Steelers Get a Favorable Schedule? | Rookie Camp Preview: Broderick Jones/Joey Porter Jr. First Look

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The Steelers' schedule has been released, and in my opinion, they got a good deal from the NFL. We'll go over the good and the bad and the ugly of the Steelers' schedule. I'm Chris Carter, host of Lockdown Steelers Podcast. Joined today by Jenna Harner of ChannelLmWXI, let's get into it. Hello and welcome to the Lockdown Steelers Podcast. I'm your host Chris Carter. Bring a year to daily dose of all things on the Pittsburgh Steelers. As always, you can find us on your favorite podcasting app, and especially on YouTube like this video. If you enjoyed on YouTube, subscribe to this YouTube channel to get all of your daily Monday through Friday episodes. As well as our bonus content, we thank you for making us your first listen every day because we're your team every day here in the Lockdown Podcast Network. And as I said before, we're joined today again on a Friday by Jenna Harner of ChannelLmWXI. Jenna, always great to have you. Chris, it is always great to be here, and I was not doing this because of me. I was doing this because we finally, finally, finally have the schedule. And we finally know when the Steelers will be playing the opponents. We knew that they were going to play at the end of the season. And it's just, it's the best time of the year. It's the best time of the year knowing finally. Yeah, as of right now, there will be other best times to be coming. But it is a great feeling because there's that anxiety of, okay, when one of the Thursday night games going to be, when are the challenges going to be. And I think we got an interesting role here. Now, you and I did a whole hour long show on Channel 11 for the live schedule release, just talking about all the dates and all the things that worked out. And one thing I think you and I agreed upon was as far as how things worked out, this, there are a lot of things that worked in the Steelers' favor. There were some West Coast trips, but they don't seem to come at unfriendly times of the schedule. The five week is a bit early, but they also get, and yes, they do get two Thursday night football games, but they're both home games and the games after them before and after them don't seem like too strong, too crazy of opponents, at least based off of how they did from last year. And I think the Steelers as far as a draw, they could have gotten from the NFL. This was a decent one compared to some ones they've had in recent years. Yeah, it definitely feels, I mean, you know, you say fair, you say all that. And I know a lot of people immediately look to those Thursday night games, week nine and week 14, but they're both home games. And that's one of the biggest things I think when you and I talked about this, you know, a Thursday night game, we know the players feelings on it. We know that they've adamantly spoken out against Thursday night games, but when you have two Thursday night games that are both home games that you have space and time in between. And then with your first Thursday night game of the season coming at week nine, you get that mini by and you have another home game to follow that week 10 against the Packers. And then week 14 against the Patriots, you have that Thursday night game and then week 15 being that strange, you know, the NFL conflicts games at certain times here. So the date and time of that is either Saturday or Sunday against the Colts TVD. But it doesn't seem like it's true, you know, oh, you have a Thursday night game and then you have to go to the West coast or you have a Thursday night game and then you have a really long road trip. So this is decently not the worst thing that could have happened with having two Thursday night games with them both being home games. Right. And I'll pull up the schedule here for our YouTube viewers so they can all see it. So talking about the start of the schedule, you know, the toughest team I had on their schedule coming in from last year was the Niners. And the Niners had the number one defense last year. They made the NFC Championship game. They were arguably losing their, you know, third string quarterback away from, you know, from having to work from from baking it to the Super Bowl. But they get the Niners in week one. And I know some people might be like, man, what a rough test to start. But you look back at how some of the Steelers, the Steelers teams have done in opening weeks. They have won three straight week one matchups. And the last two were on the road against the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals two major contenders in each of those years that were big upsets for the Steelers. This pose is now you get your first home game since 2014 as a home opener against the Niners. You're going to get excitement from Steelers fans, get excitement from this team about the draft class, about ready to prove themselves, ready to kind of prove them that they are not these underdogs that the league has made them out to be or that people talk about them as you do it against a top team and a top team and the Niners who are probably going to be having a quarterback controversy when we look at the at the Trey Lance and Brock Purdy and how it could work out in this offseason. And there's going to be so much talk, Chris, of course, about, you know, who is it going to be under center for the Niners? Is it going to be Purdy? Is it going to be Lance? There's going to be so much talk about that quarterback battle coming into this game that I feel like this in a sense in that way