OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: Sneaking up onto training camp

[MrBrightside]

Muth entered last season as the 6th best te in fantasy. His rookie season was historic and he was pacing to be surpass Miller as our franchise leading te.

It's the NFL, not fantasy football, and he's a mediocre-at-best blocker who gets hurt a lot. He's fine. But stop acting like he's more than he is.

 

[xlm34]

Yep lol…

'What Are You Believing In?': NFL Executives Rank Steelers As One Of AFC's Worst Teams

The hope for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season is that they win a playoff game for the first time since 2016. With a Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Russell Wilson, a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith, and an improved defense, there’s a chance it could happen. But NFL executives...

steelersdepot.com

I don’t think this team will be great or anything but I cannot see any way this team is worse than the Broncos.

 

[pistolpete11]

They basically guarenteed his money this year. So if he falls off/retires, they won't get hit with a cap penalty.
Initially I was furious they extended him but if you look at the cap implications, little risk for the Steelers.

They weren't going to cut him this year, though, so wasn't his money basically guaranteed anyway? Don't really see what's in it for Heyward. Whatever. Doesn't really matter.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

It's the NFL, not fantasy football, and he's a mediocre-at-best blocker who gets hurt a lot. He's fine. But stop acting like he's more than he is.

If he was a blocker it would cost more than 13 million. Godert Andrews Kelce kittle Hockerson make over 13 million they can flex him out like Engram

 

[Khelandros]

People letting Ryder do to this thread what he does to the Penguins threads is a poor use of time.

The ignore button is a magical thing.

 

[MrBrightside]

If he was a blocker it would cost more than 13 million. Godert Andrews Kelce kittle Hockerson make over 13 million they can flex him out like Engram

Thank you for talking in a great big circle to ultimately agree with my original point that he's a good but not great player and the idea that he's some big priority is silly.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

I don’t think you can say you’re rebuilding when you have no young QB starting games…when you go out and pick up a former SB QB at age 35, and with 3 top D players on the back few years of their career, it seems more like you’re trying to win now than rebuild…also, going after Aiyuk is not the mark of a rebuilding team

Aiyuk was a long term answer. They are 31st in wr spending and 28th in qb spending. In a perfect world JF is our Darnold in 25. They aren’t trying to win now.
Signing Dak in Fa is a win now move

Thank you for talking in a great big circle to ultimately agree with my original point that he's a good but not great player and the idea that he's some big priority is silly.

He is our 2nd wr right now. Paying him 12.5 million makes him the 8th paid te

 

[MrBrightside]

I don’t think this team will be great or anything but I cannot see any way this team is worse than the Broncos.

Yeah this is silly. This isn't a great team but if they get even competent QB play it's at worst a middle of the pack team and quite possibly a playoff team.

 

[Ryder71]

I don't think we can draw any conclusions as this team hasn't played a game yet! I know the offense looked like world beaters in last years preseason but when it counted they were among the worst offenses in the league. I myself am cautiously optimistic as I think our QB room collectively is decidedly better. I also believe we've had two good drafts in a row and expect the 2hd year guys to really ascend in their roles.

 

[pistolpete11]

I don’t think this team will be great or anything but I cannot see any way this team is worse than the Broncos.

I agree with most of the criticisms of the Steelers. I'm not a believer in Russ or Fields being the guy. The WR is probably the worst in the league. They will hopefully have a rookie LT, a rookie C, and a struggling second year RT. A new OC.

Thing is.....it's still better than what they had last year. The defense alone will keep them in a lot of games and I just can't imagine being worse than they were last year on offense.

 

[xlm34]

I agree with most of the criticisms of the Steelers. I'm not a believer in Russ or Fields being the guy. The WR is probably the worst in the league. They will hopefully have a rookie LT, a rookie C, and a struggling second year RT. A new OC.

Thing is.....it's still better than what they had last year. The defense alone will keep them in a lot of games and I just can't imagine being worse than they were last year on offense.

Yeah I definitely think offense, particularly their passing offense, puts a ceiling on what they can achieve this year. But we’ve see worse Steelers teams than this make the playoffs. On paper, it’s probably one of the better rosters they’ve had for a while.

Until they prove otherwise, I’m not going to bet on them bottoming out.

 

[T1K]

A lot of TEs across the league get paid pretty well before they produce much - take for example Njoku, Fant, Colby Parkinson. It’s one of those positions in high demand, so you need to take a leap of faith before you “see it” most times. I’m pretty confident Muth is good, but I don’t see much reason to extend him now with Pickens and QB extensions looming.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

A lot of TEs across the league get paid pretty well before they produce much - take for example Njoku, Fant, Colby Parkinson. It’s one of those positions in high demand, so you need to take a leap of faith before you “see it” most times. I’m pretty confident Muth is good, but I don’t see much reason to extend him now with Pickens and QB extensions looming.

What Qb extensions?

 

[ChaosAgent]

I agree with most of the criticisms of the Steelers. I'm not a believer in Russ or Fields being the guy. The WR is probably the worst in the league. They will hopefully have a rookie LT, a rookie C, and a struggling second year RT. A new OC.

Thing is.....it's still better than what they had last year. The defense alone will keep them in a lot of games and I just can't imagine being worse than they were last year on offense.

I don't know if it's better than the Sulli-Faulk-Rudolph offense though.

 

[Empoleon8771]

A lot of TEs across the league get paid pretty well before they produce much - take for example Njoku, Fant, Colby Parkinson. It’s one of those positions in high demand, so you need to take a leap of faith before you “see it” most times. I’m pretty confident Muth is good, but I don’t see much reason to extend him now with Pickens and QB extensions looming.

