Why Steelers' Joey Porter Jr. is Different than Previous Pittsburgh Cornerback Draft Busts

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Noting the Steelers past and drafting cornerbacks over the last 10ish years, maybe even further back than that, Joey Porter Jr. is going to be looking to break what has kind of been known as a bad luck situation for the Steelers. Can he do it? We'll talk about that in a lot more here on the Lockdown Steelers Podcast. I'm your host Chris Carter, joined today by Wes Euler. Let's get into it. You are Lockdown Steelers, your daily Pittsburgh Steelers Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome to the Lockdown Steelers Podcast. I'm your host Chris Carter, bringing you your daily dose of all things on the Pittsburgh Steelers. As always, you can find this show on your favorite podcasting app and especially on YouTube. Like this video if you enjoy this on YouTube, subscribe to this YouTube channel. You can get all of your daily Monday, the Friday episodes as well as our bonus content. We thank you for making us your first podcast. Listen every day because we're your team every day here on Lockdown Steelers and today's episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist who can take you on that journey of self discovery from wherever you are. Visit BetterHelp.com slash Lockdown today to get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp. Now, as I said before, we're rejoined by my man, Wes Euler from Stylination Radio as well as every West Virginia podcast known to man. He's Wes Euler. Wes, great to have you back, man. CC, it's good to be here, partner. And I tell you what, impressive work that you did today procuring these topics because we're once again in a little bit of a standstill content-wise here. The draft is passed and it's still relevant in a way, but it's not hot anymore like it was a couple of weeks ago. But I tell you what, producer Chris to go along with host Chris here on this show because you've got some good topics for us today. I'm looking forward to this. I appreciate that. Well, let's lead off with the topic and that's Joey Porter Jr. and specifically the situation with the Steelers past the drafting cornerbacks. Now, it was one of the funnier things that I would get comment-wise from fans in our YouTube comment sections and people on Twitter, but you can get me at Carter-Kertis on Twitter by the way if you ever want. But people asking, Chris, don't drop the, they can't drop the corner. They don't draft corner as well. They just don't do it. And I was sitting there like, man, if there's a really good corner, don't you want them to take it so that that can break kind of the bad luck stream that they've had? And I want to point that out that I think it is more of a bad luck thing than a bad drafting thing because yes, Artie Burns, bust of a pick up in the first round. But you look at some of these other picks. Sen Quiz, Goulson, how was anyone supposed to know if he would get hurt at the start of every season before it even began and then never even touch the field? Guys like Justin Lane and Curtis Brown who were third round picks sure swings and misses, but third round is when you start to get to the point where swings and misses are going to happen, especially at the cornerback position. And you have guys like Cortez Allen who came in the fourth, Kean Lewis who was pretty good in the third round, just got paid to go somewhere else. Then of course recently you have Cam Sutton who wasn't actually hitting the third round. The Steelers, I do agree with people that it's been frustrating to see the Steelers and their lack of sex and drafting cornerbacks in a team where if they had just hit on one of those top tier quarterback just one time in that 2010s era, maybe that's the cornerback that puts them over in some of their bigger playoff losses when you look at when they have to start Artie Burns or Cody Sensiball or just extremely weak at cornerback. And now it flips to Joey Porter Jr. where all that pressure for years on top of who his dad is and the history that he has with the organization, it's a lot of pressure on him. Wes, how much do you think those past failures in the draft impact the situation right now and the pressure that's heaped upon the success of Joey Porter Jr. because other than him and Corey Treix is a seventh round pick, you don't really have any young cornerbacks on this roster right now. For me, Chris, not a ton, honestly. I know that that's probably not the hot take that people want. Yes, the Steelers need Joey Porter to develop, to be, to become a solid NFL corner, a top corner back in the league, maybe never all necessarily an all pro future Hall of Fame type level, but they need him to be a handful of, oh yeah, that guy is an unquestioned number one corner who walks into training camp and they don't have to worry if they've got their guy or not. I think it's fair to expect him to be that at pick 32, to be a solid contributor, to be in the upper half of cornerbacks in the league, not necessarily again right away, but eventually. But all the past history aside, I don't, that has no bearing to me on Joey Porter Jr. I think he's got a lot of things in his story, doesn't he? I mean, he does have