SNR Drive with Matt & Dale (Pittsburgh Steelers)This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and Gold r Steelers Nation Radio.
And we are back. I am Dale Lolly here in Mobile, Alabama at the Senior Bowl, the national practice taking place here. Just pulling back to curtain and we are taping this in the morning because we wanted to. We wanted to be here on site while the practices are going on. Rob King back in Pittsburgh handling duties back there, and of course Justin Miller on the hotline. Also idea of where this you know, we're just talking about some of the strengths of the draft. Let's let's take a look here at Daniel Jeremiah's initial top fifty list of players in this draft, and you can kind of get an idea of where the strength of this draft lies. You know, who obviously a justice you know, based off of what happens here at Senior Bowl, and then obviously you know, throughout the process here as we get into the combine and all that stuff. But he's got Abdul Carter from Penn State, the edge rusher at number one overall.
Yeah, I mean, it's a it's a really good, really disruptive player, and.
You know it'll be it'll be very so.
Look, edge rushers are always guys that everybody wants, right, you know, who can who can disrupt plays, who can get to the quarterback, who can do.
All those sorts of things.
But again, I wonder if the success that the Eagles have had drafting defensive lineman, you know, high in drafts and look where they are and they're competing for a super Bowl might have an effect on this list we're about to see. But uh, yeah, I don't think that's a I don't think that's a controversial selection at number one.
To you, No, not at all. I think he's a really good player and you know, depending on your scheme, he's an outside linebacker, he's a you know, a defensive end, So I mean he is a defense of lineman. Number two, he as his Travis Hunter, and he likes him more as a wide receiver than a than a defensive back. Other people are split on that, but there this is the possibility that somebody had give him a chance to do both. At three is where this gets interesting. He has Astrion Jenty at number three.
Well, you know I think that uh you know, and he compares him to a mixture of Dalvin Cook and JK.
Dobbins.
Look, I like both those guys. I was happy to see. I think JK. Dobbins, you know, has a has a reputation for being a really good guy, and so I was happy to see him, you know, get through a season finally.
Yeah, he should be comeback player of the year.
Yeah, I mean to show what he was capable of doing.
It could be like comeback player of the last three years.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's amazing. And Dalvin cooks a terrific player. You know, when his prime, he was a terrific player.
Uh.
I don't know if I go there with a third pick, but again, we'll see it.
Only he's just he's not saying he's gonna go number three. He's just ranking the players as he likes them, where he would put them.
Sure, and I understand that. And maybe he'll be right. Maybe he'll be that kind of a player. Uh, and maybe he will be the third best player in this draft. But again, you know, I don't know as I and I'm you know, conflating the two obviously, draft and rankings, but you know, I'll be interested to see where he goes in the draft.
And again I've already been asked, like, you know, for the Steelers at twenty one, if Ashton Genty is there, would you take him? Like, well, first I need to know who else is available. But secondly, I do think that he is a very very talented player. But this is a very deep running back draft as well, so I would need to know who else is is, you know, on the board at that point.
I agree, I would say this, you know, again your evalue if your evaluation, going back to our earlier discussion, well, you know, I think defensive line is if he's.
One of your top five guys regardless of position, then yeah, you probably end up taking him because he's going to be higher up on your board than anybody else. It would be there presumably unless there's one of those other guys fall.
Right, And if your evaluations say this guy is Barkley right right, then I think that's a very very difficult guy to follow to pass up because again, think about what kind of effect an impact that could have on your team.
Absolutely at four he as Mason Graham, the defensive tackle out of Michigan. So there's your your first defensive tackle. But two defensive linemen in the top four. At five is Tyler Warren, the tight end out of Penn State, and I look at him as more of the brock Bauers type of just don't put a te nex to his name, just put pass catcher.
Well, and again, you know, you know the Raiders and the guy they took uh uh not Bowers the year before, whose name is escaping me.
We did do their game.