I think they have enough cap space where this isn't much of a worry. I also wouldn't rule out Wilson and Fields being poor enough that they wouldn't be retained or they would be retained as a cheap stopgap.

I think it's pretty likely overall that neither is good enough to cost a significant amount of money. If I had to place a bet on how the QB situation goes out, I'd probably say:

-Both Wilson and Fields ends up mid to poor for the Steelers
-The Steelers commit low money to either Fields or Wilson to be the veteran stopgap for next year (similar to Trubisky from a few years ago)
-They draft a QB in either round 1 or 2 in 2025 to sit behind whichever of Fields or Wilson is retained as the stopgap

 

[WickedWrister]

ESPN (Barnwell) has us out of the playoffs. Nothing really revolutionary is this write up, but he does mention our 9-2 record in one score games last year being unrepeatable. Also has the Texans and Browns missing out.

 

[xlm34]

ESPN (Barnwell) has us out of the playoffs. Nothing really revolutionary is this write up, but he does mention our 9-2 record in one score games last year being unrepeatable. Also has the Texans and Browns missing out.

View attachment 905007

At a certain point, I think people have to just start recognizing that for whatever reason Tomlin’s teams are better than normal in close games.

 

[WickedWrister]

At a certain point, I think people have to just start recognizing that for whatever reason Tomlin’s teams are better than normal in close games.

98-61-2 in one score games, tied with Tony Dungy for the highest win percentage

Literal Steelers propaganda but there's some cool stats in here

 

[Empoleon8771]

At a certain point, I think people have to just start recognizing that for whatever reason Tomlin’s teams are just better than normal in close games.

Yeah to expand on this point:

-2023: 9-2
-2022: 7-5
-2021: 8-2-1
-2020: 7-2
-2019: 6-5

Granted I do think the 9-2 record in one score games won't last, but it seems pretty obvious that this team will win more games than not in those close games. That being said, a drop from 9-2 to 7-4 (which is still very good) would put the Steelers at 8-9.

I don't even know why pundits try to make crazy arguments about the Steelers in any year, because it's super obvious what this team is going to be every year: a mediocre 8 to 10 win team that may make the playoffs if the AFC sucks.

 

[T1K]

What Qb extensions?

It’s either going to be a rookie or they’ll be paying a vet a big contract (Russ, Fields, free agent, etc)

 

[WickedWrister]

Since 1970, only four head coaches who have coached at least 100 games have more than Tomlin's 98 wins in one-score games. And those coaches – Bill Belichick (120 wins), Andy Reid (110), Don Shula (106) and Dan Reeves (105) – all have coached far longer than Tomlin.

Even more impressive is Tomlin's career winning percentage in one-score games. Tomlin has compiled a 98-61-2 record in one-score games, a winning percentage of .615 that is the highest in the NFL, tied with Tony Dungy for that honor.

Just behind him are Shula (.612), Marty Schottenheimer (.597) and Bud Grant (.596).

Tomlin's record in one-score games is even more impressive when things are broken down since the 2007 season.

His 98 wins in one-score games in that time are 20 more than Reid, 27 more than John Harbaugh and 29 more than Belichick.

And lest anyone think those other coaches haven't had as many opportunities, that's not the case. For example, since 2007, Belichick is 69-50 in one-score games, a .580 winning percentage, while Reid is 78-67-1, a winning percentage of .538.

 

[T1K]

I think they have enough cap space where this isn't much of a worry. I also wouldn't rule out Wilson and Fields being poor enough that they wouldn't be retained or they would be retained as a cheap stopgap.

I think it's pretty likely overall that neither is good enough to cost a significant amount of money. If I had to place a bet on how the QB situation goes out, I'd probably say:

-Both Wilson and Fields ends up mid to poor for the Steelers
-The Steelers commit low money to either Fields or Wilson to be the veteran stopgap for next year (similar to Trubisky from a few years ago)
-They draft a QB in either round 1 or 2 in 2025 to sit behind whichever of Fields or Wilson is retained as the stopgap

I’m thinking they could make a run at Dak Prescott in free agency. I hope it’s Fields, but realistically he’s probably a career backup.

The problem with this draft is that the QBs aren’t very good relative to other years. The new LSU and USC QBs looked pretty good the other night, so maybe there is hope for this class, but at the moment Beck is the only one I have much interest in. Maybe Ward from Miami as well, not sure how he projects at the next level.

 

[pistolpete11]

I don't know if it's better than the Sulli-Faulk-Rudolph offense though.

Depends if they are going up against the 21st (Bungles) and 25th (Seahawks) scoring defenses.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I’m thinking they could make a run at Dak Prescott in free agency. I hope it’s Fields, but realistically he’s probably a career backup.

The problem with this draft is that the QBs aren’t very good relative to other years. The new LSU and USC QBs looked pretty good the other night, so maybe there is hope for this class, but at the moment Beck is the only one I have much interest in. Maybe Ward from Miami as well, not sure how he projects at the next level.

I don't know why I have this feeling, but I feel like Fields will be their 2025 starter and they'll draft a QB in round 2 to sit behind him to start. For some reason, it just seems to make sense for them to do that.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Depends if they are going up against the 21st (Bungles) and 25th (Seahawks) scoring defenses.

Is 21 and 25 that bad? If we could sign up for 21st ranked offense right now I bet we take it