certainly the Steelers history of not doing so well at drafting this position. His dad's time with Pittsburgh growing up at North Allegheny, going to Penn State, all these different things. So there's a lot of, I mean, extra stuff around Joey Porter Jr. already, and I mean, we haven't even seen him have his first practice yet, first game, anything like that. But to me, if Joey Porter succeeds, it's not going to be just because all of a sudden the Steelers learned how to draft quarterbacks. If Joey Porter fails, it's not going to be, ah, well see, I told you the Steelers just can't hit on anybody and Cam Sutton and Willie Gay were, you know, exceptions to the rule or whatever. It's on him, he's his own situation in a vacuum and he again has a lot of different story lines and things with him. But to me, he's in a great position to succeed. He's got a guy like Patrick Peterson to learn from who I think there are some similarities in the games of those two, not that I expect Joey to have the same ceiling as Pat Pete, who is probably a future Hall of Famer, I think. But there's a lot of similarities in kind of their game and their body types and a great mentor to have for Joey Porter Jr. He's got make a Fitzpatrick behind him. He's got guys like TJ Watt and Cam Hayward in front of him on that defense as well too. So I think he's in a great situation to succeed, but I don't think a lot of this, you know, is this the final straw? If the Steelers miss on another one here, what are they going to do? None of that needs to be directed towards Joey. He's his own player. This is his own opportunity and he's got to go out there and write his own story. And man, I just kind of threw like every cliche in the book at you there. But it's true. I wouldn't be putting any stock into the Steelers history at this position. I think this is different. I think they have rarely, you know, already burns and maybe send Ques Golsan aside. They've rarely selected a guy this high at that position as well too. Give him some time to develop and if things go great right away, that doesn't mean that it's always going to go great. If he struggles out of the gate, that doesn't mean that he's a bust and he's going to be terrible. Give him a little time. Let him work with Pat Pete. Get familiar in that secondary. And I think you are going to have a good player. And I also think that another factor to weigh in on this is that the situation already burns being the biggest bust of those situations because again, third round pick, second round pick guy who got hurt, third round picks and fourth and later picks that just didn't work out. Those are different. But a first round pick when you miss, that means a lot. It hurts. It hurts. It's a complete devoid of value. It already burns becomes a star cornerback like to say or whoever they had picked at cornerback in the first round of the 2016 NFL draft. It changes the trajectory of 20. Imagine him. Imagine if he was just a Terrell Edmonds, you know, kind of type of- Yeah, but all that. Not a superstar, not someone you're breaking the bank for. You're in the team, Sutton. Maybe he leaves in five years, but a solid contributor who plays a role on your defense. But I mean, you couldn't even get that at art. If you hit on that with already burns, then let's say they still get Joe Hayden, then you have an ultimate cornerback duo that you're not even worried about for several years there. And then who knows what that does for the Steelers in the late 2010s. But I digress back to Joey Porter Jr. Big difference here in that situation is also when you look back at that 2016 NFL draft, the Steelers were dead set on William Jackson III. And that William Jackson III not been, you know, not exactly, you know, a superstar cornerback himself, but a guy who at least was a- He's had a career in the league. Yeah. Right. Not like Artie Burns, who right now is still a free agent, is kind of just floating around seeing what contracts he can scoop up. But you go back to that year and what the Steelers, you know, got with Artie Burns, they did it because they really needed a cornerback and the Bengals jumped ahead of them to go get William Jackson III, which put them in a situation where we waited for our guy. He was there. Now he's not kind of like the situation. The Jets are exactly when they went and got Will McDonald. And again, way much later in the draft, the Jets still had the 15th pick in the draft, still a very good value pick. You got on the 25. 