Exactly. Lots of downsides to this signing with biggest being team has no QB going into 2025 with no real options in that draft. This signing is covered in red flags. And have no faith in Tomlin to get it right
Update: Russell Wilson signing with Steelers per Schefter
- Thread starter HailToPitt725
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That's not what I said. I said it was a little early to draw any conclusions since the period hadn't even started yet. I also doubt backup QB negotiations are very newsworthy.
It could very well turn out to be true, but no fan would know that right now.
I just think that the biggest flag is that they aren't that sure about Kenny. If so, hate to have wasted that high pick. How they get a pick wrong like this, when the kid was literally around them for 5 years, is maddening.
Aren’t they in the same position if they don’t sign Wilson and Kenny shits the bed again?
This is why I hate the Wilson signing. I know they're going to start him because it gives Tomlin his best chance at a winning record and sneaking into a playoff spot.
However, a one year stopgap does absolutely nothing for this franchise. It's actually one of the worst things they can do. You need to know if KP can play, and if he fails this year with a new OC you know where you stand.
Starting Wilson does absolutely nothing. It simply delays everything in hopes of finishing 9-8. They can stick 9-8 up their rear ends.
No, because then you at least know KP isn't in your plans. And if he shits the bed really bad you're likely picking higher in 2025. You're just delaying what you need to find out for a year.
To the naked eye, yes. But I'd like to think out of the number of coaches they are employing who have been in the business for years and are watching Kenny practice every day that at least one or two of them knows what a good QB looks like vs one who probably shouldn't be starting. And I think that will be especially true with the new OC, who is a fresh set of eyes and has no reason to be loyal/disloyal to anyone.
The Steelers have next to nothing invested in Wilson. If Kenny is truly better, it's time to show it.
They should have fired Canada after 2022 and given Pickett a real NFL OC in 2023. If he sucked at that point, then fine, move on and go with Russ. We'd all be 80% less annoyed about wasting a premium draft pick and a dude who had a 1st round grade and has done everything he could for the team while being saddled with the objective worst OC in modern NFL history.
Russ is almost absolutely better than Pickett with Matt Canada. Everyone is. But given his known limitations as a player, there is no guarantee that Russ with Arthur Smith is better than Kenny with Arthur Smith. And he's unsigned and will probably get at least $20M per year next year as long as he hits his career baselines. Yet barring injury I think the team basically gives every start to Russ, torpedoes the last days of Steeler Kenny, is more or less the exact same team they were last year, and then leaves nothing but question marks at the position yet again in 2025.
The only way I can see this making sense is if Pickett is the starter and Wilson is insurance if Pickett still plays poorly with a new OC. They need to find out if Pickett has it or not before they have to decide on his fifth year option. If they go with Wilson, they should just draft a QB this year, trade Pickett and sign another veteran (Rudolph??) backup.
I just don't know that they for sure haven't found that out. We only get to see the games.
If starting Wilson gives them a better chance then what’s that say about Kenny? Especially if they’re only sneaking in with him.
So you have no trust in the organize to develop Pickett and no faith in them to draft another quarterback, and that's fine. But then wouldn't it stand to reason that they probably also botched drafting Kenny Pickett in the first place? There were plenty of teams that needed a QB and elected to pass on him and plenty of franchises who said he was absolutely not a first round pick. Maybe taking him in the first place and expecting him to be a starter in this league is what they got wrong. It would certainly jive with Colbert's other late-stage draft picks.
The one thing I can’t understand is why signing Wilson to a one year one million contract is being interpreted as a commitment to handing Russ the job. It just doesn’t make any sense.
Yeah, hard to imagine Tomlin being incentivized by anything other than playing the best guy. If anything, it would make more sense for his loyalty to skew in favor of the guy who required more draft capital, costs more money, is younger, and is under contract more years. Just makes no sense, other than serving as a built-in preemptive excuse on a Pitt board.
