Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Wednesday.
The Kickoff
Maybe some day I’ll regret spending so much time writing about Aaron Rodgers. Actually, upon further reflection, I’m already there. While I firmly believe he’s coming back, I struggle with why he can’t just commit despite what Mike McCarthy said yesterday. There is zero to wait on in my opinion. There isn’t a rookie QB in this draft that would be a threat to him. Mason Rudolph? Will Howard? There’s no threat there either. So clearly this comes down to two things. Money and Rodgers’ ego. The ego part is easy to figure out. Rodgers enjoys the courtship and he enjoys being in the news cycle despite what he’ll tell you. He also feels no rush to come back because he largely knows the offense of Mike McCarthy. So perhaps this comes down to money. Last season, Rodgers was paid roughly $13.5 million. There are “reports” that he could be seeking as much as $30 million and if those are accurate then Omar Khan should have told him to take a hike a long time ago. There’s no doubt he’ll get more than he did last year but something that I keep coming back to is this… Rodgers came to Pittsburgh to play for Mike Tomlin and because the Steelers were really his last option. Well, Tomlin is gone and the Steelers appear to be his ‘last option’ once again. All I know is that I’m tired of discussing it.
The Fall of PFF
I’m not going to dance on the grave of Pro Football Focus because I do believe the founders were passionate about football and that is something I can understand. The concept was a good one – rate players based on performance – then spread the word via social media. The problem was always this; you cannot grade a player if you don’t know what their assignment was. PFF graded players as if they knew more than everyone else. Had they just come out and said, “We recognize that we don’t know every assignment but we are doing our best to evaluate the player nevertheless” then I think many would have been OK with that. The clincher for me was when Cris Collinsworth got involved which led to the commercialization and usage by NBC. For me, it became a joke. Was there a positive within what PFF was doing? Sure there was especially for novice fans but for fellow die-hards it just never passed muster.
League Meetings
The current meetings of the NFL’s 32 billionaires has been ongoing this week. No surprises really so far… They of course want to add an 18th game and more international games. This is as surprising as your wife asking “what’s for dinner?” In order to move to 18 though the league will need to re-open the Collective Bargaining Agreement and that means the players will want more money. Ultimately, they will get it and we’ll get more games. Oddly enough, the Competition Committee did not take up the issue of the “tush push” which was a huge topic last year. It’s clearly not going anywhere. The other big issues surrounded officiating and more influence from the “eye in the sky.” There will be issues with this, I guarantee it.
The Podcast
ICYMI… Episode 466 of the SCB Steelers Podcast presented by DEK Roofing Inc is available! Our next show comes up Thursday night at 10pmET on our YouTube channel! All kinds of Draft and League talk!
Jones
One month from today, the Steelers will need to decide whether to give Broderick Jones his fifth-year option. I do not believe they will and I’m not sure they would have even before Jones had spinal fusion surgery to end his 2025 season. Everything with his recovery is going well according to Omar Khan but don’t be surprised if the Steelers take a tackle early in this draft.
Random Reads
Thank you to everyone who reached out across social media yesterday to wish me a Happy Birthday. I tried my best to reply to everyone individually so if I missed you it was not intentional, but thank you again… Here’s my take on UConn Coach Danny Hurley making contact with the official following the game-winning three. I firmly believe that the official did not call a technical simply because of the fallout. Can you imagine had he called a tech there? Duke goes down and hits the foul shot and goes on to win?? Talk about a news story… Italy has now missed three-straight World Cups. They won this thing four times and can’t get back… The US team better get their shit together. They’ve been outclassed badly in the last two games… If you’re headed to the Draft and you’ve never been to Pittsburgh before then consider yourself warned. It’s a wonderful city but the traffic flow is terrible especially when you add hundreds of thousands of people.
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