favors the Steelers also just because week one is so wonky. Like you said, I mean, going back the last two seasons, the week one against the Bengals, everyone and just immediately counted the Steelers out. And then what was it? The first defensive play of the game, second defensive play, the game for the Steelers make it Fitzpatrick is a pick six and everyone's looking at each other in since he being like what? What's about to happen? Yeah, exactly. That's definitely, I think this almost plays well in the Steelers favor. And there's so much going to be so much hype, of course, going into this game. Having a home opener as the season opener hasn't been since 2014, like you mentioned, but there's the excitement about this draft class. Exciting about Kenny Pickett. This is something that you and I didn't touch on in our draft show, which I know 11, I'm kind of worried about. I almost wonder too, how much does this, these first two weeks at home and yes, week two is a Monday night game against the Browns, but how much does that favor the rookie class who can kind of get a little bit comfortable? And you know, of course these guys have played football their entire lives. These guys know what it's like to go into opposing stadiums where, you know, there's just give me the insert Tomlinism here type. They know what it's like in hostile environments. But I think this is going to be something that could prove beneficial to where it's like, all right, you can let those, there's going to be jitters, you can let those start of your NFL career jitters get eased a little bit when you have your home crown behind you for two really, really massive games in the Niners and the Browns. And yeah, looking at those two games, even though the Browns finished last in division with with Sean Watson and on Monday night football at home, there's going to be a ton of excitement and especially if the Steelers pull off an upset, there's going to be a lot of belief. You know, Steelers fans are going to be playing at Pittsburgh's going to a Super Bowl. Here we go. They're going to, you know, every year when they win week one, they start singing a song and I'm like, guys, it's September. Let's give it a break. But I understand the excitement because your team is playing competing and playing well. So you get to play the Browns the week after that. And like you said, that's another team that, you know, that has to prove itself. They came in last in their division last year. They've been looking pretty. They've been looked, they looked rough last year. So I'm sure they want to prove something and come into Pittsburgh where Pittsburgh beat them at the end of the season to push them into last place in the division. I'm sure they're going to have some bad blood, but you're right. Back to back home games for guys, you know, rookies like Broderick Jones and Joey Porter, Jr. to be welcomed by that crowd, but also by Kenny Pickett to kind of get the feel of, hey, let's have an exciting year. Let's not be the underdog. Let's come in and now like this is our team. This isn't, you know, and this being Kenny Pickett's team, you know, as far as far as being a leader and a quarterback, you know, it's still going to be Cam Hayward, TJ Watt. Those are going to be leaders of the whole team. But as far as being a quarterback, now he's not the rookie. Now they're not questioning him. And this is the chance to do that. And then you're right. You go on the road to the Raiders, then on the road to the Texans, two teams that I think have a lot of question marks when you look at how will Jimmy G. Fair for the Raiders and then how will C.J. Stroud look in a new Texans offense. Again, a favorable start to this to the season here. And then you get the Ravens at home Sunday, 1 p.m. week five is start of October. And then you get your buy. I want to get your thoughts on where this buy is. And then we will talk about how the second half of the season shapes up, especially those two Thursday night football games, Jenna, we'll get to that in just a minute here on the lockdown Steelers podcast. But first, before we do anything else, I want to talk to you guys about our great sponsors at Build Bar Build Bar. Of course, the number one protein bar in America, if you haven't tried Build Bar, get your life together because it's an awesome opportunity for you to get something that's tasty and healthy for you at the same time. Build bars come in so many different flavors. But whatever flavor they come in, they're all covered in 100% real chocolate. And inside the chocolate, you can get flavors like churro, peanut butter brownie, coconut almond, double chocolate brownie, all these different flavors available to you in Build Bar. And when you get these Build bars, it sounds like, man, that's a lot of chocolate, a lot of flavors. That's got to be a lot of calories. Nope. You got 130 calories in a Build Bar, four grams of sugar, so you're saving on all the bad stuff and you're fitting 17 grams of protein into you. Get your gains with your proteins and lose all the bad stuff there, again, a tasty but healthy tree. And you don't have to go on Build dot com anymore and have them delivered to your door. You go on right into a local Sam's Club or a Walmart and pick them up today. If you go to your Walmart, go to the pharmacy section, pick up a four bar box of cookies and cream, double chocolate or coconut puffs. Or if you go to Sam's Club, grab 13 bar boxes with flavors like brownie batter and churro. Trust me, when we try Build Bar, you'll think me later because you'll be trying the best protein bar in America and that is Build Bar. There's