You'd think that that would eliminate the need for them to take brock Bowers. But when the Raiders had the opportunity to take brock Bowers after having drafted a tight end, it GUIDs them off the field issues but wound up coming back that gives them a pair of, you know, terrific tight ends. That's you know that a guy like Tyler Warren.
Again, I don't think he's going to get.
To the Steelers, but it would be nice to see him take up a draft position because I don't see that as a position to need for the Steelers.
Yeah. At six is jaylem Walker, the edge rusher out of Georgia. So and again three defensive linemen in the first six picks. At seven, he has Colston lovelin the tight end out of Michigan. So two tight ends in his top seven, which we know that those guys aren't going to go in the top seven picks.
I wouldn't think so unless, like you said, with Brock Bowers, I mean, that guy is just a terrific player. If you thought you were getting that, you know, and again we talk about setting trends and chasing trends, and if you think, wow, we have the next Brock Bowers, you know he can this guy can you know, block for us a little bit in the in the running games, so he helps us there and then he obviously helps us with huge mismatches in the passing game. You know, what is your quarterback situation do you have? I mean, look at what Bowers did in the quarterback position with the Raiders. Probably easier to take advantage of a great tight end for a quarterback who's not quite there yet or or young.
Or nice safety valve.
Yeah, nice safety valve versus you know that great outside receiver in which you have to do a number of different things to get into the ball. So again I agree with you, I wouldn't expect those guys to go top seven. But to me, if if that's too, guys taken before the Steelers.
I'm happy with that.
At eight, he has Will Campbell, the LSU offensive tackle. At nine Jade Barron, Texas cornerback, and he's kind of like Brian branch was a couple of years ago. You can play him inside, you can play him outside. He can even play some safety for you. So those guys have value as well to your defense, and he's an interesting guy there. We finally get to the first quarterback at ten. He has cam Ward at ten and then Shador Sanders at eleven. Now we know those two guys are probably gonna go much higher than that because everybody's chasing the quarterbacks, so that's just how that's going to go. At twelve, Will Johnson, the cornerback out of Michigan. At thirteen is Jihad Campbell, the Alabama linebacker. Then you've got Todd Booker, interior offensive lineman out of Alabama, and some of those guys. Matt and I've talked a lot about this over the last week. The guys who are interior offensive linemen tend to get pushed down the board a little bit because of the way that the fifty year option is now utilized. Because the way that the league does the fifth year option, all offensive linemen are considered the same, so your interior offensive lineman. So, for example, the Baltimore Ravens are going to have to pick up the fifty year option on on Tyler Linderbaum, who's a multi time Pro bowler. Now, so the way that that works now, because he's made a couple of Pro Bowls, the fifty year option on Tyler Linderbaum rob is twenty five million dollars. Wow, twenty five million dollars for a center.
Wow.
Because he gets the top value. He gets the value of the of the top offensive lineman in the league, and therefore he gets paid like an offensive tackle.
Yeah, and I can see. I guess you know.
The argument would be, look, you want the players to do it's best for the team and be recompensed accordingly, but compensated accordingly.
But you know.
It is so look you have a guy like look at Troy Fautanu, right, so you think, okay, he's a tackle, but boy he could slide inside and be a heck of a guard for us. Well, is he gonna balk at that? Because it's gonna cost him huge money for that fifth year option it doesn't that I said it doesn't. Well, I'm saying it doesn't. So that's the argument, maybe maybe one of the arguments for lumping them all together and classifying them all together. But it seems, you know, I mean, it seems kind of a silly way to do it to me.
