Colin Cowherd thinks the Steelers are a top 5 roster

The bottom line; the Steelers haven't won anything without a top 10 or even top 5 defense. It's how they get to SBs. It's how they win SBs.
Paying an offense just so they can match what other teams are doing isn't going to help them win another championship. Rooney understands this.

 

I don't think Dak is going to cost 65 million. But we could afford him if we wanted to... We wont know until the deal is signed, but if Dak hits FA I think we'd be dumb to not at least check it out. And yeah, the cheapest starting QB price is Geno Smith (pretty good deal at 25 million a year) and Baker is at 33 (which is probably where we'd be looking if one of our QB's plays solid and the team does well. That is fine. It is still less than most teams are paying their QB.

With what looks like nearly 100 million to spend, we can afford to think big for a change. Even if its Wilson at 2 years 35 million a year... We'd still be able to extend Freiermuth and Pickens and also go get someone like Higgins (and have cash to spare)

 

It's not just a "Steeler" thing, it is really the trend in the league if you look. Dating back to 2000, it is easy to see why.

2000-2005 - SB winners dominated by elite defenses
2006-2012 - all over the place. Brees and P. Manning won with dominant offenses and bad defenses. Eli won twice with highly mediocre teams across the board. The Ravens won with a balanced team. The Steelers and Packers won theirs on the backs of dominant defenses.
2013-Current - Well rounded teams win it all. Only the Rams (2021) and Chiefs (2022) won it all with defenses not in the top 8 in the league (15th and 16th ranked respectively). Conversely, only 2 teams won it all with offenses ranked outside the top 10 in that same span (2015 Broncos, 2023 Chiefs)

It is hard to win it all without a good defense. More teams have won with Mediocre offense and great defense than have won it all with great offense and mediocre defense. I don't know why the narrative is that you have to be the big boy spenders on the offense only? Kinda goes against what actually wins, and that is having a well rounded team.

 

Why would the Steelers be interested in Dak at 50-60 million a year?

 

I'd imagine that it would be because we think our roster is good enough to win it all with Dak as our QB? Thought that would be pretty obvious... Couple that with the fact that we would easily be able to afford it. It kinda just makes sense. I'd honestly be shocked if we weren't heavily interested in Dak if he hits the market.

 

Why do people believe the Cowboys will let Dak walk?!


Barring a cataclysmic meltdown of epic proportions, Jerry needs the likes of Dak to put butts in seats to sell massive amounts of tickets, merchandise and appareal for the Cowboys. Jerrys legendary quote of "paying any amount to win a Super Bowl" is nothing more than his usual cache of marekting tactics to win over Cowboys Fans into believing that the team will win it all.


That all said, what of Micah?! Cannot let him walk.

 

We have the talent, just depends on if tomlin and his coaches can get them to play to their potential.


Biggest unknown is Wilson of course.

 

This guy must be desperate for clicks, LOL.

 

There are rumors that Jerrah Jones will trade away his entire team and his house to draft Quinn Ewers. Homegrown Texas boy playing in the Big D.... Jones is already imagining the headlines.

 

We will live or die with Wilson (the Russell one)

If he can at least be a mediocre game manager we will should be better than last year

 

Rooney doesn't understand much regarding the Steelers, this current Rooney, that is

 

because that is what the market bears / will bear come 2025 for a top 5-7 QB in this league. i see him in that 5-7 area

Desperate times WILL require desperate measure.

 

I really can’t explain how we finished 10-7 last year..improved in the off season…and are now thought to go 7-10.

 

The biggest unknown is tomlins assistant coaches hiring. His track record of hiring below average assistant oaches is the reason for the decline, in my opinion.

 

Man, with facts like these, I am going to have to edit my score prediction. What is Tomlin's record vs. rookie head coaches, again?

 

That’s exactly what i was thinking.

 

Well, it probably has something to do with the fact that they just paid CeeDee Lamb, will have to pay Parsons and would have to use the entirety of the rest of their cap space to keep Dak around. Could they make it work? Absolutely. But if Dak fails to win in the playoffs again in 2024 they could look to the draft where a Texas kid in Ewers will be available as well as Deion Sanders' kid.... Both of those will bring PLENTY of hype (particularly Shedeur Sanders) and satisfy the tickets/merch problem while still affording them an opportunity to chase the SB. They might spend in FA instead of on Dak and try to win it all with a QB on a rookie deal instead of having a top paid QB. I'm not saying it is 100%, but it isn't an unlikely scenario either.

 

Didn't know Falcons had a rookie Head Coach. I may have to change mine too.

 

Oops! My mistake. Morris was Tampa Bay's HC for awhile. I thought Robinson, the OC was the HC. I forgot about the forgettable Raheem Morris.

 

Mind you I did say barring a cataclysmic meltdown for a reason. In a much weaker QB Class, the likes of Shedeur and Carson will both be among the top consensus Draft Picks. As such, quite a lot of horrible has to happen for Dallas to even entertain that idea on its own.


Now, should that happen?! More than likely Dak will he jettisoned. If not, expect the Cowboys to pay Dak first.

 

True, both should be high picks, but I would imagine that Jerry would be willing to trade a lot to get up there. I certainly don't think Dallas will be bad enough to be in prime draft position to land either of them on their own pick. But they could get into the top 10 pretty easily by packaging their first two picks in 2025 with a 2026 pick. We got from 20 to 10 with a first, second, and following year third to get Bush... 25 to 5 could be a first, second, and following year first. That would be plenty high enough to land Sanders, as I'd expect Deion to instruct Shedeur to publicly state he will refuse to go anywhere but Dallas in this scenario (I think they've already mentioned having "preferred destinations" or something like that).

As for being jettisoned... why would they sign him and trade him? Dak probably wouldn't sign with Dallas and then be open to letting them choose where he goes... He would want the autonomy to negotiate his own deal and choose which team he wants to play for. I'd imagine he'd outright refuse to do a sign and trade (I would if I were him).

Dak will either re-sign or be allowed to test FA. If the latter comes to pass, I'd 100% expect us to be serious players in the conversation.

 

Well, Dak hasn't done much with Dallas in the playoffs certainly not enough to pay him that kind of money.

 

Because if they wanted to keep Dak they probably would've signed him long term by now, can they afford to pay Micah and Dak next offseason?

 

Winner. I don't hate Dak. I think He is about somewhere in the top 10 to the middle of the pack, but We have seen Him with the best Rb in the league at one time, and the best OL. I have yet to see Him on a weak team. That Dallas team has been stacked, and yet.........Nothing.