no off season for true NFL fans. Listen every day to the Lock Don NFL Podcast. Our expert hosts keep you up to date daily in 30 minutes or less on the latest breaking new training camp battles and player moves that will affect your favorite NFL team. Available now on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Start up the Lock Don podcast network, your team every day. Back here on the Lock Don Steelers podcast. I'm your host Chris Carter. Jenna, we're continuing our talk about the 2023 schedule release here and just bringing this back up again for our viewers on YouTube to see again, the start of the season to home games against the Niners and the Browns. Then to away games, a night game on Sunday night football against the Raiders. Then one o'clock on a Sunday against the Texans. Then back at 1 p.m. against the Ravens. But the bi week coming at week six is very intriguing for me. Last year the Steelers had a bi week perfectly right in the middle of their season. It gave them time once they got to that first tough half. They regrouped. They got back TJ Watt, make up his Patrick. They got healthy. And then they were able to play the second half of the season. They went on that strong run, but they won't get that kind of a half way break. They'll have the first five games and then the last 12 games of the season will be without a bi week. But when you look at this at this schedule, the two Thursday night football games that they do get the Titans on November 2nd and week nine at home and the Patriots this Thursday, December 17th at home as well. Those are two situations where typically you think, oh man, two Thursday night football games, that's terrible. And this is the first year that they've allowed it and the Steelers get it. Of course. But I look at how this schedule is set up. The Steelers get home games before each of these Thursday night football games. So no crazy travel, comeback and all that. You're fine with that. And then after each of those games, you get those kind of longer breaks where you go from that Thursday to playing again the next Sunday. And in fact, the first game, the first game after a Thursday night football is the Packers week 10 November 12th there at 1 p.m. but then the second game against the Patriots, we're talking about week 15 after that game. That's still a time that hasn't been determined because it's a road game against the Colts. But as far as match ups before and after these all line up in my opinion for if you're dealing with Thursday night football and you need some, some of those longer breaks after some games, this could have, I think this could have been a lot worse for the Steelers. Yeah. And I know the by does feel really early and I'm sure we're going to hear from players when we get to talk to them about the schedule and talk to them about everything and when we're in the heart of it all them, you know, they're going to say, yeah, we really probably would not like to have the buys early as it is. And I think this week, I think week six is like the earliest you can have the buy. I think that is like the first week that teams have a buy. So I could see that there, but also, yeah, you're right. And the fact that, you know, the Thursday games, the weeks leading up to it are not fun and the players have adamantly spoken it about it and, you know, tell us all the time that it's not what they love to do. But you do have those, you know, longer breaks afterward. And again, when you're seeing that Thursday night stretch, the first one, you're in the midst of three home games in a row. And that's something that's incredibly favorable for the Steelers. And then obviously afternoon, England going to Indianapolis still not entirely sure when that time and date is going to be if that's the Saturday or that Sunday of that week. But it could be so much worse. And you kind of get a little bit more of, okay, you have your early buy and then you have those two mini buys built in. And again, you have that whole match up. I think that week nine game that kind of falls really, really, really well into. Okay. If we have some injured guys here, they have more time. They have that, you know, Friday, Saturday, they have those nine days to rest up and get back. That does kind of seem to add those too many breaks in there. So yes, you have the early buy, but you have two built in. Okay. We have a little bit longer weeks to, you know, attack the opponent, things along those lines and get healthy if need be. Right. If need be, you're not sure how that plays out. One thing, Jenna, I think could be very interesting is where they're playing the bangles. Of course, the bangles have won the AFC North for two straight years. Last year they played them in week one this year. They played them in week 12 and week 16. So they're going to play them both in the second half of the season late November and then late December, two days before Christmas and how this shapes out. To me, those are the things that I look at and are like, man, okay, these are going to be tough. These are going to be tough games, of course, because division rivals, teams that are playing the team that's played very well the last two years, the bangles have won four of the last five games against the Steelers, especially since Joe Burles joined the team. So it's going to be a challenge here. But again, you know, you're looking at week 12, we're talking about a Steelers team that's still young and an offensive line that even though they gelled last year, they're going to have new pieces. They're going to take time to gel this year. I wonder if that's even also a benefit