25 is in that range where you're outside the top 20. You need to really find your guy in that spot. And they thought their guy was William Jackson III. And that's not to mention that year, there were already, I say what, at least three cornerbacks that came off the board, believe it. Four, William Jackson and the four. So Artie Burns became the fifth corner back there. So there's misses all kind of like that. Joy Porter Jr. is not of that caliber. He was a guy that they wanted from the jump. You go back to this year and how this draft played out. Yeah. He came off in a similar point of the draft. Joy Porter Jr. was also their guy for a while. There wasn't a sense of, oh man, they just kind of got boxed into Joy Porter Jr. No, there was considerations for them, for them taking him with their first round pick. Then they got him in the second. To me, I think this was them actually picking the guy who they really thought all along could be a starting cornerback for a long time. And a person who they have a lot more ties to understand who they are and the kind of person he'll be in the locker room than Artie Burns was. Absolutely. I think you're spot on. Chris, I think there's a really good chance that the Steelers had Joy Porter Jr. as a top 20 player on their big board. He was a top 20. And they got him at pick 32. So I guarantee, listen, I wasn't in the draft room, okay? But I guarantee you they didn't have already burned as a top 20 player on their big board, right? They didn't have Senques Golsen as a top 20. They haven't had any of these corners that they've drafted over the years as a top 20 player on their big board. I think this one is a little bit different. So that's why I would be I would be more optimistic about this. In the past, it's felt like the Steelers have reached for cornerbacks, right? Where this time it feels like one fell into their lap. And so that's why I think there should there should be more glass half full with this one certainly. I agree with you there. We'll keep we'll keep the conversation going on rookies because we have a question from a caller. We want to get to about this rookie class and who might be the most impactful, whether it's just this year or long term. We'll get to that in just a minute here on the lock down Steelers podcast. So don't go anywhere first before we do it. That will remind you this show is sponsored by BetterHelp Therapy online. BetterHelp of course is the place where you go to to find real licensed therapists who are here to help you. But you get through and find the things that you need to do to better your life. Life is full of twists and turns. It's important to show yourself for yourself throughout the challenges that go through your day to day lives. I've placed plenty of times in my life where I've had to show the burdens, take on challenges and I found I found help to deal with those thanks to the help of professional therapy therapists and BetterHelp online therapy will assess your needs and can match you with your own licensed professional therapist in less than 48 hours. It's not a crisis line. It's not self help. It's professional therapy done securely online available to people worldwide. 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West, let's get into this topic because there's a caller who called in and asked a very good question. If you ever want to call him, it's 4122236644. Leave your name where you're from and keep your message, your question under a minute, and you'll get a chance to be on the show. And if you do that and donate $10 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation campaign that I have going, you will be guaranteed a spot on the show to get your question heard on the ear and get an answer for myself and possibly even the guest who's with me on that day. And this person was one of our first donations to the list on our campaign here. Shout out to Vincent Addison from Illinois who has a question about this draft class. Here's Vincent. Hey Chris, it's Vincent Addison, Illinois. I appreciate the contributions for the Cystic Fibrosis. I lost one of my best friends, Andy, in 2019 to it. He was next on the waiting list with Transplant, but he didn't make it. We miss you every day, Andy. So my question, we got a haul on the draft, but often these positions tackle tight end corner defensive line. They take a year or two to develop as they take their lumps. My question is, which rookie do you think will have the biggest impact in 2024 and beyond? Thank you. Thank you to Vincent and I wanted to thank you for sharing the story about your friend, Andy. We're very sorry that you lost your friend, Andy, but it's a reminder of just how serious Cystic Fibrosis is of a condition. If you want to donate to the cause and what we're trying to do to raise funds to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis, again, you can use the QR code that's on your screen. If you're watching on YouTube or go to the link, finest.cff.org slash pgh 50 finest slash card or critiques or use the link that is attached to this show, whether it's on YouTube or your audio platforms, you can also find the link on my Twitter account at card or critiques. But to get to Vincent's question here, which I think is a really good one, Wes, is the impact that guys are going to have. And I know he said 2024, but I think he meant to say 2023 and beyond because of course, that's the upcoming season. Sure. But the impact of which player, you know, kind of makes the biggest splash for this team moving forward. And, you know, Broderick Jones is always an easy answer because he's the first round pick, but also offensive lineman don't get the credit for being as splash. Right. It's not a sexy, right? Yeah. Exactly. Like they don't get stuff on the stat line. They don't get tackles. They don't get interceptions or score touchdowns unless something crumbles. You know, yeah. Right. They don't get those opportunities. So part of me is tempted to say Joey Porter Jr. to stick with the theme of the first one