transcript

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[00:02] It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

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[00:10] Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Locked On Podcast Network. Thank you for being here, because your support means everything. And if you're looking for another way to support the show that you love, while getting something awesome in return, check out the Everydayer Club. You get ad-free episodes of your favorite Locked On show, access to a members-only group chat for fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about whatever's happening across the league. Tap the Everydayer Club link in the show notes to learn more.

Speaker 3:
[00:43] The Steelers made their first round pick, but they also got got. And I'll explain all of it in my breakdown here on the Locked On Steelers Podcast. I'm your host, Chris Carter. Let's get into it.

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[00:59] You are Locked On Steelers, your Daily Pittsburgh Steelers Podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

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[01:14] Hello, welcome to the Locked On Steelers Podcast. I'm your host, Chris Carter, bringing you the daily dose of all things on the Pittsburgh Steelers. As always, you can find the show, any of your podcasting apps, and on YouTube, like this video if you enjoyed it. Subscribe to this YouTube channel to get all of your daily Monday to Friday episodes as well as our bonus content. But thank you for making it your first listen every day, because we're your team every day. And a reminder, the Locked On Steelers Podcast is brought to you today by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets. If your first bet wins, head to fanduel.com to get started. Steelers fans, what a first night that was in the NFL draft. Lots of chaos, loss of changes, but also lots of drama around the Steelers pick. They end up picking Max Iheanachor of Arizona State, offensive tackle. We're gonna break him down in a bit here. He's an athletic offensive tackle. He looks like he has a lot of upside, very quick feet, very athletic. Ran one of the fastest 40-yard dash times. He was very athletic at the combine, tested well. There's upsides to him. He has a good track record. When you put him up against other top edge rushers in this class like David Bailey, Malachi Lawrence, General Hite, he's played well and he's a guy who's still developing, who's still a developmental player and figuring things out. But you love his footwork, you love his athleticism and that is exciting to see. But the story of the night isn't about the player. It's not about who they got. It's about the pick, how it was used, and how the Steelers got outclassed and outmaneuvered by the Eagles and the rest of the NFL. I know there's some Steelers fans out there that are saying, no, no, no, Iheanachor was the plan. This is still a big win for the Steelers. I'm sorry, but the facts have made that not the case. There was at least a case immediately after the pick where you might could say that and you say, well, no, the Steelers, this was actually their plan. They were willing to move up for Iheanachor. They could have painted it that way, but not based on the details that we now know are facts about this situation. Before we get into all this, I will give Omar Khan credit. He was right to wait on Makai Lemon past the 13th and even 15th overall pick. I thought he was going to go much earlier than he did. He got picked 20th overall when the Eagles traded up to the Cowboys to get him. I thought that they would trade up for 13, for 15, or 17 to make sure they got him. I thought that he'd be long gone before the 20th overall pick. He was correct in reading the field in that part. When the Steelers had Makai Lemon right in front of them at the 20th overall pick, just one pick away, they celebrated too quickly, called him thinking the Cowboys would take some other player and they could get their man. And instead of them doing their due diligence and making sure that they did get their guy, and basically checking off all the boxes, the Eagles swooped in, offered a trade to the Cowboys, and stole Lemon right from under the Steelers' noses, and offer the price of just two fourth-round picks. And again, this is just due diligence that the Steelers had to do. All they had to do in this situation was call the Cowboys, inform them that, hey, if any team calls with the trade, and offer that to take this pick, we will match it, we will beat it, give us the opportunity to do that, and you'll get a better value for a trade back in this situation. And heck, I mean, the Steelers, even if they match, they have 2 4th round picks, if they simply match the Eagles 2 4th round picks, the Cowboys would only move back one spot, and they'd get 2 4th round picks. They would inherit a better situation than they did by trading with their division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. Instead, the Steelers got caught sitting on their hands, while the Eagles got their target. And again, we know this, that it was the Steelers' target. This is not a rumor, this is not a thing. And I think that that's the thing that Steelers fans who might be holding out some hope that this wasn't a bad thing that happened with the Steelers, that they didn't get caught unprepared. It's