Yeah, at fifteen, you get your first wide receiver, that's that Tetoroa McMillan out of Arizona. Then we get to sixteen another edge rusher, MIKEL Williams out of Georgia. Seventeen is armand memb interior offensive lineman out of Missouri, and you get eighteen Kenneth Grant, the Michigan defensive tackle. And he's he's interesting to me because he's kind of a He's a three four nose is what he would be for the Steelers in well, let me just say that, you know, the two thousand and one draft, to our point about defense, defense, defense, that was a game changer for the Steelers. They took Casey Hampton that year at the nose when nobody else was taking those tackles in the first round. And Kenneth Grant is that kind of dude, So keep an eye on him. He is not here. He was at the Shrine Bowl. He didn't come to the Senior Bowl. So I know they had guys out there watching those those players as well.
By the way, if you tell me that's the Steelers pick, I'm happy, really happy with. You know, a Casey Hampton came into time when I think only five teams were playing to three four and being you know, talk about being in front of a trend. The students were way in front of a trend that I'm taking Casey Hampton because they could because no other teams were looking for that type of player, that nose tackle type of guy.
And eat up blocks. And you know, now they asked the nose tackle to do things a little differently. Now. They do want him to be able to rush the passer a little bit. So you get the Javon Hargraves, you get the Keanu Bentons, and this kid can do those kind of things as well. He's really athletic. I think he's gonna blow up the combine and really shock people with his movement skills. For a guy who's that big.
I suspect he won't be there for the Steelers.
I don't know, because again, you know, the nose tackle. You know how many teams are looking for a true nose and maybe some teams view him differently than that. We'll see. But at nineteen is Calvin Banks, the offensive tackle from Texas. At twenty James Pierce, junior edge rusher out of Tennessee So another defensive lineman type. Nick Emuwori, South Carolina safety is at twenty one. He is a monster, like six three, two hundred and thirty pounds and he's going to run well, do all that stuff. At twenty two Derek Harmon, the defensive tackle out of Oregon. Mike Persudo will know all about him because he was a transfer from Michigan State, so there'll be some love there. At twenty three Mike Green, the edge rusher out of Marshall So another defensive lineman type. At twenty four is Matthew Golden, the Texas wide receiver, followed by a Mecca Eggbuka, the wide receiver out of Ohio State. Then you have Walter Nolan. He's an interesting guy. He's here at the Senior Bowl rob at of Mississippi and he's a shade over six three. He weighed in the other day here at two hundred and ninety three pounds. I'm sure, you know, depends on what they are, how much he's had to eat that day. He's you know, three hundred pounds or two ninety somewhere in that range. Looks like a Steelers defensive you know, three four defensive end. And he is disruptive. I mean he just his practice yesterday, he was in the afternoon session. He's on the American squad. He just gets after it. So he's an interesting guy that you know, could be a potential down the road replacement for Cam Heyward or someone like that. Shamar Stewart out of Texas A and M. They list him as an edge here, but he's a two hundred and ninety pound edge. He's he's he is a big dude. He was supposed to be here at the at the Senior Bowl and had to pull out. But he's six six, two hundred and ninety pounds, you know, just a big, big guy. And you got Donovan Azeruku, the edge rusher out of Boston College. Again another outside linebacker type, but very productive last year, sixteen and a half sacks. He's at twenty eight. Twenty nine is Amarion Hampton, the running back out of North Carolina and he's the guy that would change your offense as well. I mean he's got some speed. He's got he's, you know, two hundred and twenty pounder with speed and the ability to get outside. A good a good football player that would be very attractive if you go that route.
Yeah, don't don't you think, by the way, and that is what you know.
Mike Tomlin was asked about the the similarities between Derreck Henry and sa Quon Barkley, and he said, really, there's not that many similarities except for this. If they get in the open field, see you later. Yeah, I mean you're not gonna catch him. Yeah, it would, and that's really what you need at that. I mean, I think nausea.
Harris has been a very good football player for the Steelers, you know, and I know people he's a bust. He's he's had four straight thousand yard seasons. He's never missed a game. He's been very durable, he's dependable. As you mentioned previously, he doesn't fumble a lot.
There.
He's just a lot there to like about him. But he doesn't have that breakaway speed.