here because I think that part of this is also checking with this and saying like, you know what, imagine if Joey Porter Jr. does rewrite the script on what Steelers cornerbacks are because for so long, Steelers cornerbacks were the weak spot of the defense. And you know, they got Joe Hayden and they were able to kind of, you know, kind of hang in there for a little bit. But what if Joey Porter Jr. is the start of cornerbacks being a strength for the Steelers defense? If he is, wouldn't that be something that could change the entire trajectory of what this organization could be like and make it truly a dominant defense as they, I believe they have the edge rushers. They have the defensive lineman. I still think they can do a little bit more on fall linebacker, but they have the best safety in football and make up its Patrick. Imagine if they had now some top flight cornerback play there. His defense would be in a position where there's very few weaknesses for the, even the stronger of the offensive teams to pick at. Yeah. No, you're right. It's, it's, it's a tough question because, you know, it feels like you're kind of dialed in on, on, on either broader Jones or on Joey Porter Jr. I, I love the question by Vincent and my immediate thought was I'm torn on this because the hardest position to come into the NFL and succeed right away as a rookie is quarterback point blank period, but I think second might be corner back. Honestly, I really do. It's a lot to learn. It's a lot of language with your teammates. It's a lot of communication things. It's just, and it's just very difficult to play defensive back in the NFL now with the way the game is, with the rules and the way everything is adjudicated. Like quarterback is number one, but I think corner back is the second hardest position to come in the NFL and succeed right away as a rookie. But I also think this year and going forward, I, I do think my answer would be Joey Porter Jr. because I think he's in a great place to succeed as tough as it is right away at that position. It's hard. He's got guys like Patrick Peterson. He's got guys like Minka Fitts Patrick, KZ and Keanu Neil behind him and some different things that they could do there. Still guys like Witherspoon and Pierre that have been in the league for a long time. The Steelers, you know, Brodrick Jones could come in and if he, everything goes well, he could have a substantial workload pretty, like Steelers could ask a lot from him pretty early on. I don't know if they're going to do that for Joey Porter Jr. I think they're going to ask him to just play a role in a defense that is already really solid. And so because of that, he is, I think my immediate answer, but I think Keanu Benton and Darnell Washington deserve, you know, if we're looking bigger picture three years, five years, seven years type thing. I think Keanu Benton is in that same kind of vein. We're going to ask him to do something very specific this year as a rookie alongside guys like Cam Hayward and Larry Ogun Jobe, excuse me, I was drawn a blank there and just the other stable of options that they have in Darnell Washington. I think as long as he's healthy and everything checks out there could certainly be an impactful player this year and beyond. But I think in the scope of the defense, what the Steelers have there and Minka Fitts Patrick and TJ Watt locked down. I think Joey Porter Jr. has a really great chance to man not only have an impact this year in 2023, 2024, but like Vincent said, beyond as well. Yeah, I'm kind of, I'm with you. You know, I'm with you on this. I just, I think it makes a lot of sense for what the Steelers could use it. Again, it's just depending on what Joey Porter Jr. can be because the idea is they brought out Jones becomes the pillar of the offensive line moving forward and they become the bully rush rushing off as then maybe he becomes that guy for sure. If they've drafted, let's it because let's compare all the players. Let's just say from all their picks, if not saying that all of them are Hall of Famers, but if all of them, if you could pick one of these position players to be a Hall of Famer, which one would you want it to be? I mean, it's got to be Broderick Jones, right? If you get a Hall of Fame offensive tackle, right? You get, you get a guy who's that dominant. Well, you were telling me when I'm getting Joe Thomas or I'm getting Trent Williams, like right? Yeah, it's a no-brainer. And I know third of the upper echelon, but I mean, but again, you're getting a guy who's probably if he's going to, if he's going to be an offensive lineman, you're probably getting him for the next decade or so. That means, yeah, at least a decade, 12 years, kind of that max range where you're like, then he'd be like, okay, you know, maybe he's thinking about retiring, but you get him there. Not only is he the pillar for your offensive line, he's protecting Kenny Pickett's blind side for most of his career. Yeah. That's a thing there. And so it could be one of those things, yeah, like you said, not the sexiest thing, but maybe it is Broderick Jones because if you get the Hall of Fame here versus the Hall of Fame corner versus the Hall of Fame defensive lineman and Keanu Benton or Hall of Fame tying in and