If we're saying Wilson can win more games now and that might screw Pickett over long-term, well, I would say to that: Be better in year 3 of your career than to not be able to win as many games as a 35-year-old in the denouement of his NFL days.
Honestly you're right, what I suggested they should do now is what they should have done from the outset. Probably too late to try start over with KP, they will have to ride or die with him. And if he can't beat out Wilson, best for all involved if the Stillers cut bait.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Nothing about how the Steelers handle personnel has made sense for a while, now, if we're being honest about it.
If we're saying Wilson can win more games, perhaps they should have gone out and spent more money on someone that will be viable for a few years.
Yes, I definitely think it's possible that Kenny was overdrafted (although both ESPN and the NFL had a 1st round grade on him...sometimes guys just don't work out).
But I am also certain that he was basically put in position - denied all starters reps until he was thrown into game action, worst OC in modern NFL history, pretty weak OL and running game for the most part) - where it would be very difficult for most young QBs to achieve.
Look, it is what it is. Life isn't fair. I'm just saying that I think most of the blame falls on the Steelers because: 1) they're the multi-billion dollar organization that exists to get it right; and 2) they made a lot of unforced errors that potentially doomed their 1st round QB which were called out even by average fans at the time. People can criticize Kenny and talk **** on Pitt for his struggles but really it was the Steelers who goofed here.
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If Kenny was drafted like he was on many teams' boards, this wouldn't be an issue. Most reports had teams placing a 3rd/4th round grade on him. The Steelers reached mightily and the drama ensues.
Kaboly, Dulac, Bouchette, and Madden are saying "do you still think we made our stories up about the Kenny/Tomlin situation?"
Kaboly, Dulac, Bouchette, and Madden are saying "do you still think we made our stories up about the Kenny/Tomlin situation?"
Derrick Henry to Ravens,. Steelers are not gonna win 10 games next season anyway.
Look at the opponents they have in 24. AFCN, Chiefs, Chargers, Cowboys, etc.
Look at the opponents they have in 24. AFCN, Chiefs, Chargers, Cowboys, etc.
Yep. Kenny wasn't put in a bad situation; he was, in fact, put in way too good of a situation. He's going to make $14M when he should have made something closer to $5M - what Demarvin Leal signed.
That's the name of the game in sports. David Carr, the revolving door of Browns first round picks, etc. Situation matters. But the really good ones find a way to succeed in spite of it, so I am confident he is at least not that. Because the other side of the equation is that the league has also seen plenty of non-special QBs put up decent to good numbers for a sustained duration of time as a result of the system... but very few of them actually win championships.
Having a 20th overall pick not be the guy is honestly not that damning. I'll take it over the Prescott, Jones, Watson, etc. contracts any day of the week.
Practices dont have live pass rushes where the QB gets driven into the ground. So watching practice does nothing to evaluate a QB. Kenny Looked great in preseason when the OL was giving him all day to throw.
Maybe. There wasn't anyone I loved, honestly. Would you rather be us or the Falcons today? I'm honest not sure. But I definitely didn't want to commit to a Minshew/Brissett type for multiple years. That never works out. Best you'll get out of that situation is what Mayfield gave the Bucs this season or something close.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I think when the Pirates do this it's called dumpster diving although that one LB they got out of the Ravens' dumpster turned out pretty well.
I don't think this is similar to what the Succos do... Queen was 2nd team All Pro least season. Now, had they signed Patrick Neal Harris (Neal Patrick's medical prodigy twin) Or Kevin James, the King of Queens, to play MLB, I think they would be the envy of Nutting.
Some claim he didn't become a really good player until Roquan Smith got there, but we shall see. I like our LB corps more than I did this morning, though. But I'll be the first to admit I don't watch a ton of NFL games beyond the Steelers these days.
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Plus, he’s only 24 years old. And honestly, I’m not worried about him without Roquan Smith when he’ll have Watt and Highsmith on the outside. Even someone like Holcomb or Alexander should be enough to let him flourish.