Yeah, the Steelers need, you know, when you think about explosive play guys. There's a little bit of that with Jalen Warren, There's a lot of that with George Pickens. There are there are guys you can utilize. Pat Fryermouth is a really good football player. Darnell Washington's a big, strong, physical guy that you can utilize. You know, Calvin Austin has a little bit of that game breaking ability. But man, I think that they need, you know, for this offense to outside of the quarterback position, a running back that can that can have that kind of capability.
To touch the ball. Yeah. Yeah, he's got to touch the ball twenty times a game to scares the Bejesus out of the defense, right.
I mean, you know we were talking about that down in Atlanta. Every time Bijon Robinson touched the ball. I mean that guy could glide for five yards and you think he got five yards you know, he he does.
He makes you hold your breath. Uh.
And to have a player like that that a team has to account for, you know, maybe loosen things up a little bit defensively, or maybe they try to tighten things up. Whi's loosening things up on the edge for you You know, there's a lot of ways that a player like that can help you. But I think that dale when they look at the receiver position in the running back position, I think that's that explosive playability is something that I suspect they're going to be looking for at both those positions.
Yeah. Absolutely. Just watching one of the players we're going to talk about here in a minute on this list who has just had a great rep as a defensive tackle. Here, Josh Simmons, the offensive tackle out of Ohio State, number thirty. He's got Donovan Jackson his teammate the interior. He plays both interior. He played some left tackle this year as well for Ohio State. Donovan Jackson at thirty one. Thirty two is Luther Burden, the wide receiver out of Missouri. Then he got Malachi Starks, the Georgia safety at thirty three. Quinn Shawn Judkins at thirty four, another big, bruising running back that you know would fit well. I think he's got a little more juice than what Nujie Harris is, but he is a powerful, just hard running players. He's more Jylem Warren, I think type that just bounces off the tacklers and things of that nature. Then you have our third tight end, Mason Taylor out of LSU at thirty five. Thirty six is Trevion Henderson, the other Ohio State running back, and he's more of the speedball catches the ball. Well, then you get the Carson Swesssinger, the UCLA linebacker at number thirty seven, Josh Connery who is here at the Senior Bowl at the thirty eight offensive tackle out of Georgia, and the guy that I just mentioned, Josh Farmer, Florida State defensive tackle at thirty nine on DJ's rankings.
And this is a guy that is.
Really growing under rob If you start looking at his miserables here, it's just a shade over six three. But also you look to the guy that that is three hundred and fifteen pounds, he is a just a bowling ball of energy. And uh is a guy that is kind of intriguing to me as a potential nose tackle slash get some Keanu Benton type traits, let's put it that way.
Well again, that's that works for me.
And you know, as we look down this list, I think there are you know, several positions in which the Steelers are probably not going to be interested in taking guys tight ends that you mentioned, what three or four tight ends edge rushers? You know how nice it is? Is it that again you obviously have you know, TJ. Watt, but that you're able to go out and get a high smith in the third round, You're able to go out and get a herbig later in the draft and kind of you know, So teams are looking to spend top picks on those disruptive type of guys, and I don't I think that. And look, that's that's what you need in the in the game to be productive. And this dude's have those guys, I don't think. Look, if one falls in your lap, I'm not even sure. You know, all things are never equal, you know those Hey, if all things were equal, would you take a running back and receiver? Well, all things are never equal. But I think that those are positions they can ignore while other teams are gobbling those guys up. Guys that you want could be sliding to you in the draft. So I love seeing this list. I love seeing all these guys ranked above these defensive tackles, and I love seeing four or five guys in the top thirty nine ranking who would fit in beautifully for the Steelers.
Yeah.
