers.

For reasons that spanned that it would now make Pickens expendable to recoup the second-round pick they gave up in the trade to acquire Metcalf, down the list to eliminate any possible distraction that might come along with Pickens playing on a lame duck contract.

The Steelers denied that every chance they got. They were interested in putting together a roster that included Metcalf and Pickens and seeing where it took them.

They never had any inclination to extend him this year, and Pickens was willing to play it out.

"I've talked to (Pickens) a decent amount this offseason,” tight end Pat Freiermuth told me last month. “GP's a great guy, he's good to have in the locker room. Obviously, stuff happens on the field, but that's just part of football and being a competitor. He cares, he tries a lot, he works hard. He's a hell of a talent as well.”

Not long before that, Tomlin threw support Pickens' way while comparing Pickens and Metcalf.

“They’re both downfield capable, but they're different people,” Tomlin said. “We'll figure that out, but that's not a problem as I see it. These guys want to be significant reasons why we're successful, guys that have the talent to do so, I'll stand in line for those issues.”

Something changed Tomlin’s mind between then and now. It’s either that or he’s a pretty good liar.

The only thing that can be criticized about this trade is the timing and I know, that’s a big one.

Not a bad word would be said if this happened before the draft, but if a fourth-round pick turned into a third-round pick because they held off, then that’s a win, too.

The Steelers and Tomlin are sending a clear message: Get on board or get out. Or as he has routinely said: “We want volunteers, not hostages.”

Tomlin may have finally realized that his trite volunteers-not-hostages quip wasn’t effective without consequences.

This consequence might hurt them in the short term, but it very well could be a blessing, especially during next year’s quarterback-rich draft, and they have 12 picks to move up and get one.

The Steelers aren't better today than they were yesterday.

That's indisputable.

But short-term misery could lead to long-term success.

'how the Steelers have went about constructing their offseason roster'

This guy is a writer for a living? Ugh.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Tomlin's right in this case.

The failure was on Khan for not getting a replacement, not Tomlin for pushing Pickens out.

Yes cause Khan talked about extending him and getting more play makers. Khan traded DJ and never got a wr 2 to replace him.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

'how the Steelers have went about constructing their offseason roster'

This guy is a writer for a living? Ugh.

And it’s abbreviation, havewn’t.

The sentence/paragraph that begins “For reasons…” isn’t even a sentence.

 

[nsvoyageurs]

So our WR room is essentially what it was last year only we are paying a lot more for it and turned this year's 2nd round pick into a 3rd next year. I don't see the point. If they are going this route then they shouldn't have bothered trading for DK or pursuing Rodgers, they should have traded Watt and Minkah, and they should have drafted some WRs. I don't mind planning for the future at all but this half-assed approach makes no sense.

Their plan in the last few years (or at least since Roethlisberger retired) has been to piece it together, keep the non-losing season streak going and hope to get hot at the right time for a playoff run, which is basically no plan at all, more wishful thinking.

If this organization is finally going to do the right thing for the future, something they should've been doing for years, trading Watt/Fitzpatrick, etc., then I'm all for it. But, I'll believe it if I see it. They aren't winning anything in the near future.

 

[Factorial]

Their plan in the last few years (or at least since Roethlisberger retired) has been to piece it together, keep the non-losing season streak going and hope to get hot at the right time for a playoff run, which is basically no plan at all, more wishful thinking.

If this organization is finally going to do the right thing for the future, something they should've been doing for years, trading Watt/Fitzpatrick, etc., then I'm all for it. But, I'll believe it if I see it. They aren't winning anything in the near future.

You honestly believe at meetings in the off season that they have discussions based on "finishing with a winning record" as the goal? Come on. The winning season bit was created and perpetrated by the sports media. I see far more references to the winning season streak from Tomlin haters. And no, I don't love Tomlin and wish they would move on.

