Steelers and Sam Darnold

I already pointed out in this thread Khan wasn't going mess up his plan to acquire those comp picks, if they signed Darnold they wouldn't be getting some of those 3-4 comp picks.

 

True...It will be important for the steelers to have a great draft(not just good but great)

 

Which begs the question…..

 

FWIW, I think Cowher had a very good system for a high variance player in Ben (High percentage of amazing jaw-dropping plays. High percentage of huge errors).

IMO, the best thing to do with this kind of player is keep him in a "straight-jacket" for most of the game (especially if you have a good defense). Then let him loose at the end. Then you're limiting the number of attempts (N). Because if you stay in the casino too long, you always lose. I wouldn't call what we did with Ben being a game manager. Because when he did get turned loose, he wasn't out there just throwing the check downs (that came much later in his career).

We tried this type of system with Kenny too. He was much lower variance than Ben. But way less probability of good plays. So I think Kenny was more of a game manager.

I think the opposite of what we did with Ben was what CHI did with Fields. Another very high variance player. But it seems to me they kept asking him to be super man and carry the team. So that higher error rate kept burning them (even though he had good individual stats).

 

This.

The Steelers are not a high-risk team.

The Darnold signing clearly worked out for the Seahawks.

But it's very clearly not how the Steelers do business. For better AND worse.

 

Just because you think he wouldn't doesn't mean he shouldn't have done it. Many posters here thought he should have done exactly that, and we were right.

 

That doesn't mean they are right. It certainly isn't a justification for yet another poor decision by the team.

 

It is exactly what they tried to do with Pickett, and it was a terrible decision. It was fine for his rookie year, but refusing to take the shackles off him in 2023 was just stupid.

 

I think it's not possible to know if it was "right" or not. It might still pan out in the medium term (where IMO the plan appears to be to draft a QB high this year or next year).

We don't know if having Darnold would have gotten us any further than past a WC loss this season. Especially with a big difference in the talent on the rest of the team.

I think what we do know is that the Steelers have a philosophy of how they run the team. And it doesn't include throwing huge money at outside guys. Especially when they aren't proven.

I think we also know that the Steelers seem to be trying to tread water while waiting for an opportunity to draft another 1st round QB. And failing that, we're OK taking cheap guys of the scrap heap that might be good in the short (Rodgers and Wilson) or medium (Fields) term. But I think we're just taking these guys to tread water.

Certainly far from a fool-proof strategy. But I bet that it's generally higher EV than paying lots of money to a guy who would be on his 5th team.

Personally, I don't like our current strategy either. But it sounds like for different reasons. I wouldn't have liked signing Darnold either.

I would strongly prefer a rebuild instead of pretending we're a player or two away. But that is also against the philosophy of this team.

 

I think Pickett's results were strategy independent. In fact, I think that the strategy we used with him was probably the best of bad options.

He's not an NFL starter. And he couldn't stay on the field. He's probably not an NFL backup either (after being outplayed by the QB3 on 4/4 teams he's been on).

Most QBs fail. Picking them is necessary. But it's a game you expect to lose. FWIW, I think that's why Cowher wanted to follow the Marty-Ball strategy of defense + running game. But that's less effective in the current NFL IMO.

 

You are a fool. We traded Pickens for 3rd and got DK by giving up fo a 2nd. On what planet is this good?

 

Even if they signed Darnold they weren't going to win the Super Bowl, obviously their plan was to wait and get their QB in the 2026 class.

 

Hey little guy your mommy will take your iPad time away if you keep acting like this

 

It looks like a stupid plan given that there is only quaterback who is truly a first-round value. Also, Darnold wasn't a one-year option. They would have had him for 2026 and beyond.

 

So maybe the Steelers would lose one of thier comp picks. Their 3rd round comp pick. # 97 overall is the highest compensatory pick in the NFL awards, for most years.

I think this is a very small price to pay for a franchise quarterback. And Dranold is a top 10 NFL QB based on his last two years of play. Debate that with anyone I will.