This is what you can do when you only pay a Super Bowl-winning QB $1.2M. If they can pick up one of the several defensive backs who were cap casualties last week, I’d call this offseason a success already.
Get a safety for cheap.
Sign a good cornerback.
Draft an OL in the first. If not a C, move Daniels there. Then if you take a tackle, move Moore inside. Or just draft an interior lineman... either way. Still have Herbig as well, but you need some depth.
Draft a DL in the 2nd. If you trade Diontae, maybe take a WR here and DL in the third. Should have two 3rds if you trade him: I'm not settling for less than that.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
He's been up and down but I guess the Steelers should have more than one player on the roster that was drafted in 2020.
There are a lot of holes one defense that need filled. A lot of guys without contracts on the 2-deep.
Because Russ is a vet and it's a new offense. The guy who has been in the league 12 years for multiple teams, playing for multiple coordinators, is going to pick things up faster.
We have a defensive coach who is going to value veteran experience and default to that experience. It's simply what I believe is going to happen.
I'm not as big on our defense as some - in large part due to depth. But this is one less position to address on the way to hopefully solidifying the unit. I think we can make the defense a lot better in these next few months, especially if Trice is who they thought he might be and a guy like Benton makes a nice stride heading into this season.
Then maybe the next year a good thing will happen, we go 2-15 and get the best rated QB #1
A QB drafted 20 probably has less than a 50% chance of being a serviceable starter.
I generally agree with your assessment that he's not a top end guy based on the way he has played to date.
But it's not that simple to say "well, we missed on the 20th overall player. No big deal." Unfortunately, we missed on a lot of players late in the Colbert era and that shows in the current roster's brittleness and lack of top end talent. There's a compounding effect to miss again and again (or draft non-premium positions with a premium pick). So even if we nail the QB, there's no guarantee we're a top contender because our OL is pretty meh and we have only 2 NFL players in the secondary. It's a lot to fix. Probably too much, especially given our QB situation.
And it's possible to make players better than they are thru good scheme and good coaching. Less talented QBs - even worse than the Dak, Watson tier - can win and win big. Just last year a guy who is extremely middle of the road in talent and who was a 7th round pick was a few plays from winning the Super Bowl. Same thing in 2020 and 2019. Guys who aren't that great can really be lifted by the right system. And guys who can clearly play can look a lot worse in a stupid system (see Jalen Hurts without Shane Steichen). We seem to have trouble doing that. I think it's fair to say that we ran an offense that really did nothing well over the last 2 years until the OC was fired. Then they took off with 2 different QBs as soon as he was fired. That's on the org.
I think that Khan will help correct some recent draft failures but I worry about our personnel decisions overall and scheme. We've been trending toward win-now in drafts and personnel and that continues with Russ. Tomlin has shown a total inability to hire a professional OC in the last 5+ years. That could be corrected with Smith but to me it's still an open question. Routinely making the wrong personnel and scheme decisions is an easy way to end up a dumpster fire franchise.
Anyway, for me, this should be a make or break year for Tomlin. Reports are that he was "star struck" by Russ and that Russ is his guy. If we nuked Kenny just to go 9-7 and get obliterated in the playoffs again then I think it's fair to move on from Tomlin. At some point, the net result of all of these decisions needs to be on him.
I agree Colbert might as well have been throwing darts in a dimly lit room those last few drafts. But the NFL is probably more forgiving than we (definitely speaking for myself, I know) make it seem at times. The 49ers gave up so much draft capital to get Lance and Jimmy G, yet here they are with a 7th round pick. That's the beauty of the draft system and the cap - you have to be super inept to not be able to recover at least someone. Hell, we're inept and we're still a low end playoff team. And this is especially true with the way teams can restructure contracts, kick dead money down the road, and "go for it" that much more in free agency (which I'm not a huge fan of, but hey). The Rams did that and won a Super Bowl, and just when it looked like they were cooked they seem to be kind of on the upswing again.
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