not, it is that case. I get that there might have been some speculation at first, but as much as we can say that Iheanachor is a talented prospect, we cannot lie and pretend that he was always there playing because he was not. And we know he was not. It's not a rumor, it's not a story. The Steelers were on the phone with Makai Lemon when the Eagles called and made the trade with the Cowboys, and Lemon confirmed this himself to the Philadelphia reporters. This is a terrible look for Omar Khan, for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They look incompetent, they look arrogant, they look caught unprepared in all while a draft was literally right next to their stadium in Pittsburgh. Heck, I mean, you could look up the draft reaction videos of many people who posted the videos of what the vibes were around the stage. They had a great visual presentation of Renegade being played, and everyone was out on the stage, and there was a lot of excitement. And as soon as the name was said, fans were like, wait, what? That's how it felt everywhere. And I think that there was a good reason to feel that. You know me, I'm a person who, I often find the silver lining in things. I often talk about the positive. And I think that there's the doom and gloom fans go way too far, way too often. And I'm not saying this is doom and gloom, but we got to call it spade to spade. And the Steelers got got by the Eagles with this trade. And it's another thing to just have been beaten by the Eagles to the punch for this pick. Because sometimes that happens. Sometimes you just get got and you're just like, Oh, man. OK, well, the player we wanted here is gone. Let's look at other options. We have backup plans. We have we have contingency plans for if this happened, we can trade here or we can get this guy or we can move here. And so, you know, they could have done that. And that would have maybe salvaged some things, you know, still a little embarrassing. They didn't do their due diligence and call the Cowboys instead of calling Lemon. They could have, you know, you but once you're past that, OK, now let's go to Plan B. But it's kind of clear that they didn't have a viable backup plan for if Lemon got taken right before them in that point. How do we know this? Because the Steelers let the clock run down to the final 50 seconds of their draft clock in the first round, which they have a full eight minutes to do for them to make that final draft decision. When the Steelers want to make their pick, oftentimes their pick is in very quickly, maybe a couple minutes, three minutes, four minutes, tops fly off so that they can call around and see if anyone wants to offer a crazy trade or get some sort of value for it. But when you wait that long, that means you're working the phones and you have to make a decision in that final minute. It means you probably worked the phones and teams weren't offering much because they know that you really wanted the player that just went off the board because it was very clear. And they know that because they know that you don't want that pick and there's not someone that you're really eyeing at this point, they know that, hey, you know what, we're not good, we're going to lowball you. We're not going to offer you a whole bunch to trade up and give you the chance to trade back with us. You're not going to get much out of this. And so when the Steelers went to make their pick and the people and I mean, another sign of this was that there was no, you know, really early breaking news of the pick. This was a last minute reveal, a last second reveal where the Steelers, their pick came in late in their time slot. They were unprepared. Max Iheanachor was not the go-ahead immediate plan, no matter what the Steelers say, that is not how they operated. And it's clear that, oh, again, Omar Khan was working the phones to find a trade down partner, couldn't find one because everyone knew the Steelers got got. And so the Steelers had to make a pick or risk what the time running out. And that would have been the most embarrassing thing because that's something I think only the Vikings have done in recent history where they forfeit their pick because their time ran out. But I think what even makes this tougher, and this is not about Max Iheanachor himself because I think he's a good prospect, but instead of taking a pick on a position of need right now, like wide receiver, guard, safety, slot corner or overall corner, they went and drafted a tackle for the first round for the third time in the last four years. And look, Iheanachor might work out. I'm not saying that he's a bust of a pick. This isn't saying that he's a terrible player or a terrible prospect, but the process the Steelers went through last night was terrible. It was clumsy, and it was embarrassing for the organization. They got left holding the bag, and now they still have to dress basically all of their needs. And now they don't even have their first round pick available to them. And what makes this even worse is that the Steelers had all 12 of those picks that we talked about all offseason long to use at their disposal, and they did nothing with them. The Eagles had eight picks, and their division rival was happy to make this deal with them. The Steelers could have easily matched this, again, with two fourth round picks. And again, I think the Cowboys, they would have been happy to say, yeah, we don't want to