Here's the other side of Pickett

get your savings out of the big banks

go credit unions or take it home

as far as Pickett, I would not short him while Canada is still around

 

Exactly. They thought he could be their guy. If you think that, you take him. You don't pass on a quarterback you like unless you already have one.

If he is a bust, and you can certainly make that argument right now, you move on to the next one. In that case, att least it was 20th overall, not some guy they traded up to get who failed.

 

Early in the season, he had a crappy running game, lousy pass protection, and a terrible system. One of those issues is gone, but his play has only gotten worse. The Pickett we saw early this season probably would have won this game. He would have made a few plays to win it like that third-down throw to Johnson.

 

I would almost agree with that except they picked the QB that was the very definition of fool's gold. Your explanation makes sense if you're talking about Carolina and Bryce Young. It doesn't make sense to me when you're talking about Kenny who had one good year in 5 years, in a rather mid level conference, who refused to play in any senior all star games, who appears to have graded terrible on the Wunderlich. There was nothing to suggest he wasn't anything but a 1 yr wonder.

They could have still gone with offense the first rd of that draft, but it's still inexplicable to me why they had to have Kenny in the first. I would have went Tyler Linderbaum and continued to build the frontline and then take a chance on a QB when you felt you had the pieces to protect him.

 

To be fair, you spend money on the guys that turn out to be studs. We drafted well on the defensive side of the ball (and traded). If you get guys like Watt, Highsmith, Minkah, Heyward... you do what you can to pay them. We drafted weapons in the first two rounds for a couple years now. Freiermuth, Harris, Pickens. 6-7 years ago it was a different story. We drafted well on offense and were forced to pay dudes like AB, Ben, DeCastro, Pouncey, etc. We would've paid Bell too if he wasn't an idiot. Its cyclical. You shouldn't just spend money to spend it (aka evening out the money from defense to offense), you make sure you invest it in the right guys. I don't see really any bad contracts right now. Our top 4 defenders are well worth their cash. Holcomb is too. Peterson might be a bit overpaid, but he is cuttable next season easily. Sullivan one year deal. Not a lot to be upset about.

I don't subscribe to the Cowherd idea that you HAVE to have the most money on offense. Teams that spend the most money on offense typically spend a large portion of that one one player... the QB. The most expensive positions are QB, WR1, LT, and TE. We have all 4 on rookie deals right now. That stat will flip in the future. Its just a cyclical thing, and absolutely nothing to worry about.

 

Well, Kenny progressed every year in college, then broke out his final season. There have been FAR worse guys selected in the first round simply bc a GM believed in him. Plus, there are lots of really good QB's over the years that didn't play in a big time conference or play against the best college competition. Also, the Wonderlic is completely meaningless. There is 0 correlation between a player's Wonderlic score and their Football IQ/ability. There are tons of guys that scored low on that thing that were good/great at the position. Its a weird thing we've latched onto and we should let it go.

I can buy the argument that we should have gone in a different direction in that draft. I only had 2 QB's that year that I felt should go in the first round at all and it was Pickett and Howell (I initially thought Howell was the best in class, but later switched that to Pickett), thought Ridder and Corral were more round 2-3 guys and had Willis pegged as a UDFA. It was a weaker class, so we had few options to choose from. We thought Pickett could develop into what we wanted. I don't really blame us for believing in him and taking him. It didn't work out. Time to go back and try again. Go find a different guy we believe in and give it a shot with him. Can't be afraid when it comes to taking QB's. They are a long shot to succeed whether they are pick 1 or Pick 100.

 

Every mock draft out there had him in the first round. Burrow looked mediocre until his final season, too, so that's a non-starter. There was good reason to think Pickett could be a good pro, but it isn't happening, at least not right now.

They didn't like Linderbaum, for some reason. They didn't go to the Iowa pro day, so they weren't going to take him. That is who I wanted, him or Dax Hill, but I didn't mind the Pickett pick, but mostly I was happy it wasn't Willis.

 

I don't think they are going to do that. Maybe if a guy falls to them, but they are probably going to be in the middle to late part of the first round again, so the top quarterbacks will be gone. Maybe take a shot on a second or third-round guy to compete with Pickett, but I still think he's going to get one more shot next season.

 

Oh, I totally agree. The Steelers organization is stubborn and just doesn't operate that way. I would be shocked if we didn't roll with Kenny next season. That post was just responding to the post I quoted. We can't be afraid when drafting a QB. Just take a guy you believe in and try your best to develop him into a Top 10 guy. Its hard to win in the league without a guy like that.

I would rather sign a guy to compete with Kenny. I think getting someone that is a bit more "starter quality" to compete with him than some mid round rookie would be good for us. If Kenny wins the job, he wins it.

I would be all in on a Cousins signing though. This team would potentially be a contender with a guy of Cousins' caliber. We can spend on him and go grab ourselves another starting lineman at C or T, another CB, and a S. If our defense plays like it has the past 18ish games and we do that... man we could win a lot of games. Just need an NFL average offense to do so and I think Cousins gets us there instantly, even if it is just to kick the can a few more years down the road.