Darnell Washington, just thinking of those types of guys, you know, it's tough to overlook the importance of protecting what you hope will eventually be a Hall of Fame quarterback. Chris, and all this said too, it's just, I think, particularly tackle. offensive line play across the board is not great in the NFL right now, but I think particularly at the tackle position, I think the interior of offensive lines is a little bit stronger. There's not a lot of great tackles in the NFL right now, at least compared to, I think, where we've been in maybe the days of past. If you get one of those guys, that's huge. There's, I think, a lot more very good defensive backs and cornerbacks in the NFL than I think there are very good left tackles. Maybe that's the best way to put it. And so it's a position that, I mean, how many teams in the NFL right now, if you ask them, if you gave them truth serum, if you ask the head coach and the offensive coordinator in the GM, do you need to get better on the offensive line? I mean, 30 teams, 29 teams are saying, yes, I mean, the Eagles might not, the Niners might not, but there's rare exceptions there. And so, yeah, if you had your pick of the litter of which of these guys is going to have a great decade long career, all pro type career, you've got to go with the left tackle. I'm right with you. And so maybe the answer there is to our friend Vincent's question, you know, maybe it's broader Jones, but again, it's about who steps up into that role. And I think it's going to be very interesting to see how all that plays out. We'll keep talking about that. Rookie camp is just around the corner, starts up this Friday at the Steelers facility. We'll keep you updated with all the, with all this, the situations there. But I want to revisit a topic with the NFL draft that doesn't necessarily involve the Steelers class this year, but can you pick it? And something that I talked about last year and how it played into this year's quarterback class. We'll address that in a minute here on the Lockdown Steelers podcast. I'm your host Chris Carter, who with West Euler, stick with us. We right back. Back here on the Lockdown Steelers podcast, I'm your host Chris Carter here with West Euler of Steel Nation radio. Wes, I've been wondering if we re jumbled everything that Kenny Pickett with, with, with this year's draft class of quarterbacks with Kenny Pickett, where would he fall in this draft class? And that was a question asked, this is good. This is real good. And this is, this is interesting. And it's tough for me to say it before draft class plays out because like, for example, there were reports that we'll, that was just going to go third overall. And I'm just like, I don't see it. And then of course he didn't. And then I was like, okay, that makes a lot more sense. But you know, even last year, I was on the fence, I was on the fence of advocating, you know what, if the Steelers use that 20th overall pick or trade it up to get, you know, a Kyle Hamilton or one of those other premier players that wasn't a quarterback, you know, how do you find because we also didn't, I also didn't think Kenny Pickett with last to pick 20, I thought he'd gone at the leaders by Carolina. Something like that. And I was just like, like, you know, he's not going to be around, but when he fell to 20, I'm like, well, shoot, got to take him. You got to take him. Yeah. So the question then would be where would Kenny Pickett fall in this draft class? Now to remind us all quarterbacks taken this year, Bryce Young went first overall to the Panthers, CJ Shrout went second overall to the Texans, Anthony Richardson went fourth overall to the Colts and then big drop off for Will Levis until the 33rd overall pick to the Titans and then to the, and that was the second round, then to the third round with Hendon Hooker going to the Lions at pick, uh, six, pick 68. So let's just stick with those five quarterbacks. Cause I feel like Kenny Pickett would at least be taken before before Hendon Hooker. Yes. Absolutely. I feel like he'd be taken before Will Levis was absolutely, absolutely. What's funny about this West, if Kenny Pickett's in this draft class, I think if anything, he's just picked three spots higher because I think the Steelers would be the team that would be like, he got it 17. Will take him like I'm saying, if the Steelers were in a position where they still sure, sure, sure, you'd been successor because if he was in this class, they'd still need his successor. Yeah. Exactly. So, you know, Bryce, I think those top guys will still go where they went. Bryce Young, CJ Shrout, I think everyone would still be grading them as, as, as those top guys. I think there'd still be question about Kenny Pickett's hand side. I think Anthony Richardson's numbers that he tested would still be something that people can't avoid. But maybe there'd be a team in that earlier range. Maybe the Titans wouldn't take him because they passed on him the year before. Sure. Well, it's, um, but maybe there's other teams that would have taken a shot at him in, in that, in, in that situation who, you know, who knows how that plays out. But I think at least, can he pick it would have been picked 17th overall this year, um, in the fourth quarterback