to the Steelers because if you're looking at the big bad of the division in the bangles right now, you have 13 or excuse me, you have 11 points leading up to that first game where you can build up your build up some momentum, you know, get your team together, figure some things out, your offensive line, coalesces, can you pick it, get smoother in the offense? And if you are healthy, that could be a situation where you get the chance to kind of put on your best shot at the bangles in both week 12 in the on the road in Sinceya for a 1 p.m. Sunday game. And in week 16 on a Saturday, 430 game here in Pittsburgh. And it's so funny to me because this feels almost Raven's esque from last year where it feels like, you know, hey, they played the Ravens week, whatever it was. And then like less than a month later, we're seeing the Ravens again. I feel like that's what this part of the schedule seems like to me and it is. It's going to be a good gauge and a good test. So I think so many people are coming into this year looking at the bangles as the team to beat in the division followed by the Ravens and the Steelers and then the Browns don't come at me. Steelers fans, I'm just saying the reality of what the conversation is not even what I'm saying. But I'm just saying that in that way. But I do think that that is going to be kind of that intriguing point. It's like, Hey, what does this Steelers team look like when they go to Cincinnati week 12 coming off a week 11 matchup in Cleveland, you have two tough AFC North hostile environment heating up in the kitchen, back to back match ups on the road in back to back weeks. They're both Sunday one o'clock games, but that to me is going to be a really, really, really good indicator at that point in the season of where the Steelers are, what this team looks like and what we can kind of glean from the type of season they're having, whether you know, Hey, they've been on a roll here, you know, they came out of the buy in one three of four and had a really close game against one of them. Or, you know, they're on a little bit of a wind streak and they're going into Cleveland and it's a Browns team that maybe has faltered a little bit. Who knows what the storylands will be at that point. But in reality, if that is the case and that what happens, this could be that good chunk in the season for the Steelers to come in to Cincinnati in week 12 and potentially look to make a statement at that point. That could, that could be very interesting here. Other aspects to this schedule that I think are very interesting. One, you get a lot of young quarterbacks at different points of the schedule. You lead off with either Brock Purdy or Trey Lance. We'll see how that faces faces out for the Niners in week one. Either way, neither of those quarterbacks have started a full season the NFL yet, not neither of them have even started 10 games the NFL yet. So you look at that, you're getting a young quarterback there, then you're going to get CJ Stroud rookie quarterback for the Texans along with a first year head coach, D'Amico Ryan's. Then as you keep going through the schedule and week nine with the Titans, will they be going with Will Levis or will they be going with Malik Willis or will they stick with Ryan 10 to Hill by week nine? We'll see. I think that their roster is one of the bigger questions. Jordan Love in week 10, even though he's not a rookie, he's only made one NFL start in his career. That's kind of a new quarterback that Matt LaFloor is going to be working with and in the only game that Jordan Love has started, he hasn't won for Matt LaFloor. So this will be a big sign. How do they do without Aaron Rodgers? Then as you keep going down the list here, the Colts, a team with Anthony Richardson, another rookie quarterback and Shane Strike and another rookie head coach that you're getting there as well as the Cardinals who have a rookie head coach as well. So in Jonathan Ganon, so a lot of new coaches, a lot of young quarterbacks. And when we look at this, sure, the Steelers, you know they're facing some big name quarterbacks in the AFC North with Joe Burrow, with Deshawn Watson, with Lamar Jackson, but you look at the other quarterbacks they face. And it's not exactly striking terror into the heart of Steelers fans. Jimmy Garoppolo with the Raiders, the rookie quarterbacks we talked about. Matt Stafford, will he even be the Matt Stafford we saw two years ago? His last year he was hurt. Trevor Lawrence is very good and I think that he's going to be a challenge. But we just talked about the Titan situation, the Packer situation. Kyler Murray, he had a rough year last year. Will he bounce back from that? Matt Jones? I mean, he barely beat Mitch Trabisky last year. The rookie quarterback for the Colts with Anthony Richardson and then Geno Smith. This is a year where the Steelers, they've had to play Josh Allen for like four years in a row with the Bills. They had to play Patrick Mahomes a couple of times over the past few years. And it's been rough, but as far as a draw for all the quarterbacks they could have played that were our elite quarterbacks, I think of all the ones they could have drawn and when they're drawing them, this is a pretty good situation to be in. Yeah, and I think too we know how rookie quarterbacks or even young quarterbacks that really haven't gone against the Steelers defense tend to fare just based on the looks the Steelers defense throws at rookies and just the way that it is kind of confusing to read some of the coverages and it is kind of confusing to read the Steelers defense just in the way that they deploy