Forty is Jack Sawyer, the edge rusher out of Ohio State for him, and he got forty one Jackson Dart, the quarterback out of Ole Miss who is here at the Senior Bowl. Another guy who's here at the Senior Bowl, TJ. Sanders, the defensive tackle out of South Carolina, and I believe he would be more of a three to four end for the Steelers. Very very good football player as well. He had a nice day yesterday as well. He's sixty three in three quarters, so almost almost sixty four. He weighed in at two eighty four. Obviously could put on some some weight at almost sixty four. Uh, but he is a you know, has that look about him. Forty three is ASII, A Thomas cornerback out of Florida State. He's here at the Senior Bowl as well. Six foot two cornerbacks. You like, You like those guys as well. A good football player there. And you got Maxwell Harston out of Kentucky another cornerback who is here at the Senior Bowl. He's five eleven, about one hundred and ninety pounds, more of the classic cornerback size, but uh, he is a feisty player and had a nice day yesterday. Uh forty five is Benjamin Morris in the cornerback out of Notre Dame. He was hurt to end the season, but again another six foot two cornerback that you know, these guys don't grow on trees. He's a very good football player. Josiah Stewart out of Michigan and edge rushers for the for the Wolverines. And you got Marcus Mumbai from Purdue offensive tackle. He is here at the Senior Bowl as well. Another guy here who is here is Gray Sable. Uh North North Dakota State offensive linemen. Those guys have done very well. Those North Dakota State, South Dakota State guys in the in the pros, they just always seem to hit for whatever reason. I don't know what they do up there to grow their offensive lineman, but they always just seem to have them.
Let me ask you a questions for Dale, Yeah.
So would you think about you know, probably not in the first three rounds, but boy, I mean look at what they did with Mason McCormick. If you felt like you could get an offensive lineman and maybe the fourth round that slid to you. I know that people will be like, wait a minute, we've witched all that. All we've been drafting is offensive lineman. I don't think you should hesitate if you could find a guy in that in a spot that can help you. There couple this year to continue to add to the offensive.
Line, you're gonna lose some guys in free agency this year. So you gotta keep restocking that position because you don't want it to be as you saw this year. I mean they started four different lineups. Uh, in their first what six games on the offensive line, they had four guys. Four different guys made their first career starts on the offensive line, So right, yeah, you can't have enough guys there.
Also, we were just really cool.
We were lotting their depth down to Dylan Cook in camp last year and thinking, man, it's just a deep group.
Wow.
Uh Cook got injured, herbig got injured, Daniels got injured, and next thing you know, you're just you're you know, you're you're pushing guys around all over the place, and you know, Foutanhu got injured, and so yeah, you went from wow, we have incredible depth to Holy mackerel, another different starting offensive line combination. So yeah, I don't think you can. And I think that's the that's the philosophy. Let's get really big people. And we saw Dale that they're not ready for that yet. They're not ready to to absolutely one lineup on the offensive and defensive lines and shove it down people's throat or or dictate what you want to do defensively. So and I think that's what they want to be, the kind of team they want to be.
Yeah. Absolutely, At forty nine as Elijah Rojo, a fourth tight end in the top forty nine here for Daniel Jeremiah. He's a guy that's here and had a nice day yesterday. And then at fifty for Daniel Jeremiah, al Ford Collins out of Texas, another defensive tackle. He's another big dude that he might be. He could be a nose, he could be an outside guy. I'm not sure yet on him. Need to watch more tape of that. But again, a lot of big bodies in Daniel Jeremiah's top fifty at this point.
Works for me.
Bring them up, yeah, bring them on. Anyways, we're gonna get to a break. He is rob King. I am Dale Lolly, I am live down here at the Senior Bowl at Hancock Whitney Stadium. The practice is going on here as we speak, but we'll be back with more on the Drive right after this.
As he's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation.
Radio, and we're back. I'm Dale Lolly. He is the rob king back in Pittsburgh. I am here at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, and the American or the national team is practicing as we speak here. And uh just got done with the offensive slash defensive line drills there and there was a big just a it was like a bowl in the ring kind of thing where all the coaches and scouts were just circling those guys and watching, you know, these guys go at it and a lot of one on one reps there, really good stuff. And Mike Tomlin right on top of that.