 

[lastcupever75]

It's the best part of the season, anything's possible

The Rams staying good wouldn't surprise me. The Falcons... as far as I can tell, there's not a lot of great pass rushers right out of the gate. They've retooled their defence a lot, but it might take time to go. I'm not 100% sold on Penix either. I guess them picking in the 20s wouldn't surprise me, but I'd probably bet on them being closer to 10 than not if it came to it. If I'm looking for reasons they can't be in the clown car this season, I'm not seeing many.

Yeah. 10 to me is probably the floor for them. Penix might have some question marks but cousins was awful late in the year. He has some talent to work with at the skill positions too

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Blokes going on about Roman Wilson like they've seen that wanker in any game action in the NFL. f***ing bloke was injured for the entire season and when he was ready, it was well into the typical Tomlin Shit Show period of each season like always.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

What a f***ing moron, he absolutely has no idea how to hold players accountable properly or guide them and keep a room together. So anytime a player is frustrated because we have a dipshit OC or the coach does something absolutely stupid with his decisions, he just throws players under the bus as the problem and rinses his hands clean. I had no problem with GP, honestly he wants the ball, most of the best WR's do, yeah he got hot headed a few times, but that's when a coach is supposed to sort that out and be a f***ing leader, Mike only pretends to be one and it will always remain f***ing bizarre to me that anyone thinks he's some amazing coach and want to play for him.

Claypool and Diontae, sure they were problematic and both sucked. But George Pickens absolutely does not suck and he will do well in Dallas and I really hope this backfires heavily for Mental Mike and his stupid f***ing quotes and shitty coaching decisions.

We cast off one dumb f*** Mike, one more to go.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Tomlin's right in this case.

The failure was on Khan for not getting a replacement, not Tomlin for pushing Pickens out.

No, the failure is on Mike for the way he pandered to Russ when he should have gone back to Fields and the idiotic run to set up a pass bullshit by Fart Smith when it was clear the run was not going to work against several opponents.

Khan enabling Tomlin with moving out players he refuses to actually be a leader to is hilarious, especially when the blame is going to everyone but Tomlin.

Spoiler Alert - DK is just as big of an ego as GP and an even bigger hot head, what makes you think Dumbf*** Mike is going to handle this well too? It has the makings of another bloke Mike can't handle because he has no idea how to, which then becomes another "failure on Khan..."

f*** both of them. To finally have a #1 and #2 as good as DK and GP to absolutely shit all over it because of Tomlin is a f***ing joke, because the fact that they still keep going after a f***ing loser like Rodgers is also because of Mike. Mike hopes A-Aron can bail his stupid ass out, he f***ed up with the Fields thing, royally.

We would have been perfectly fine with Fields at QB, still get Howard in the draft, and also have DK and GP as his targets. Now back to square one for WR depth, QB depth is a bigger f***ing mystery and their hopes hinge on a f***ing cancerous twat signing to be the QB, it's absolutely hilarious. Rodgers throws everyone under the bus, he's the biggest cancer to his teams especially late into his career. DK and GP wouldn't have been the issue with that wanker as the QB, he would be the single biggest one.

 

[nsvoyageurs]

You honestly believe at meetings in the off season that they have discussions based on "finishing with a winning record" as the goal? Come on. The winning season bit was created and perpetrated by the sports media. I see far more references to the winning season streak from Tomlin haters. And no, I don't love Tomlin and wish they would move on.

Based on their actions, it wouldn't surprise me. Not everyone here will agree. They've had a short slighted mentality for years.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

I mean with what just transpired today, it's more evidence that I'm correct

This is the 4th WR in a row the Steelers have had to trade for behavior reasons: AB, Chase Claypool, Dionte Johnson, and now Pickens. People blow Tomlin for "managing" those guys to get the production he did. Except he didn't manage shit, he kept them happy by enabling them. Those guys all failed with other teams because the HC wouldn't tolerate their bullshit.

It's precisely that lack of discipline and commitment to excellence why Tomlin has won just 3 playoff games in 13 years, and none the last 8.

