Official TAST - This A'int Steelers Talk Thread

[3rivers]

On 7/30/2023 at 11:02 PM, warfelg said:

 

so this is getting ugly, probably worse than what we had with Bell.   Colts aren't giving in and neither is Taylor.  Trade would be what most teams would do but irsay is a different breed

[3rivers]

2 hours ago, warfelg said:

https://x.com/pff/status/1690412760524308480?s=46&t=xd5QJpZuXv2k7qD0xqd6aA

 

😬

in his own end off the wrong foot. No Taylor and OL suspect.  Colts fans might want to take the season off

[warfelg]

https://x.com/nfl/status/1690505123557244928?s=46&t=xd5QJpZuXv2k7qD0xqd6aA
 

Twitter - nee X - is going nuts over this play and Flowers being really elusive. I see over pursuit with not being squared up on a bad angle to a WR who literally just turned. Most starting NFL WRs should be able to avoid that tackle. 

[bigben07MVP]

@armsteeld our guy DTR has been slicing and dicing in preseason so far. He looks nice. 

[warfelg]

https://x.com/rapsheet/status/1693743052366533048?s=46&t=xd5QJpZuXv2k7qD0xqd6aA
 

RBs are fungible but I would do it to keep him from Baltimore/Cincy

[warfelg]

https://x.com/nfltrade_rumors/status/1693750131345027572?s=46&t=xd5QJpZuXv2k7qD0xqd6aA
 

hmm. Najee, Dodson, and a 3rd? Doubt Indy would take that but there’s rumors Baltimore is gonna reach out along with Miami. 

[43M]

49 minutes ago, warfelg said:

https://x.com/nfltrade_rumors/status/1693750131345027572?s=46&t=xd5QJpZuXv2k7qD0xqd6aA
 

hmm. Najee, Dodson, and a 3rd? Doubt Indy would take that but there’s rumors Baltimore is gonna reach out along with Miami. 

Along with trading for him comes a huge long term deal.

Hard, hard pass.

[jebrick]

12 hours ago, warfelg said:

https://x.com/nfltrade_rumors/status/1693750131345027572?s=46&t=xd5QJpZuXv2k7qD0xqd6aA
 

hmm. Najee, Dodson, and a 3rd? Doubt Indy would take that but there’s rumors Baltimore is gonna reach out along with Miami. 

You would only be renting him for a year

[warfelg]

I'd do it and front load that contract for next year.  Taylor is a clear upgrade over Najee, would set our offense to the next level, and allows you to move one from some high cap guys on the offense like Robinson, Okorafor, and maybe even Johnson.

 

I find this kinda funny to be honest that for the last 3-4 years everyone has seemed to be in agreement that having a Rookie QB would allow us to make swings like this, front load some deals, make life easy for him; then all the sudden there's an opportunity to do something and the reaction is like "eh, I don't want to".  

 

FWIW I just ran an easy calculator to cut Chucks and Robinson, trade DJ, restructure TJ, and extend Heyward 1 year to ease his cap hit and I got to $44+million in cap space.  Who the heck are you spending that on next year if not a move like this?

Just to give you some of the top guys out there and my thoughts:

Leonard Williams - will want to be paid too much for a run stuffer.  Will be 30.

Chris Jones - I think he gets a new contract from KC this year.

Budda Baker - Opinion here seems to be against him.

DJ Reader - I wouldn't mind but unless Larry O can't stay healthy he isn't really worth it.

Tyler Boyd - Maybe?  But he'll be 30 and is a little too much overlap with Pickens.

Josh Jacobs/Tony Pollard/Saquon Barkley - If your against this move I don't see why you would want this.

Devin White - Again seems like the consensus is against him when he came up last time.

Chauncey Gardner Johnson - Seems like he could be a choice but we could afford him this year and didn't even try for him.

Patrick Queen - Again a name that could make sense but the way he's talked about around here seems like a non-starter.

Tee Higgins - Here's one of the few guys I would go after hard in this free agency class.

Antoine Winfield Jr - Again one of the few guys I'd go after hard.

And I'd expect 4-5 of these guys to be extended before free agency even hits, and maybe another 1 or 2 of them get the franchise tag.  So yea.  I'd go spend on Jonathan Taylor now since they are making him available.  Do it and upgrade what seems to be an already improving offense.

[AFF]

4 minutes ago, warfelg said:

I'd do it and front load that contract for next year.  Taylor is a clear upgrade over Najee, would set our offense to the next level, and allows you to move one from some high cap guys on the offense like Robinson, Okorafor, and maybe even Johnson.

 

I find this kinda funny to be honest that for the last 3-4 years everyone has seemed to be in agreement that having a Rookie QB would allow us to make swings like this, front load some deals, make life easy for him; then all the sudden there's an opportunity to do something and the reaction is like "eh, I don't want to".  

 

FWIW I just ran an easy calculator to cut Chucks and Robinson, trade DJ, restructure TJ, and extend Heyward 1 year to ease his cap hit and I got to $44+million in cap space.  Who the heck are you spending that on next year if not a move like this?