Of course, of course it is interesting. He just cover you out.
He'll he'll yeah the report and I've never been there, but the reports that he'll he'll pull a hey, I want to see this this receiver against this defensive back. Let's go, let's have at it. Uh, it's Uh, it's hands on him. Like you said Dale at the top of this program, Uh, you know, an hour and you know, twenty eight minutes ago whatever it was that. You know, the Steelers draft guys from the Senior Bowl. They are they are uh, you know, there's the chances are very very good that at least one player from that group is going to be drafted by the Steelers.
Yeah, and last year it was four.
So you know, just.
There's there's there's something to this. I mean, your your head coach doesn't come here and spend a couple of days walking around the field here just to be seen, right, he is here gathering information. Omar Con is here, Arthur Smith is here, Uh, Terrell Austin is here, and these guys are all on the field watching different position groups, and you know they're gathering information on these guys and and it's it's hands on information because you don't get the opportunity to see these guys, you know, for the coaching staff in particular, they don't get to go to this, to this the summer practices or the spring you know necessarily, uh, to watch these guys practice and see their practice habits and see who's who's the alpha here, uh right, and in this in this situation, you've got a bunch of guys who were probably the alpha males at their schools, their particular schools, all of them, all of them, right, And so now who's who's the Who's the alpha male among the alpha males, Who's the Who's the guy that everybody else is going to follow, Who's the guy that's that's setting the tone that kind of stuff.
Well, I think my favorite part of the weekly Mike Tomlin press conference is when he begins to break down the other team and you can see and hear how much he loves the coaching and evaluation uh part of his job, and how into it he is, and how much he's part of the decision making and you know, he'll, man, we were looking at this guy coming at Alcorn State. We really liked him, you know, and you'll talk about it took him, he had dinner with his parents, and I mean, it is it's my favorite part of the press conference every week because you can't, uh, you know, you can't hide the love that he has for that part of the job. I mean, it's it's it's evident that he really relishes, you know, being down there and talking to these guys and getting to know him and scouting them, and it's it's a big part of what he does and a big part of what he.
Enjoys, absolutely, and you know, it's all part of the coaching process. It's you know, finding talent and acquiring talent. You know, he only gets man. The draft is only seven rounds deep, you know, so can you find the right guys to fit into your program? And it's it's somewhat of a guessing game at times. You don't know some of the intangibles. You don't know what's going on in the guy's head. You don't, but you can see the physical attributes. But you can gather some information regarding what you believe are his intangibles in situations like this, like you can look at a scouting report and Okay, he's got the size, he's got the speed. You know, he hear his stats from college and here's what we thought of him. But I think the actual being able to be on the field, the guy work talk to the guy goes a long way towards you know, in the scouting process.
Well, the other thing is, you know, one of the things that again this tutors have done well throughout the years. So I'm gonna be down in clear Water this weekend, and you know, Darren Perry and Ernie Mills are going to be down there and part of his tutors event with the radio network. So I'll try not to get to sun tanned while I'm down there. That way nice to get out of the cold. But I'm looking it, you know, Darren Perry, And you mentioned the draft is only seven rounds. Well, he was an eighth round pick, yeah, you know, And yeah, he was an All American at Penn State. It wasn't like he was unknown. But in today's NFL, he wouldn't have even been been undrafted. He'd have been an undrafted guy. And he started his very first game as an eighth round pick. And I think the Steelers have always done a very very good job, you know, James Harrison, Jalen Warren, I mean, Beanie Bishop starting a bunch of games this year of identifying guys who aren't drafted and then not playing the CYA game. Well, we got to play this guy because we we spent a draft pick on him. No, we're gonna play this guy because he's the best guy. But think about that and Darren Perry, for those of you that don't remember, he played with Rod Woodson for several years. He was He's i think seventh all time still in the interception list for the Steelers, a really fine player, and they got him in the eighth round, which again would mean they would have.
