Mason

I wonder who was the last guy we traded after we'd restructured their contract (although the AH restructure was 2024).

It's only betting the chalk, but my guess is that he plays out his contract with us. He was probably our best edge rusher last season. 9.5 sacks despite missing 4 games.

But the thing that IMO has always stood out with Highsmith is that he's always been very good at getting TFLs because he has a great get off. He had 15 last season (in a 3 way tie for t-8th in the league).

Herbig was also strong in this area with 13 TFLs. He played in more gams than AH, but generally a smaller role. Snap counts were similar: NH had 610 snaps and AH had 634. I wonder what a comparison of usage (down/distance) would look like

 

I would agree with you in the fact that he plays it out here.
Omar will never be confused with an aggressive GM.
But if I am a betting man, I'd wager on your line.
The point being, if a trade is to be made, Highsmith would be the better option to net more value and be less disruptive since Herbig is pretty good as well.

 

Agree. He even looks slow overall, from a fan's perspective IMO.

And Mason has always been a bit of a one trick pony - the deep ball. And even THAT seemed to fade away in recent passes.

I'd love to see the guy turn his career around and become a top QB in the league, but nothing I've seen to date gives me the least bit of hope that'll happen.

 

How do you know if he hasn't had the proper coaching? The list of QBs since Ben is a bunch of disappointments and very Clevelandish. Can we say that all of the QBs that went to CLE were that bad for so long or did the organization make them that way? Same with MT's regime JMO>

 

You are comparing a team that has selected four 1st round draft Qbs, and traded everything for another in the last 20 years to a team that has only drafted one Qb in the 1st round???

 

You ever watch him in college? Same knocks on him back then. If it could be coached out of him, it would have already happened. Even by the inept steelers coaching staff.

 

QBs that had their best recent play under the Mike formerly known as the Steelers coach

1.Mason
2. Pickett
3. Wilson
4. Fields
5. Rodgers

 

Batch
Roethlisberger
Duck

 

Bad feet. I thought it would be coached out of him, but everytime I think it is, he reverts back to it.

 

last year he threw at a 73% completion rate. he was at 64% in tenn.. the year before that here 74.3% rate. i don't care that is pretty high for bad feet. canada, fichtner, smith and arth for one year and i don't know who in tenn., were his QB coaches. the first two were not your cream of the crop coaches for sure. tenn. was a mess. smith had other problem and i never thought was very QB friendly. arth we shall see but was at 73% under him last year. now mike mccarthy and arth, plus. i could see him being able to improve. he is only 30 and not heavily used up.

 

It's his number one flaw in preventing him from becoming a full time starter. poor awareness of pressure.

 

Agreed. Seems like he lacks instinct as well. Between the ears.

 

Mason went to Tennessee and unseated Malik in camp, to the point they traded him away. Now he is suddenly better than Mason.

 

I thought the moustache meant things were going to be different

 

That's when His bad feet show. It's like a boxer that loses footwork as soon as he's hit.

 

Malik Willis isn't 30 years old and he hasn't been in the league since 2018.

 

Herbig is not more consistent. He disappears more often than Highsmith.

 

Per dollar, he does not.
I look at it from an investment standpoint, Highsmith has come off at times as unstoppable but other times I haven't heard his name for several games...
Of course, everything is in flux as a better DC might renew a few careers.

 

That is not how you phrased it. You listed younger and cheaper separately, then consistency.

Herbig is not consistent at all. When he starts, he disappears more often than not.

 

I think someone else mentioned same... I think I said "Highsmith's trade value is greater than Herbigs and we could help the team more" something along those lines.
Which is same.
But in either case, assuming I made any decisions, I could probably get a pick and get a young guy playing on his first contract and not get hurt while saving money that might be put to better use..

 

Part of the problem is that Herbig does get hurt. I think there is still a significant drop-off from Highsmith to Herbig. The latter makes a higher rate of explosive plays, but Highsmith provides more consistent pressure. He also stepped up big time when Watt was out this past season.

 

I think they both tend to disappear from time to time. They played a similar amount of snaps and put up relatively similar numbers (Highsmith slightly higher TFL and Sacks, Herbig higher turnovers). We will see what happens this year. Some will do better with Graham, some will do worse.

 

Highsmith has played a full season at an elite level. I'm not sure Herbig has even played an entire game at that level.