Again, you throw some talented but undisciplined assholes together you can win some games. But those guys never win anything of consequence.


I've said it before. Tomlin inherited the absolute best possible team any coach could hope for in any sport. Without that, he's done in this league as a coach after 5-6 years and a couple of teams.

And he's going to leave an absolute dumpster fire for the next coach. Not a single assistant worth a damn (maybe Danny). And a handful of players, at best, worth trying to build a core and culture around.

I see a lot of projection and feelings but nothing at all on the topic. This team has been average to good (depending on the year) for 6 years without a QB. You put a good QB on this team and they almost certainly have playoff wins.

Now the fact that they dont have a QB is completely their fault. But acting like the majority of NFL success is anything but talent at the right positions is just silly.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

You honestly believe at meetings in the off season that they have discussions based on "finishing with a winning record" as the goal? Come on. The winning season bit was created and perpetrated by the sports media. I see far more references to the winning season streak from Tomlin haters. And no, I don't love Tomlin and wish they would move on.

No in the off season they talk about championships. In season they trade a 5th for a wr and a 7th for a depth line backer

 

[plaidchuck]

Seemed like the team culture took a nose dive when Dan Rooney left. But even with him there was the Harrison/Watson fiasco.

 

[Peat]

Just re the WR room... what if they go after Amari Cooper? His numbers look like he's still a pretty darn good WR once you account for last season being weird for him. So good that I don't understand why he's still unsigned, what's the catch? Keenan Allen has a good enough season that I wouldn't be opposed to a one year offer either.

The rest of FA looks boring, but those two would be legit. If they don't go after one of those guys now, that's either seem real weird stuff or a big old vote in Roman.


Also re what all this means for Tomlin and his performance... I feel like that depends what question you ask. Are you asking did Tomlin get the most out of these guys, or are you asking did Tomlin get what the team needed out of these guys and draft picks?

And hell, what did the team need out of them? Pickens is currently 3rd in his class for receiving yards and 6th for TDs. That's a pretty good return for a 2nd rounder/11th WR taken, Now they're noping out of him to get something pretty close to his pick value back prior to him being on his second contract. Is that good enough, or do the Steelers needing to be keeping one of these guys for longer?

I think all of those positions would be pretty reasonable and change how you think about the situation. If you just want Tomlin to get rookie value out of the WRs in a pump and dump strategy, then he's done a job. If you think he's going to be hunting for stars, for home run hits, then he's not getting what the team needs.

Me, I see it both ways, but I do feel that at this point of the team's life cycle, pump and dump dudes with character concerns make less sense. This isn't a high powered offence where those guys can be kept happy and in line because there's a lot of big name, big skill players around. This is a rebuilding process and you're looking for guys to build around. I hope Tomlin is adapting his process some for the this new reality.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Drew Allar in 2026 is going to suck, hard.

Will Levis 2.0

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Cooper and Allen were free agents when they signed Woods. Cooper did nothing in buffalo and dallas wasn’t interested in bringing him back. Allen is a slot guy who stated many times he only wants to play for the bears or chargers

 

[Factorial]

Cooper and Allen were free agents when they signed Woods. Cooper did nothing in buffalo and dallas wasn’t interested in bringing him back. Allen is a slot guy who stated many times he only wants to play for the bears or chargers

Does the 2025 NFL season begin tomorrow?

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Does the 2025 NFL season begin tomorrow?

We literally saw them trade DJ on January and not get a wr 2 until DK the following year. Maybe khan learned his lesson

 

[Peat]

Cooper and Allen were free agents when they signed Woods. Cooper did nothing in buffalo and dallas wasn’t interested in bringing him back. Allen is a slot guy who stated many times he only wants to play for the bears or chargers

9.3 Y/T, 2 TDs on 32 targets, 53.1% successful play rate... yeah, he didn't play a ton in Buffalo, probably because he was getting up to speed on the playbook, but when he played his numbers were solid and in line with his previous season with Cleveland.