Got the existigations.
Yeah, today's game, Vinny Testaverdi was several of those interceptions by Darren as I recall, he uh he had a penchant or a knack for picking off Vinnie testa Verdi for whatever reason. But yeah, Darren Perry was a very good football player former Steelers coach as well. So yep, yeah, he was, you know.
Part of that early Bill Kauer and success, part of and part of why this scouting and development and it begins with the scouting and then trying to figure out, you know, can we develop the guy? Is there upside here? You know, if if he's got an off the field issue, what is that issue? What kind of character does he have? If he doesn't have an off the field issue, what kind of character does he have? All those things are super important, not just for the seven guys, but again we just we just saw it this year, you know, and you know we saw it was a fun guy. You know, one of our camp darlings was Julian Welshoff, you know, coming out of the international program. But you know, the ability to and then he got injured. But the ability to find guys in the draft, and the studers have had two extremely well regarded draft classes in a row, but then also to be able to find those guys beyond the draft that can come in and be contributors for you. It is there's really no other way to get it done. I mean, everybody and the students have been more receptive i think to spending big money in free agency. We saw it last year with Patrick Queen than perhaps they ever have been. You know, usually in the past it was hey, let's find a key moov on all Hoffin or that, you know, that type of player. Ryan Clark obviously was a terrific player. But guys that can kind of fit into our system and we can get some value there. And we're going to spend our money in the draft and then keep those guys when they come up for contract extensions to keep that continuity.
But to be able to.
Find those guys later and have them be part of that mix has always been an important part.
Of their success. Absolutely, absolutely, So let's get to another rak. He is Rob King. I am Dale Lollie. You're listening to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. Of course, you can hear the Drive every Monday through Friday from four to six pm on these very airwaves. You can also download the Steelers Mobile app and get the show downloaded to your phone.
There.
But Matt, Yeah, Matt, I've got Matt on the brain here. Man, let me tell you. I don't tell you. It's like it's like part of my arm has been cut off.
Here, it really is. Yeah, I'm sorry on the acts.
Well, we appreciate you stepping in here and pinchiating for Matt today. Rob King back in Pittsburgh. I'm Dale Lolly here at the Senior Bowl. We'll be back with more right after this.
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation.
Radio, and we our back. I am Dale Lolly. He is the Rob King published author and uh the Door in the Stone, Door Stone, there's.
Going to be at Riverstone Books here in Pittsburgh. Bookstore.
You go check it out and uh, you know, bring it to training camp with you. Rob will sign it for you absolutely.
Now you're talking, Dale, Now you're talking. I will sign it for.
You, gladly, gladly, bring two copies. You'll sign them both.
That's right, you bring it outside it.
So just kind of wrapping things up here for today here at the Senior Bowl and uh uh, just watching Mike Tomlin down on the fielder chatting with with one of the running backs down there, Donovan Edwards at a Michigan. He just made one of the linebackers here looks silly in a one on one drill, just completely completely broke his ankles on it, just snapped them off. The guy fell down and doctor Edwards just not a good The crowd went, ooh, one of those kind of plays.
Fun stuff. Are they still?
So?
When will they? How long are the practices down there?
Dale? They are two hours? So the first team comes in the national team is here first. They come in and start at nine to thirty and go to eleven thirty. Then there's about a half an hour in between, and the second group comes in and goes from twelve to two.
Wow, So a lot going on.
Yeah, yeah, and we get ten minutes on the field with these guys as soon as the practice ends, and they are very prompt about that ten minutes. They put the ten minutes on the studio or the stadium clock and there's a countdown. And of course there are about oh though one thousand media members here, and they all are When I say media, I'm using quotes because what has become the media is, you know, everybody bloggers and radio hosts and TV people. It's just there's just like cacophony of just noise media type here. Yeah, and so they all want a piece of these guys. So you're just kind of jumping around trying to get who you can get, right, and you.