help our division rivals, but we don't want the pick right now because we don't want that guy, and we know someone wants them, so we're gonna pick up some early day three picks and call it a deal. But if the Steelers had come calling, I guarantee you that the Cowboys would have been like, oh yeah, we will get help out the team across the continent in a completely different conference, not in our division, before we help someone in our division. And so, to me, this shows the Steelers didn't do due diligence and at least have Dallas on the phone to be like, hey, we will, whatever happens, keep us in the loop because we're gonna be doing it. They assumed that it was a done deal, that they were gonna be able to get Makai Lemon, and then when it didn't happen, they didn't have a backup plan in place. And that right there, I think, is a double whammy of failure for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And I think it's a terrible look, with the draft being in Pittsburgh, but also this was the first major live competitive decision where they're up against other teams to make in the open for the post-Tomlin era, and it was a disaster. Now again, Iheanachor himself might not be a disaster, but when it's clear that you got outmaneuvered and that teams based themselves off you, that's the bad part. And I think it also goes to show the Steelers, traditionally over the past several years, the way that we've talked and we talked about this all throughout the draft process. We thought, hey, they should be bringing in more top 30 visits or higher top 30 prospects. You know, they're bringing all these day three guys to look at. They need to be bringing in some of these other top guys. Maybe Dylan Theinemann, maybe, you know, Jermod McCoy, maybe some of these other top guys, just to give the image out there. You know, one, do your own research and get your chance to get these guys in the building, but also maybe give off the image that you might take some of these other guys. But instead, you look at the top 30, the pre-draft visitors board, if you know that the Steelers often like to do that, also, Iheanachor, not a top 30 visit guy. So this is the first time I think that's happened in the modern Steelers era. But you look at the top, the guys they had for pre-draft visitors who were left on the board at the time, Venga Ioane was gone. Ravens took him, told you that was going to happen at 14. Spencer Fano was gone. He went super early in the draft. And those were your top other guys. You still had Emmanuel McNeil Warren. I believe he's still on the board. Denzel Boston is still on the board right now. Chris Johnson got taken by the Dolphins. But people knew at 21st overall who was the best player left on the board. And Makai Lemon was that guy. So it was clear based off of if you're the Eagles and you're reading the tea leaves and you're reading how the Steelers have been operating, that's what they wanted. They knew that. And so they traded it, haven't got them. And this is why we say it's important to have the smoke screens and to present more opportunities to protect yourselves because then teams, when they know what you want, they'll snipe you. And that's what happened. The Steelers got sniped in a bad way, in an embarrassing way. And it would have been better, I think, if the Steelers came back and said, okay, cool, we're taking Dylan Thielman or we're getting Omar, you know, fine, we're taking Omar Cooper anyways. And they came out and they were confident and they were able to make the move, but they didn't do that. And so now this air of they got got, it's out there, it's loud and it's going to hang for a little bit. And I think that that's something that's real, that Steelers fans are going to be grappling with for quite some time. And it's something that all the other front offices are going to notice as well. So, that part we cannot deny, the Steelers, they got got. But they also got a player who I think is a very athletic player, a player who could fit in for what they're trying to do. But I have questions about how he fits in the offensive line. We'll talk more about Max Iheanachor in a second here on the Locked On Steelers Podcast. Lots to come here on this episode. I'm your host Chris Carter. Stick with us, we'll be right back. But first, to remind you, today's episode is brought to you by Rugiet. The NFL Draft is here and where preparation meets opportunity, every decision matters. It's all about being ready when your moment comes. And that same mindset applies off the field too. 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You can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins and the app makes it easy to follow the action with player stats, trends and matchups all in one place during the playoffs. That extra insight really matters when you're looking at stars, role players and key moments. It just makes the entire playoff experience more engaging from start to finish. Right now, the clear favorite to win the NBA Finals is the Thunder. But do you think someone else is going to win? Place your bet down on FanDuel at fanduel.com to sign up today. FanDuel, play your game. Back here in the Locked On Steelers Podcast, I'm your host, Chris Carter. We continue our episode here. Wanna remind you can join the Everydayers Club if you're a Locked On Steelers diehard fan. You can join the Everydayers Club by clicking on the link in the description