their guys. So I think that's going to be a big factor in this too is okay, how do these younger quarterbacks adjust while the Steelers are coming in and being like, hey, by the way, have fun trying to get away from TJ Watt and Alex Heisman here again, hoping and I think a lot of Steelers fans would like to think that they're going to be healthy for as much of the season as possible. But that is going to be a big thing is like, how do the Steelers look to take advantage of it? Because again, they've been facing the Josh Allens and the Patrick Mahomes and yes, you face Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow in your own division. But when you get out of the division, there are those other guys that again, there's NFL quarterbacks for a reason. They're in the league because they're incredibly talented, but how do the Steelers look to take advantage in that situation in those situations as well? And I think again, the draw and based on so many things, based on the opponents and things like that, but it seems like the Steelers seem like they're a decently good spot with just the way that things all shook out across the board. I agree. I think that again, just looking through this schedule again, three home games before the bi-week. And then that stretch of three straight home games from week eight to week 10. Yes, they get back-to-back away games against the Browns and the Bengals. Week 11 and 12, that'll be interesting to see how they fare in that. But then back-to-back home games with the Cardinals and the Patriots. And then the last four weeks of the season, three away games. That could be very interesting. A Colts game in week 15, which we're still waiting for a date and time on because that's going to be a flex week. Then week 16 against the Bengals at home, but then you finally have two games on the road against the Seahawks and then on the road against the Ravens finishing out the year. Certainly some challenges that we'll have to see play out, but it's going to be interesting to see who end up being the top dogs, who end up being the tougher teams, the non-playoff teams that become juggernauts, the playoff teams that fall off the map. All that's going to change, but at least right now how it looks, I think the Steelers could have drawn much worse timing for a lot of how this schedule played out. The NFL, I think, did them a few favors. You know the two Thursday night football games, I think are not pleasant on their end, but still getting that and not having to come off of the road before those Thursday night football games. I think a big time thing that works out for them. I want to talk to Jenna Moore here. We're going to switch off of the schedule and talk about rookie camp, which starts today Friday and then goes into Saturday. We'll get our first look at Steelers rookies as they arrive to the facility and get to work out in front of us and we get to talk to them. It's going to be a fun time. I'll be there as well, but we'll talk. Let's give you a preview here right here on the Lockdown Steelers podcast with things that we'll be looking for. Stick with us. We'll be right back. Back here on the Lockdown Steelers podcast. I'm your host Chris Carter here with Jenna Harner of channel 11 WPXI here in Pittsburgh. Jenna, let's talk about the rookie camp because there's a lot of excitement for the Steelers to get a chance. One, there's going to be a big homecoming talk about Joey Porter Jr. His first official practices as a Pittsburgh stealer growing up with his dad at the facility, both as a player and as a coach. We've talked ad nauseam about that since he was saying even before he was drafted, when you and I were in Indianapolis for the combine and just the wave of reporters that surrounded his podium and asked him questions about the Steelers. It just seems like it was destiny for all of this stuff to happen. Is that the biggest thing that is the talking point here or should people be more excited about broader Jones and what the energy he could be bringing to this offensive line? Yeah, I think you can't go wrong with either of us. I think those are both incredibly big storylines that I know you and I are both going to be really focused on as we kind of enter rookie mini camp in the start of all the off season activities and things along those lines. I'm excited just to see these kids and it's so weird to say that because we're both young and ourselves, but I'm so excited to see these kids and these players get onto the field and just kind of get immersed into life in the NFL. I mean, there's such pros in what they do already. It was something that drew the Steelers to them, no doubt about that, but it's just cool to see them in this environment. It is going to be really intriguing to kind of look at how broader Jones adapts and how Joey Porter Jr. who's been at this facility since before he could walk, how he grows into the routine of what it's like to be a player in the NFL. And for us as reporters too, I always love just getting to really, really talk with these players and getting to know them as people, getting to hear their stories and getting to hear their level of excitement of what this is all like for them, what jumping into life in the NFL is for these guys because it is such an exciting moment while we look at, of course, it's going to be fun to see them in action and them working through all the things. It's like, hey, wait a second. This is their first time doing all of this. Like for them, it's a real moment too. It is. And a lot of it also to me, Ricky Camp, you don't get to learn a ton other than what's the, because again, it's