Just to give you some of the top guys out there and my thoughts:

Leonard Williams - will want to be paid too much for a run stuffer.  Will be 30.

Chris Jones - I think he gets a new contract from KC this year.

Budda Baker - Opinion here seems to be against him.

DJ Reader - I wouldn't mind but unless Larry O can't stay healthy he isn't really worth it.

Tyler Boyd - Maybe?  But he'll be 30 and is a little too much overlap with Pickens.

Josh Jacobs/Tony Pollard/Saquon Barkley - If your against this move I don't see why you would want this.

Devin White - Again seems like the consensus is against him when he came up last time.

Chauncey Gardner Johnson - Seems like he could be a choice but we could afford him this year and didn't even try for him.

Patrick Queen - Again a name that could make sense but the way he's talked about around here seems like a non-starter.

Tee Higgins - Here's one of the few guys I would go after hard in this free agency class.

Antoine Winfield Jr - Again one of the few guys I'd go after hard.

And I'd expect 4-5 of these guys to be extended before free agency even hits, and maybe another 1 or 2 of them get the franchise tag.  So yea.  I'd go spend on Jonathan Taylor now since they are making him available.  Do it and upgrade what seems to be an already improving offense.

I’m not giving a RB a 2nd contract unless they’re A) elite and/or B) was a day 2 Or day 3 pick which caused them to hit FA sooner than a 1st round pick would.

Taylor while young, already has about 1700 rushing attempts on his body betweeen college and the Pros.

I probably wouldn’t want to do it either

but between Taylor and say Pollard…I’d rather give a long term deal to Pollard.

[warfelg]

2 minutes ago, AFF said:

I’m not giving a RB a 2nd contract unless they’re A) elite and/or B) was a day 2 Or day 3 pick which caused them to hit FA sooner than a 1st round pick would.

Taylor while young, already has about 1700 rushing attempts on his body betweeen college and the Pros.

I probably wouldn’t want to do it either

but between Taylor and say Pollard…I’d rather give a long term deal to Pollard.

Other than the 1700 attempts Taylor fits both your A and B stipulations.

 

Also - hot take - Pollard is going to crash as the Primary back.  

[AFF]

11 minutes ago, warfelg said:

Other than the 1700 attempts Taylor fits both your A and B stipulations.

 

Also - hot take - Pollard is going to crash as the Primary back.  

I thought a high touch amount would be self explanatory but I’ll add it as C.

in my mind I was thinking Taylor was a late 1st not an early 2nd.

I don’t think he will long as Dallas doesn’t bash him between the tackles 20x a game (I don’t think they will) and use him in space as they should….we can agree to disagree on that regard.

[warfelg]

1 minute ago, AFF said:

I thought a high touch amount would be self explanatory but I’ll add it as C.

in my mind I was thinking Taylor was a late 1st not an early 2nd.

I don’t think he will long as Dallas doesn’t bash him between the tackles 20x a game (I don’t think they will) and use him in space as they should….we can agree to disagree on that regard.

The issue I see with Pollard was that Zeke did take those hard needed between the tackles runs - who takes it now?  Personally I think part of what makes Pollard good is the same thing that makes Warren so good.  I think it was Baldy who said it, but with Najee and Warren when Najee is in the game he's the focus of defenses, but when Warren is in they tend to focus all over giving more opportunities.  He's averaged 10.4 rushes a game the last two years, 13 touches per game total.  They need to replace 17 touches per game.  Duce Vaughn is going to take what, 4-5 of those a game?  That pushes Pollard into the 25 touches a game area and I don't think he's built for that.

[AFF]

7 minutes ago, warfelg said:

The issue I see with Pollard was that Zeke did take those hard needed between the tackles runs - who takes it now?  Personally I think part of what makes Pollard good is the same thing that makes Warren so good.  I think it was Baldy who said it, but with Najee and Warren when Najee is in the game he's the focus of defenses, but when Warren is in they tend to focus all over giving more opportunities.  He's averaged 10.4 rushes a game the last two years, 13 touches per game total.  They need to replace 17 touches per game.  Duce Vaughn is going to take what, 4-5 of those a game?  That pushes Pollard into the 25 touches a game area and I don't think he's built for that.

I think Dallas is going to a lot more pass heavy than people are anticipating.

His touches will go up to an extent but with them passing more it should be closer to 20.

Thpught they would sign 1 of the vet FA RBs like Fournette but nothing yet.

Also I do agree with being aggressive in FA…Winfield would be great.

Edited August 22, 2023 by AFF

[warfelg]

7 minutes ago, AFF said:

I think Dallas is going to a lot more pass heavy than people are anticipating.

His touches will go up to an extent but with them passing more it should be closer to 20.

Thpught they would sign 1 of the vet FA RBs like Fournette but nothing yet.

Also I do agree with being aggressive in FA…Winfield would be great.

FWIW last year they passed 51% and Ran 49% and McCarthy has been talking about running the ball more to rest the defense, and part of the reason they let Moore go was because he didn't take that direction.