Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Wednesday,
The Kickoff
I don’t often find myself this non-committal when it comes to a trade but that’s where I find myself. The Pittsburgh Steelers traded Minkah Fitzpatrick and a 2027 fifth round pick to the Miami Dolphins for Jalen Ramsey, Jonnu Smith and a 2027 seventh rounder. I’ve had plenty of time to dwell on this and I’m still just not sure how I feel. From a financial aspect, I understand what Omar Khan is doing. The Steelers have not seen enough from Minkah the last two seasons to warrant his contract. Heading into a likely ‘extension year’ in 2026 and closing in on 30, Fitzpatrick wasn’t likely to get another huge deal from the Steelers. On the flip side is Ramsey who is already over 30 but they clearly view him as more versatile and more impactful to their defense. As for Smith, he immediately upgrades the offense but to what extent? I can’t see him replicating his 88-catch season from last year in this offense but he could still provide enough to make defenses pay attention. Still though… That lack of a true WR2 worries me.
The Latest Podcast
We aired a Special Edition of the SCB Steelers Podcast presented by DEK Roofing Inc last night and it’s here for your pleasure! Following Monday’s developments, we felt it necessary to give you our reactions to the trade. We also discussed T.J. Watt, how the trade impact both sides of the ball and more!
Thank You
We were informed last week by millionpodcasts.com that we were one of their Top 100 NFL Podcasts. I have no idea how these things work but this is a great honor and on behalf of the guys, we are very appreciative!!
Da Beard is Us!
Former Steeler and two-time Super Bowl winner Brett ‘Da Beard’ Keisel took to ‘X’ yesterday and sounded a lot like the rest of us. In a since deleted tweet, Keisel lamented the fact the “City of Champions” is struggling and called out all three franchises – even the Steelers. Why he deleted it I do not know. He was 100% correct in his take and to me, this is proof that our frustrations are not limited to us. Former players – even those that have always remained mostly quiet – are frustrated! I wish Keisel hadn’t deleted it.
DOoMED
The Cleveland Browns are moving forward with a brand new stadium in a suburb of Cleveland. This means for the first time in their history, they’ll play outside the city and away from the Lake. As our longest-running rival, what they do really doesn’t affect me but that isn’t the case here for a couple of reasons. First, this will be the first domed stadium in the AFC North. It follows the trend of doing this so that the venue can be used all year ’round. With the Steelers’ lease with the city for Acrisure Stadium up in 2030, I can’t help but wonder if we aren’t doomed to the same fate. We’ve joked many times on the podcast about the Steelers moving out to Cranberry to build a massive complex featuring an indoor stadium for year ’round use. While that wouldn’t stop me from being a fan, it would definitely be a difficult pill to swallow. Football, in my humble opinion, has always been meant to be played in the elements.
Random Reads
This new Superman movie looks terrible… Few things make me feel like a kid anymore. I still enjoy the excitement of a Christmas morning and the smell of a ballpark on gameday. But, even at my advanced age, I still look forward to EA’s College Football video game which returned last year after a 10-year hiatus. We could have only dreamed of having a game like this as kids… This story of Malik Beasley, the NBA player being investigated for gambling, could be really bad. He quite possibly could have seriously affected the outcome of games when he played with Milwaukee in the 2023/24 season… This is incredibly self-serving but I can’t thank the folks who are in our chat on the podcast every week enough. I highly encourage you to check us out live and even if you don’t get involved, maybe you’ll enjoy the banter. It’s a great time and it makes our show what it is.
Hot Reads is presented by Frank Walker Law!