football and shorts without even the veterans around him. Mike Tomman will always emphasize that. And so, one thing I think is the most important thing is how do these guys take it? Do they feel, do they sound like that they are, wow, like are they just blown away and they're just happy to be there? Or are they kind of just locked in and just being like, yep, this feels normal, this feels right. I'm ready to take the next step in my career. That'll be a big thing for me to see, especially from some of the later picks like Nick Herbig in the fourth round, Corey Trice in the seventh round. Guys who, you know, people are projecting, you know, maybe this guy's got great value for Matt Miller of ESPN said made Trice one of his top 40 favorite picks of his NFL draft as far as where the Steelers got him compared to the value that he put him that he gave him in the draft class. So I look at how a lot of these young kids are coming in, you know, Keanu Benton, what will his attitude be like, Joey Porter Jr. You know, I think Joey Porter Jr is in a unique position as well because it's not just about his legacy through his dad, but also the legacy he's going to have a chance to establish because the Steelers need a new young face of the cornerback group. And yeah, they have Patrick Peterson, he's the old guy they brought in who's going to kind of run the show for a little bit, but you still have a teller with her spoon. You still have Levi Wallace, James Pierre's in that mix as well. And now you throw in Corey Trice, but Joey Porter Jr. being picked where he was picked at 32nd overall in the draft, the first pick of the second round. To me, the Steelers are putting him in prime position to be the face of what it is to be a Steelers cornerback, which I mean has gone through so many different phases over the years. You think back to the Joe Hayden years where he led the group from when he was kind of coming out of his prime to kind of finishing his career and still being just a detailed guy, but Joe Hayden wasn't in his prime when he was with the Steelers. Then before him, you had you had a bunch of years where Artie Burns was kind of the guy Cody Sensiball. And they were kind of jumbling around between William Gay and other guys. And long before him was Ike Taylor in the late 2000s to early 2010s. And Joey Porter Jr. to me has a whole different feel. I think he goes back to kind of the Ike Taylor feel of a big physical guy who can run really well and stick with guys. But to me, I think that this is a big chance for him to kind of take charge, understand the moment that this year he doesn't have to lead, but he does have to step up and probably even earn a starting role this season for the Steelers to start seeing some turn around for making him such a high pick. Yeah, it is intriguing to see kind of the roles that these guys take on and the positions that they're in just in terms of, Hey, look, I, you know, for Joey Porter Jr, I have to go out and win a starting job for Rotter Jones. I have to go out and win a starting job. More likely than not, they are both going to be day one starters. But there is that little aspect of it where it's like, no, the Steelers are going to make them compete for these spots because that's what they want to see out of their guys, especially out of their top picks. And it is also fun too to see. And I know this is like cheesy, whatever, but to see how the rookie class comes together, because I think you look last year and that was something that made this offense work as well as it did late in the season was the relationships we saw develop and grow and foster between guys like Kenny Pickett, George Pickens and Connor Hayward. I mean, you and I see it too in the locker room and on the field, you know, during practice and things like that during the week. But I think that was a big part of what gives this Steelers offense such excitement with such young guys. And I think that this is going to be kind of that next chapter of that where I'm excited to kind of see the offensive and defensive guys and how they interact just because of the way draft shook out last year. You really only had Demarvenly all as one of your big defensive guys. Correct me if I'm wrong, name wise. And yeah, draft picks. So it was way more offensive heavy. It feels like where this year is like, all right, you got a little bit of a split among some of your top guys. And I'm excited to you to kind of see, I'm sure they're going to be asked about it a ton. But the broader Jones, Dornell, Washington, we're both of those guys have such familiarity with one of each other. You can watch all the film and just see them working in tandem. So having them, I'm sure that's going to play a benefit too. It's like, I mean, you know, I'm the one always, I have like social anxiety where I don't like going into places by myself. If I had a friend coming in with me and I'm like, hey, I got my guy right here. What more could you want? Exactly. And that's going to be a cool factor. You're like, you know, Kenny Pickett and George Pickett, they made a connection last year. These guys are coming in with a connection and they talked about blocking alongside of each other in games. There's pictures of them. And there's film of them kind of like talking to each other and doing that. And Darnell Washington kind of bragging about being a sort of sixth offensive lineman on the field with how well he blocks. The Steelers have made a point. They want to be more physical and they've gotten several guys, especially in this rookie class who fit that identity both at the line of scrimmage and in the