of this episode. You can also go to the website, lockedonstealers.com, lockedonstealers.supercast.com. Everydayer Club gets you ad free versions of the show. They also get you in a group chat with other diehard listeners of the show, and you also get access to our Locked On merch. But let's talk about Iheanachor, the offensive tackle they got from Arizona State. And listen, Omar Khan said that Hines Ward, he spoke with him and he said that he definitely fits the Steelers mentality. I do not think that Iheanachor is a bad prospect or anything like that. I just think that the process that ended up landing with him is a bit embarrassing. But he could turn out to be a talented offensive tackle. He has great footwork. That's the first thing you see is just feet just fly, fly and just are quick chopping, always getting him to stay in a position to have leverage and to win in pass protection, especially didn't allow a sack last year. Looks like he's able to keep himself in position, not be outmaneuvered by quick pass rushers. Also is an athletic guy. He ran one of the fastest 40 yard times of an offensive lineman. He can pull, hit in space, win at the point of attack. There's a lot of things to like about him. Again, he allowed zero sacks last year and he was pretty solid. He also was able to shut down two of the best edge rushers in the college, in the draft class this year in Rella height, David Bailey when they went up against Texas Tech at Arizona State. He has talent. He's a bit raw though, still has to develop some more things. His hands are not as coordinated as his feet and sometimes that gets him beat a little bit. Sometimes he can get caught by late developing blitzes and he gives up pressures that otherwise, he probably would have locked out if he saw things coming. But I think those are fine things they can be upgraded on. But the big question I have here and also I have a film study that will be out for the Pittsburgh Post on Iheanachor if you want to get a chance to check that out at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette at postgazette.com. But the big thing that I think is interesting here is the question is, where do they play Iheanachor? Now, you might say, oh, well, left tackle because Broderick Jones is obviously hurt and he's not playing next year, but he has a right tackle. So do they move him, they put him at right and they move Trey Faltano to left? Maybe because Trey Faltano did play left tackle in college at Washington, but he played left tackle for a left-handed quarterback. And that's a lead blocking offensive tackle, not a backside protector, not a blindside protector. And so that's why I think it was a natural flip for right for Trey Faltano and he fit it well and he played at a very high level for the Steelers of that position. But now, are you going to say Iheanachor is a rookie, go to left tackle, figure it out. Are you going to say it's Trey Faltano? And what's to make of Broderick Jones? Is he out for the season? Is he not coming back? Or if he does come back, is he fighting for a spot with Iheanachor? Is he fighting for a spot with Faltano? What's the plan there? Now, some people suggest they might move Broderick Jones to guard. I don't know if that's the move. I think Broderick Jones has moved around enough. I think that he's fine where he is. But to me, that's why there's some big questions about this move, is that they didn't need a tackle at this stage. Now, maybe the Steelers' big board, Iheanachor was their best guy. And on my big board, he was the 28th ranked player in this in this class. And with that, I think that they could have gone for several better players. Other guys that were still available, like I said, Omar Cooper, Dylan Theinman, Jermod McCoy, who by the way is still available, Colton Hood, Emmanuel McNeil, Casey Concepcion, who the Browns got, told you that was going to happen if they let him fall to 24. I just think it's a grave mistake by the Steelers to put themselves here. But again, Iheanachor himself, I think an athletic tackle who can grow into his role and be that guy. But the Steelers got to make a tough decision now at offensive tackle, short term and long term. And that could put them in a situation where they set themselves back. Because again, this is the third time you drafted that position in the last four years in the first round. Tough spot to be, tough spot to be. But hey, maybe Iheanachor makes it easier on them. Maybe he does a good job and wins the starting spot right away. And he's better pass protector. He's 6'6, 3'21. He's, you know, so a big player, long arms. Like he has measurables. He has athleticism. Those are all good. But I still think that it puts a big question mark on what's the O-line teacher and what's the future for the team, considering this was supposed to be the playmaker pick or the guard pick that helped fix the offense. And now you have another tackle position. And I think it puts the Steelers in a tight spot here, where they're going to have to get aggressive, really aggressive on day two, I think, to maximize the value of this draft after this decision. So speaking of that, let's go over who the best players left on day two right now, heading into the second round of the NFL draft that's next here on the Locked On Steelers Podcast. I'm your host, Chris Carter. Stick with us. We'll be right back. But first, remind you, today's episode is also brought to