Some Cook data from last year.

Read this slowly like you have been taught.

The Steelers depth chart does not come out until the end of camp.

You are looking at clickbait. If that is what you need to form a thought then so be it. You know yourself better than I do.

Cook is a placeholder at best (have mom help you look the word up)

He may be a decent backup

Bernard at best will be #4 or #5 WR to start.

This is all I can do to help you.

And why didn’t you answer the question?

 

Cook is the projected starter. Plenty of sources and reports already project him as the Week 1 starter. You're still clinging to the outdated Steelers depth chart that hasn't been updated.I'll tell you what — I’ll bet you right now that Cook opens the season as the starter, barring injury. Then we’ll see how fast you fold.Your read on the Steelers is off. You “think” Bernard won’t play early? I’ll bet he does (play, not necessarily start), barring injury.You can’t help me with this one, but I’ll gladly take your “clown money” if you want to put something on it. Ante up.I already predict you won’t take the bet and will drop like a fly in the freezer instead. Prove me wrong.

 

I see reading comprehension is not your strong point

Please read what I posted and quote me accurately

Done make up lies Joel I already have another lowlife doing this

Try to be honest

Otherwise run along

 

wow... i've missed a lot. but what i can add and gather from a small basic thought process is that listing anyone on a depth chart at this point would be based on a couple things. one would be troy and cook are knowns and healthy...so they will probably be listed as starters all over the net. max and jones are unknowns, one as a rookie and the other as injured, so no one in their right mind would list them as a starter. two no one has an inkling of who will start at what position because how things unfold is a complete unknown.

i believe cook and troy will be the starters. i also believe troy will remain a starter. that being said, cook will be a placeholder unless he is the second coming of trent williams. they invested two 1st round picks in players that can potentially be "the" left tackle. and they have jones which was drafted in the 1st round to potentially be a left tackle. that is a ton of draft stock in a single position.

cook might be good. he might be great. but with that much draft stock in a single position he will have to be amazing to remain at one of the tackle spots as a starter.

 

when a man wants a player to be a starter, he will stop at nothing to label him a starter.

 

If the season were to start tomorrow, our projected starting OL would be:

Fautanu - McCormick - Frazier - Anderson - Cook

Broderick Jones will most likely start the season on the Reserve/PUP list.

I think it will be difficult for Max Iheanachor to win a starting position by the time Game 1 comes along, same with Gennings Dunker. But should Cook and/or Anderson falter, they will definitely be waiting in the wings.

 

Stop lying. You specifically called Cook a backup and claimed Bernard wouldn’t play much early. Want me to pull up the exact quotes and embarrass you more? Just like I predicted, you backed down from a wager I offered. Put your money where your mouth is or own the " L "

 

My brain sees "Sam Cooke Data..." whenever I read this thread title. That would be cool.

 

and food

Sam Cooke song here

 

I’ll help teach you since you repeatedly have reading comprehension issues

One more time

Cook will be a backup he may start early but just as a placeholder and then he might be an adequate backup

Bernard will not play much early he will be #4 or #5 to start

Now put your little man crush boner away before I tell your mom

 

Um, you said:

Why are you so dense? Bernard is seeing the field in Game 1, facts. I’m offering you another bet but you’re dodging it like a coward because deep down you know I’m right. Put up or shut up.

I haven’t heard a mother joke in 30+ years. But you keep saying them.

 

And the Steelers are a team that has a culture of making young guys earn spots.

So on the preliminary depth charts they almost always put the vet first. I think it's (1) out of respect for the vet and (2) to make the young guy hungry.

The two cases I think I remember where this wasn't the case had completely opposite results (but were at the same position). K Green & Z Frazier.

 

I think RT will be one of the most interesting decisions in the starting lineup.

If Jones is healthy, will he get the nod?
How much stock do they put into a good small sample by Cook?
How fast do they want Max to see the field?

I think there's a reasonable argument for any of them to win the job.

Hopefully at least one of them plays well enough to legit win the job.

 

Goog questions.




Jones was a first-round disappointment and struggled even when healthy. He is now dealing with another injury ( spinal fusion on his neck ) and is playing at a very low weight, which makes it highly likely he begins the season on the PUP list.


By contrast, Cook played well in his four starts as whole. I have a saying, three games of good play in the NFL is not a fluke. With more experience in the starting , he should continue to improve. I reviewed Cooks " stats " via 3rd party reports. I also reviewed Jones. The contrast between the two is clear.


Max is a rookie who racked up a high number of penalties in college. He he has shown excellent footwork, but his 9-inch hands are significantly below average for a man his size, raising questions about grip strength. Combined with his limited football background, there’s a steep learning curve ahead against NFL edge rushers. His run-blocking was only average even against mediocre college competition. I don’t believe he is ready to start in the season opener, and he’s unlikely to start the this season unless multiple injuries force the issue.