secondary with Joey Porter Jr. And even Corey Tries who when you look at his tape, he likes to be physically likes to tackle at the line of scrimmage. There's a lot, I think there's a lot of things there and they can't hit just yet in rookie camp or OTAs or anything like that. But if they're coming in taking taking the job seriously and setting a good tone, seeing the right things, all of that are checking the boxes until we start to see these guys put the pads on in August. And then eventually we look at the schedule that we were just talking about for the first two thirds of the show. But again, rookie camp Friday, check it out. Well, I'll be on I'll be on site. Jenna, you'll be there as well. Correct. I will be there later today too. So we'll both be there. You can check our Twitter accounts at Jenna 111 for Jenna for Jenna at Carter critiques for myself for anything that's updating there. And of course, we're going to have stuff here in the lockdown Steelers podcast. Also, just a reminder, I am going to try to do a week some weekend episodes as we get the rest of this off season answering some of your questions that you call in. So if you haven't, if you haven't thought about it already, but if you want to, you can call in 412-223-6644. We have some calls lined up that that I think that will definitely try to get to. But if you have more questions, you can call in at any point in time and we'll try to get, we'll try to get you on the show and get your questions answered. But also, just a reminder, if you're calling in, you want to guarantee that your question does get answered because we do get a lot of calls, you could donate to the campaign that I'm running to help the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. If you're watching the show right now on YouTube, you can see the QR code at the bottom of the screen. If you use that QR code, that will take you right to my page where you can donate to the campaign. If you don't want to get your stuff on this, get your question on the show, just want to donate every little bit helps as we help to fight, to fight for a cure of Cystic Fibrosis and helping the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. And if you want to get your question on the show and guarantee, a promise from this show is on this show, if you call in to 412-223-6644, leave your name, where you're from, and keep your question under a minute, we will work to get your show, your question on the show. And if you donate $10 with your question, and make sure you put your name where you're from in your donation because it'll ask for your information. But if you put your donation in with your question, you're guaranteed to get your question answered on the air right here on lockdown studios in the week, even if it's a weekend episode that I had to do as a bonus, as bonus content. So either way, we thank everyone who can help, and help us in our fight to Ancestic Fibrosis here with our campaign here. But anyways, we thank everyone for checking out the Lockdown Steelers podcast and appreciate everyone who checks out the show. We appreciate you, Jenna Harner, for joining the show. We love people who know they can find you, follow you, and get more of your work. Well, thank you for having me. As always, Happy Friday. We now know the schedule match-ups. You love it to see it. You can find me on Twitter at JennaHarnar11, Instagram, Jenna underscore Harner, and on WPXI. I'll be tweeting the link out. But later today, I have a really awesome story. I got to sit down one-on-one with Aaron Donald, obviously, sit legend, hometown hero, LA Rams star, Super Bowl Jam, former defensive player of the year. And we talked about mental health and why it's so important to have conversations about your mental health and why it's so important to be able to speak out if you need help, if something isn't going right, and you feel like things just are you're really struggling with some things. So tune in for that later today. I'll have that on my socials, but it was just a really, really, really awesome experience to be able to sit down and really talk with a guy that everyone looks at as such a role model and such a tough, intense football guy. And he shared with me, you know, why he's so much more than that and why it's so important to have open and honest conversations about how you're feeling. Absolutely. I can't wait to see that interview. Jenna, we definitely check out her work at channel MWPXI. Thank you again, Jenna, for joining us here in the lockdown Steelers podcast. As always, we look forward to having you on the show. And thank you all for checking out the lockdown Steelers podcast, whether you did it on your favorite podcasting app or on YouTube, like this video, if you enjoyed it, subscribe to this channel and get all of our daily Monday through Friday episodes. As well as our bonus content, again, I'm your host Chris Carter. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Carter Critiques. Read my work at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette at post-casette.com for all my pit coverage and check out, again, this show on your favorite podcasting app YouTube, everywhere that you find podcasts. We are there Monday through Friday episodes, daily content and bonus content as well. I'll try to have some up this weekend with your questions on the show. Thanks again for checking us out. Back this weekend, we'll give you a little bit of updates from rookie camp right here on your Pittsburgh Steelers. A Prime Members, you can listen to this lock-down podcast and free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today!