overall because off the board, uh, because he would have been taken by the Steelers. Who, you know what? It's funny because I didn't even think about that angle that you just did it there, but you're absolutely right. But you know what, Chris, I was honestly thinking, I think the Colts might have taken him fourth overall. I mean, you, you, you telling me they're going to take Anthony Richardson over over Kenny Pickett? I, I don't know. And remember the Colts didn't have a first round pick last year. So it's not like, it's not like we can say, oh, well, the Colts passed on Kenny Pickett. He picked it at eighth last year. They didn't have a first round pick last year. So we don't know. Um, I will say this for whatever reason. I mean, last year was a weird year, right? Because the first quarterback off the board doesn't go until 20. I mean, we've hardly ever seen that. That is the, that is the ultimate exception to the rule. I think, uh, you know what? It's funny though, because I was thinking he would have gone fourth to the Colts. Like I think young and Stroud would have still gone one and two, but the Colts were going to take a quarterback and they would have taken Kenny Pickett. If not though, if they still decide to go with Anthony Richardson, just cause they love the athleticism and the potential upside and all the, the unknown, right? The juice that's still there left to squeeze with him. You're absolutely right. He wouldn't have made it past 17 to the Steelers. In fact, maybe even the Steelers end up going to 14 or something like that to take Kenny Pickett. Um, after they would have let's said hypothetically had a year with Mitch Trabisky and found out that he wasn't the guy and decided, okay, let's go get our guy. Um, but yeah, I, I don't think there's any way he makes it past 17. I certainly think he's a first round pick and I, man, he could have gone fourth over all to the Colts because I think there's just as many, if not more questions about Anthony Richardson and the, well, yeah, can you pick it out of his questions and the hand stuff that we can all laugh about now? And you know, he, he had one great season. How do you evaluate that as opposed to some of the other body of work? These things, right? All those questions are more there with Anthony Richardson. So I think, I think he could have gone, I think he could have, could have gone fourth. I'm certainly with you. He absolutely would have not lasted past 17. But I do like it's, it's a great question by you. It is, especially how because you, you know, you either set me up that I have to say nice things about Kenny Pickett or if I would have said mean things about him, then it would have just been, oh, well, shut up hill Jack. You just hate Kenny Pickett because he went to hit near a W view. It's very, it's very cerebral of you. I hate no such feeling, sir. I like it. I like it. I'm malicious about this at all. I like it. Uh, but yeah, he honestly could have gone fourth, but I think you're absolutely right. He doesn't make it past 17. I just, I think part of what this happens and Lewis Riddick, who I respect a lot of his draft opinions on, he talked about Kenny Pickett being his top quarterback in the draft class. He said because before, Mack Jones was his top quarterback in that class before because of similar things, the way they see the field and their accuracy and then to him and to a lot of NFL teams, those are two primary pieces of importance. You know, Bryce Young, an accurate quarterback who sees the field smaller, but still has, has that, has that going for him in this, in this draft class and in his skillset. You look at CJ Stroud, you know, accurate, stronger arm, bigger. You know, he's a guy that definitely fits that, fits that profile. So I look at that and then I look at the rest of these guys. Will Levison, I was going to look at one of those weaknesses to be seeing the field. And that's why I would think, well, I mean, Kenny Pickett gets that above him and Anthony Richardson. I'd say Anthony Richardson, he, he, I'd take Kenny Pickett's field vision over his, but then it would be a question. Do you want the premier athlete who may be the best overall pure athlete that's ever been drafted at quarterback next to Michael Vick? Or do you want the guy who looks more like the, like the, like the field general? And that would have been, I think what would have happened there would be everyone knows Bryce Young and CJ Stroud are going one A, one B. One. And then there just would have been a constant debate of Kenny Pickett versus Anthony Richardson. And it would have never ended until after. You're absolutely right. It would have, like you're, you're 100% spot on with that. And that, that, hey, that would have been a fun storyline. It absolutely, it absolutely would have been. But I think, you know, like Will Levis was, was kind of, I think there was some Hendon Hooker vibes. You know what I mean? To last year where a lot of people talked up, or sorry, not Hendon Hooker, part of me. I'm drawing a blank now, Liberty quarterback. It was Malik. Malik. There was, there was a, clearly a lot of, of smoke and mirrors around Malik Willis last year, right? Where just teams didn't see him as that type of talent. And maybe they're