The team’s apparent plan seems to be letting Cook walk in free agency next year (where he can likely sign a big deal elsewhere) while developing Max on his cheap rookie contract. This gives them five years of low-cost control at the position and is by far the most economical solution for the 2027–2030 window. Whether Max develops of not is debatable.


Also, I would be dismiss Troy F moving back to Right Tackle and Cook too Left Tackle IF Troy F struggles in camp and preseason game#1.

- JB

 

we have no idea how mccarthy will treat the young guys.

 

Vince Lombardi treated them all the same, like dirt

 

There is at least one poster here he has an excessive man crush on Dylan Cook so I thought I would toss out some facts

In 2022 no team thought he was worth any draft pick he was a UDFA

He did not have enough talent to stay on Tampa’s practice squad let alone the 53

In 2023 he did not show the Steelers enough to play a single snap

In 2024 he was injured then was on the practice squad for a few weeks

In 2025 he was waved then later signed to the practice squad then only because of multiple injuries they were forced to play him at LT

He had two good games one fair game and one poor game declining each game for the equivalent of a C+ rating

The Steelers spent a first round draft choice to fill the position

He is playing on vet minimum

He has not been offered an extension

That shows you what Omar and professional coaches from three completely different staffs think of his ability (along with most knowledgeable fans)

Purely because of injury and default when the Steelers/NFL depth chart comes out at the end of camp (all others are clickbait) Cook may be a placeholder at RT. This will only be until he is replaced by Jones or Iheanachor or someone capable.

The last sentence is an opinion.

Everything else is an undeniable fact.

He yam what he yam and that’s all that he yam

 

We'll see how it plays out. We like to make our rookies work for it and Max is raw. So I could easily see Cook start the season as the starter. My guess is that he won't be the starter by the end of the season...but we're all just guessing.

I get that you really value the small sample Cook played last year. He did well. But it's four games. And no matter how many times we might say that three games is enough, that doesn't mean that it becomes true. He may work out. I hope he does. And it's certainly better that his first few games were good vs. being bad. I think I brought up McCollum earlier in the thread (or maybe another thread you started on Cook). He played well as an injury backup for Frazier when he got hurt (IIRC in his rookie year). I believe we had our highest rushing totals of the year in the games McCollum played. And yet, he's not starting at C. Because he's not better than Zach is.

You can tell the team agrees that Cook's small sample isn't enough since they drafted an OT in the 1st round.

 

Exactly

 

Yawn.

Dylan Cook was thrust into starting duty late in the 2025 season (Weeks 15-18 plus a playoff game) with very limited first-team reps beforehand, yet he performed well for a young tackle. He started against some of the league’s toughest pass rushes — Dolphins, Ravens, Lions, and Browns — and held his own with clean pocket protection, low penalties, and consistently solid PFF pass-block grades in the high 70s to 80s.Overall, PFF graded him at 76.0 for the season, which ranked 22nd among the 64 qualified starting tackles. That’s not just “average” for a man thrust into the fire — that’s legitimately good, especially in pass protection. Steelers fans and analysts rightly highlighted his “stirring rise” and strong finish down the stretch.

Yet clowns like you still give him him a C+ in perfomace. I quoted your exact take and offered you a wager on it. You folded like a cheap lawn chair.

 

Why do you and @steelersrule6 always hide behind clowns when confronted with facts and pretending to be things you are not

Autism of some type maybe considering the reading comprehension and inability to be accurate and focused

You never answered the question on the clowns

And since being honest is not in your tool box most certainly no one is taking a wager with you

So please as requested before run along and play with the others in the litter box

Heck there is one there who now seems to be quite happy just arguing with himself

Now run along please the adults are talking

 

i actually hope jones heals and is given a chance to play his natural LT spot just to see what he may actually be. i feel tomlin really stunted his growth by playing the draft a LT to play RT game and subsequently draft another LT to play RT with troy. then jones got hurt just as it seemed like he was getting back into a groove at LT.

i always hated how tomlin wanted to put players out of position and try to make them work. i'd love to see cook be a damn good T but as i said previously, he would have to be amazing to stick due to the draft stock involved with the T position.

 

Have you read anything that suggests Jones will be 100% ready to go for week 1?

Everything I am reading is saying IR to start the season.

 

No. We haven't really heard anything specific about his health IIRC.

Although I think he wasn't sidelined in OTAs, which is at least somewhat positive.

That's what I said "If Jones is healthy" in the post you quoted.

I haven't heard anything that isn't just speculation saying they think he'll start on IR. Maybe I'm being optimistic here, but I think him participating in OTAs suggest he won't start on IR barring a setback.

I do expect that he'll start camp on the PUP though. Seems like that's pretty standard practice for anyone who's even slightly injured. I think this protects the team a bit if the guy ends up not being able to play.