Are you know, and you know I've done I've been to Super Bowls and you know, so there, you know, a player will be at a table or something, or you know, you're trying to maybe find hey, listen, I can go get some sound from this defensive tackle because there's only one guy talking to him. But that one guy's from his hometown paper, right, and it's standing directly in front of him and asking him about his you know, and listen, now, I have a great deal of respect for that, right, Like the hometown paper wants the story on those guys. Right, You're like, man, I just want to ask one question. Could I please ask my question and move on to the next person? So you never know, uh, And you have to be versatile, much like you do in the drafts. Are you are you after a particular player Dale or are you gonna be You're gonna show some versatility and say, hey, if this guy's not available, I'm gonna move on to player BS.
You gotta being to pivot, rob, You gotta you can't just go with one plan. You have to have multiple to your point, because you just don't know. I mean, now, I've been to Super Bowls, for example, when the Steelers weren't in it, and you know the first one I went, I went in James Harrison had just joined the Patriots. I had to go get James Harrison.
Sure.
I mean, there was no infians or butts, and I was searching high and low for James Harrison at that point. And then it was media day, media night, and there's just Super Bowl. There's fifteen hundred people there to talk to the players, maybe two thousand or twenty five hundred. I don't even know, and I'm trying to sift through it and trying to find James Harrison, and I finally saw him. It's the only time James Harrison ever smiled at me. You know, he was happy, he was actually happy to see somebody that he knew, and we had a nice chat. But yeah, you know, that's just the way these things go. It's, you know, you gotta have a you have a plan, but you don't necessarily you better have multiple plans because you just don't know how it's gonna go. And that's the other thing here is like there are also got you know, agents and people of that nature here who are here to talk to these guys. You know, there's a lot of you know, just things ancillary things like insurance, you know, people who handle insurance and things of that nature. They're they're trying to sell their awares to these guys or financial planners and things of that nature. So it's a uh, it's it's a very big group of people who head onto the field to talk to these guys. As soon as these practices end.
Well good luck and are you are you targeting anyone in particular? We're gonna have to wait to uh to see it.
On still you have to wait and see on the on Steelers dot Com tipic more targeting positions and and guys that catch my eye in that regard. But uh, certainly, uh. You know, yesterday I talked to pretty much all the quarterbacks who are here and and you know right about that spot.
Uh.
But we'll continue to uh cover the practices and you know, again just my opinion on this stuff. Nothing that you know from the Steelers. It's it's concrete or anything like that, but just my observations, yep.
Uh.
And you know, a fascinating part of the draft process. And you know, people bringing up Jalen Hurts, right, Hey, can you get that quarterback in the second round?
What are you gonna do at the quarterback position?
And you know, do you want uh if you decide, let's for example, go with justin fields, do you do you pick a guy in the draft, one of those guys that's down there at the Senior Bowl to potentially be you know, that backup who plays a similar style so you don't have to Hey, somebody goes down with an injury and all of a sudden, you're on the on the fly in the middle of the game you have to completely change what you're doing or is that less important to you than quality players. It's all, uh, you know, the team building part of it and and these things like this, Dale and the work you're doing now there just fascinating for the people that it just love that part of the game as I do. I just I just think the team building aspect of the game is just endlessly fascinating.
Absolutely. But Kinger, Yes, certain, that's gonna do it for the show today.
I'm I appreciate you coming on.
We already know you're always you're always young ho to do more. I understand that. Uh, but uh, we gotta end we we you know, can't keep Justin here forever. No, he does a bang up job. But uh for my partner here, Rob king back in Pittsburgh, for Justin Miller running the Justin Miller Hotline and getting us Bob Labriola on the on the hotline today, I am Dale Lolly here live at the Senior Bowl. You can check out the coverage of that on Steelers dot Com. That's gonna do it for today's episode. Up the Drive on the Steelers Audio Network.