you by Kalshi. The NFL draft is here this week, and every pick is tradable. The tradable moment on Kalshi, go over the different options. Who the Steelers go with in the, you know, with their next pick. In the last pick, they had offensive line at 44%. So, if you had put, if you had gone in and invested in it at 44% offensive line, you would have won big on Kalshi. On Kalshi, you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house, and if the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position. Trade the draft pick, the game, and more on Kalshi. For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code LOCKEDON on all capital letters, no spaces, LOCKEDON to get $10 when you trade 10. K-A-L-S-H-I Kalshi. Trade on anything. We're back here on the Locked On Steelers podcast. I'm your host, Chris Carter. We continue our episode, reacting to the Steelers first round pick. I'm just going to say this again, just to make sure that this is kind of clear. I think Iheanachor could be a good player, but I think the Steelers are looking at a situation where they were forced into a pick that they were not prepared to make. And that's the situation you don't want to be in. But you can't cry over spilled milk. Well, you shouldn't cry over spilled milk. And it's time to get back in there. You still got four day two picks ahead of you. Steelers have the 53rd, 76th, 85th and 99th picks all to come today on Friday. They have to make the most of them. And you still got two of those two fourth round picks, a fifth round pick, a sixth round pick, three seventh round picks. You can trade up. And we saw several teams trading up for just a few spots and not costing them that much. Steelers need to get in on that market. It's a perfect trade up market right now for the Steelers. Really was honestly for the 21st overall pick, but they can't let that mistake happen again this time. So with that, with those picks available, let's look at the best players still left out there. Now, my highest overall rank player right now is still Jermon McCoy. He is, of course, is the cornerback from Tennessee who was injured. A lot of people said. He would have been the first cornerback off the board if he wasn't injured as much as he was. So there's that conversation and people are wondering what to do next there. But next off the board, I got Colton Hood, which is funny enough, the cornerback who actually took his spot at Tennessee at 21. Emmanuel McNeil Warren is my next best safety on the board. So three defensive backs right off the bat there. Denzel Boston is still available and the Steelers still need a wide receiver. That's a potential pick I might be looking at here. I think you should really watch out for Chris Brazel out of Tennessee. I liked his tape. I liked his ability to fly, I liked his big playability. I thought he needs to mature a little bit more. But I think that he could be a guy that you keep an eye on and maybe he can be a playmaker for you in the long run. So Chris Brazel's in that conversation. If the Steelers wanted to get a guard, Chase Basantis and Emmanuel Pregnon are still guys that I would take a look at. Keelan Rutledge, though, goes in the first round. I didn't see that coming. I knew that Keelan Rutledge could go in the second round. I did not think he would go 26th overall to the Texans. So again, missing out on guard, missing out on some key positions here with this offensive tackle pick. Again, I didn't see the point of this pick where it was. But there's plenty of opportunities here for the Steelers in this draft class right now. Plenty of other guys who they can bring in and kind of get on their side right now for this draft class. I think that that's where... This is where it's going to be interesting to see what positions they prioritize now. Because clearly they were prioritizing wide receiver. Clearly, it was right there. But then they got beat and that was that. If I'm the Steelers, I got to find a way to get maybe up for it and make sure I'm getting the right receiver for this draft class, make right defensive back, whether it's slot or safety. I think there's got to be something done on their end to replenish this roster. And again, address wide receiver where they have a talented player who can step up and help right away. Lots of information that we've covered, lots of stuff still to come. I'm recording this at like four o'clock in the morning. So excuse me if I appear a little tired. I did my live stream for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and then was following all the reactions to what happened and kept getting all the data. But again, going back to what we talked about in the first segment, for Howie Roseman to say we didn't want to get caught on our hands, got caught sitting on our hands. That's what happened with the Steelers. So now it's about what do they do with it? We'll keep monitoring that here on the Locked On Steelers podcast. I'm your host Chris Carter. Thanks so much for tuning in to another edition of the Locked On Steelers podcast. You can find me on Twitter, social media handles all those. At Carter critiques, you can read my work in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette by going to postgazette.com. You can find me here every day, Monday through Friday on your podcasting apps and on YouTube like this one. If you enjoyed it, subscribe to this channel to get all of Locked On Steelers podcast.