Welcome Minkah Fitzpatrick

They Better get close...... I said 75% as good and not 90%..

Cajun

 

I have to agree with shaner82 here. This is clearly a short-term gain move at the expense of the long-term. There are times that makes sense and there are times when it doesn't. They went 13 years without trading up in the first or trading away a first rounder and now they do it twice in 6 months when the team is less likely to win a Lombardi? I won't say it smacks of desperation but more of just hanging on. Like the 40 year old former beauty queen who decides to get plastic surgery. Oh it'll keep you looking a little younger a little longer, but it ain't getting you anymore crowns.

 

Tomlin in his press conference today said Fitzpatrick will concentrate on playing FS for now

 

Aside from tua , who the dolphins are going to draft almost certainly , what other QB from this class is worth tanking for ? Why would bouchette even say that? Pittsburgh has a toxic local media and tanking is lame as hell, I don’t care if we go 6-10 I want to see them try on every snap all season long. Herbert is garbage before anyone brings him up.

 

Douchette is just that...Tank lol... Tomlin is hanging on by a thread now...And they're gonna tank...With Watt, Heyward, Conner,Haden etc. on the team... They might not be good enough, But they would never let them tank

 

That’s a guy we probably should have kept.

 

I didn't interpret what Bouchette wrote as the Steelers should intentionally tank, but rather that if Rudolph proves to be marginal that their record will tank.

As for the Dolphins I'm not sure they're targeting anyone in particular, they're just trying to load up on as many draft picks as they can get to give them maximum flexibility on draft day whether that means getting the one guy you want, getting as many picks as possible, or whatever.

 

Most of these comments make me cringe. Ben is coming back and plans to play out his contract. Why would you waste a 1st round pick on QB that will end up most likely riding the pine for a couple years. Steelers need players that can play now, hence Minkah Fitzpatrick. If Ben sucks when he comes back they will be in the running for a top QB anyhow. Flame suit on.

 

....and Mason Rudolph.

 

and Mason Rudolph

 

Excellent pickup. Don't like the trade for him considering our next yrs pick could be top 10 but oh well.

 

I like the trade. We were probably going to draft another sub-standard LB with the #1 anyway.

 

This is the sort of player we would be taking with a high pick anyway. I don't think we would have drafted another QB unless Rudolph falls flat on his face and I don't think the team expects that. So we lose one year of control that we would have had with the draft pick but don't have to pay the signing bonus and are getting a guy who has shown he belongs in the NFL and so is more of a sure thing than a pick would be. I get why it seems a weird time to suddenly make a move like this but it doesn't seem that risky to me.

 

Did anyone explain to Mike what that means?

 

Rudolph a known quantity? Really? He has thrown a grand total of 19 passes in his pro career. Plus you are going to need a legit #1 wide receiver to take the load off JuJu that will make it a lot easier for Rudolph.

A good Db is easier to get than a true #1 wide receiver or Qb. Their odds of getting a top-notch player at one of those two positions went down a lot, imo.

 

A top notch DB now could help average wideouts get more playing time and experience. I think it was a great move.

 

Is he happy to be here?

 

As you said, wait and see. Here's my fear though. We build a good team but are lacking a quality QB. We won't win and will likely be stuck in the middle ground where we're too good to get a franchise QB but not good enough to win.

Look around the league at those teams without a franchise QB. Many of them are stuck in the middle ground, which is why they never really improve. It's too hard to build a team without focusing on the QB early on. Most franchise QB's are taken in the 1st.

I get the hope for MR to be the guy, but why not keep the 1st as insurance?

 

Steelers will “anchor” Minkah Fitzpatrick at safety for now

Posted by Josh Alper on September 17, 2019

During his year-plus in Miami, Minkah Fitzpatrick lined up at a variety of spots on the Dolphins defense.

The Steelers don’t plan to employ Fitzpatrick in that manner early in his time with the team. Fitzpatrick was acquired in a Monday night trade and head coach Mike Tomlin outlined some of the team’s plans for him at a Tuesday press conference.

Tomlin said that the plan is for Fitzpatrick to play free safety, which was occupied by Sean Davis before he went on injured reserve Tuesday.

“He will be playing the safety position,” Tomlin said, via Will Selva of NFL Media. “We’ll quickly get him up to speed. He’s a sharp guy, getting to know in the draft process. In the short term, we’re going to anchor him down to one position.”

Tomlin said the Steelers scouted Fitzpatrick heading into the 2018 draft as they were in the market for a safety and liked what they saw, but Fitzpatrick was off the board with the 11th pick. The Steelers took Terrell Edmunds with the 28th overall pick and now both safeties will be in the same secondary.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/

 

I don't get the idea that this is for a short term gain. Dude is just starting his second year. He is 22 and we basically got the Dolphins to pay his signing bonus and give him a year of experience. He is less of a gamble than a draft pick and not much older or less cost controlled (we lost one year but again didn't pay the signing bonus on a high pick). The only way this bites us is if he either sucks (again, less risk of that than with a draft pick who has never played in the NFL) or Mason sucks and we would have been picking really high and needing a QB. I think the team believes in Mason so they didn't see the second possibility as much of a risk.

 

This is one of the times Douchette is right. Tomlin got the get out of jail free card when Ben got hurt. He is coming back next year. Next year will be the final year if the Steelers go 4-12 or something like that.

 

I don't think our defense is awful and it got better with this trade. IMO, it totally boils down to Butler puts our guys in really bad positions. Especially the safeties. I don't see us getting that fixed until the end of the season.....I just don't think we make a move like that. Maybe if someone took over some of the duties and behind closed doors? I just don't see us addressing the real problem until after the season, which is disheartening.