 

What if you take a first round talent in the third? asking for Mason

 

Cousins would definitely be a short term upgrade, but the guy will be 37 next year. No, they need a long term solution, if only they could find one

 

Why is a short term solution bad if we don't have any better options? Cousins could come in and help us compete as a SB contender for 2, maybe 3 years. We can find our "QB of the future" then. The Broncos did the same thing with Peyton Manning at basically the same age and it bought them 3 seasons of contending for SB's. They won one. I know Cousins isn't nearly as good as Peyton Manning, but a torn Achilles is easier to recover from than a Cervical Fusion surgery. I'd buy a couple years of Cousins to see if we could compete with our solid defensive unit and young playmakers. Then we can re-assess and determine the future from there.

 

Exactly. We didn't waste a ton of capital for a huge trade up that would set the team back a half decade. He was there for us, we liked him, we went for it. No reason to be scared to do it again. Although, I think we might have to trade way up if we wanted Williams or Maye. We are going to fall in the Penix/Nix/Daniels part of the draft. McCarthy and Ewers don't really seem like potential first rounders to me.

 

On what planet was Mason a first rd talent??

 

You're probably going to have to elaborate on how Kenny improved in college up until his fifth year. His numbers were the same the 3 years prior. If it wasn't for the pandemic a majority of us wouldn't even know who Kenny was because he wouldn't be in the NFL. The pandemic gave him a extra year of eligibility if im not mistaken. So covid literally saved his post college career

 

There goes that all inclusive word "every" once again when it's not true. Also don't disrespect Joe Burrow like that. Kenny couldn't sniff Joe Burrows jock strap so why compare the two when questioning why one was a first rd prospect as opposed to the other. Joe showed significant signs of picking up the offense in his first season at LSU which is why he exploded in season 2. Theres literally no flaws you can point to at Burrows in his game. The same can't be said about Kenny who at minimum needed 3 seasons before he excelled in the system he was in.

I almost feel like he was suggested as a first rd prospect by default because most people would assume a QB not going in the first rd is highly unlikely. In 1996, no quarterback was selected in the first round of the NFL draft. It was only the fifth time it has happened since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger and it has not happened since. Someone always needs a Qb even if the pickings are slim and he was believed to be the best of the worst at the time so why not just put him there?? It doesn't necessarily mean any of them believed he was first rd talent, only that it was likely he could get picked up in the first. The same can't be said about Burrows.

 

I still think the investment will be worth it.

 

Short-term t-bills for the win.

 

Steelers planet

 

I can't buy that argument that it's just cyclical.

a) you don't have to re-sign all of your studs. You can make a strategic decision that your resources are not in balance and you have to reallocate them.
b) As mentioned we offered more free agent contract money this season on the defensive side than the offensive side of the ball.
c) The acquisition of Minkah. I really questioned it at the time and still do. You had a QB problem at the time and you use draft capital in the form of a first round pick to get a safety? A safety? He's been a great player and on the surface more than worth a first round pick. But strategically, I don't know. You have to have a QB and no telling what could have been done with that first in the 2020 draft. Maybe we package and move up to get Herbert. Maybe we draft Jordan Love. Maybe we use it to pick Justin Jefferson in the first and Jalen Hurts in the second, instead of no pick in the first and Claypool in the second. Who knows? The point is we had already spent that pick. On a safety. That doesn't seem wise to me when you have questions at by far the most important position on the field.

So it's not just cyclical. The FO has made a concious decision to put most of their eggs on the defense at the expense of the offense and have done so for some time. The eggs are hatching.

 

Clearly Colbert was losing any type of credibility he once had as a top GM by the time Mason was drafted which is evidenced by a slew of really bad picks both early and late in the drafts starting in 2011, 2017 being the exception. He might have been spot on with one pick (2 at the most) from 2011 until his last year drafting, but the one rd he really couldnt afford to screw up (1st rd) was where he was doing the most damage. Starting with Terrell Edmunds he struck out with every Steelers initial first pick afterward. Edmunds, Bush, Claypool, Harris, and Pickett will all go down as colossal first pick reaches/busts. The bad thing is that it was one draft after another. You can't have that and not have the issues you're having now unless you're nailing picks later in the draft which he wasnt. Ironically enough the 2018 draft class (which included Mason Rudolph) may have been his worst draft ever. I'd challenge anyone to find a worst draft class under Colbert. At minimum it's top 3.

 

It's not just KP, there's a list of first round bodies the Steelers stretched on. Compounding the compound.

 

Roth IRA's are the best!! I had a large chuck in one of those tax deferred accounts which was great for 30 years of filing my taxes but now the ho's want the taxes on that money. I switched one to a Roth. Thankfully I can spread the tax hit out over a few years.

Never understood why the Government forces withdrawal at 70.5???? Everyone I know just re-invests it. Is the Government thinking that they want that money back in the economy??????

Anyone seeing this have any insight on the 70.5 crap?????????