trying to get somebody to reach for him. And you're always doing that thing around draft season. I think there was some of that clearly with Will Levis. Whereas teams just didn't have a first round grade on him. And they might have acted like they did. And they might have leaked out there. Oh yeah, we're thinking about taking this guy at pick two or pick four or pick one just to make other teams nervous and question things. But I think Anthony Richardson actually is what people tried to pretend Malik Willis was last year, if that makes sense. You get what I'm saying? Like, it could easily not work out, but there is, there is the unknown upside of the athleticism and the arm strength and just not a huge body of work in college either for him. I think that is real with Anthony Richardson this year. Man, I don't know though. It would have been tough for me to, to take him over Kenny Pickett after watching Bryce Young and CJ Stroud off the board because Kenny Pickett feels like a more sure thing. Anthony Richardson, could he have a nice career? Absolutely. Could the Colts be looking for another quarterback in another year or two? Absolutely. I don't think anybody was really saying that with Kenny Pickett. I think we always knew his floor was pretty high. The debate was just how high is his ceiling? No, I agree with that with that sentiment here. I also wanted to, wanted to look at just comparisons between the two. Anthony Richardson and Malik Willis. Kenny Richardson has four inches and about 30 pounds on, on Malik Willis. Yeah. Malik Willis didn't test at the combine. Anthony Richardson ran a 4, 4, 3, 40 yard dash. You know, I know Malik Willis is athletic. I don't think he's that fast. And again, with that size. Richardson's a freak athletically. Exactly. And again, that's no slight to Malik Willis. It looks like he's out of a job because the Titans have also taken Will Levison. He's a big fan of the team. They got a log jam of quarterbacks. Right. There's certainly some questions there. But, you know, again, I think it's really important to note, you know, Anthony Richardson's freakish numbers. But like you said, teams would want, they want, they want the captain when they're doing their drafting a quarterback. They prefer that, you know, I think that that is the priority when any team, you know, goes and gets a guy in the NFL draft. They want, they get a quarterback in the NFL draft. They want the guy, not necessarily. Yes, you want playmakers. You want guys that are going to set the tone and be, you know, and be the guy that can make the big plays to save you in the big moment. But to make those plays, you need heady play. And here's the thing about this. You compare it to Kenny Pickett. Kenny Pickett, he wasn't the freak, you know, kind of prospect to Anthony Richardson was. But looking at their relative athletic scores, Kenny Pickett was a 9.55 compared to Anthony Richardson, who was a 10.0. And the reason for that, Kenny Pickett, 6'3, decent height for a quarterback, 2'17, decent weight for a quarterback. We're in a 4'7'3, not great, but actually pretty decent for a quarterback. But not bad either. Yeah. Right. But then the things that he did, that he did really well, his vertical, his vertical jump was 33 and a half showing explosiveness, his broad jump also showing explosiveness. His fake, his fake slide was a 10 out of 10. It was a 10 out of 10. You get what happened? Hey, you know, Kenny Pickett, what's the, hey, what's the, what's the stereotype right Chris? Ah, he's sneaky athletic. Oh, he's, oh, yes, yes, he's sneaky athletic. That's the one, that's the one time I get to use the stereotype thing. What are you sneaky athletic? That is very true. Any white guy that comes in there. Any white guy who's actually a decent athlete. Oh, he's sneaky athletic. You never just, can never just say he's a good athlete. I sneaky athletic. I mean, but when you compare his numbers, he's pretty good athletically. Like it is. Like when you look at the, the, the relative athletic score, I'm sorry, I don't have it to show on screen to our YouTube voters right now, but he scores very high and he's not as high as anything. Richard, but again, Anthony Richardson was off the charts. He was something that we've never seen before. He went like guys like Lamar Jackson and Michael Pickett, but can he pick it as far as everything you ask him to do and what you're asking it to measure him at the combine at the pro day? He excels. So sure, you know, hand size and all that, but Kenny Pickett, I think still would be a first, you know what? That's not a bad point by you. He might have been fourth overall to the club. He might have been because I think you're right. It would have come down to those two and one goes forth to the Colts and if Kenny Pickett is, is, ends up being not that guy, he doesn't make it any farther. 17. Now the real question would be right. How would the Steelers have felt about a Richardson type prospect who's raw and pure and talent and traits versus the Kenny Pickett who was much more polished and you know what you're getting with the guy next door, right? Do the Steelers take, take AR at pick 17? I don't know. Whereas they definitely take Kenny Pickett if, if Richardson still, you know, in this hypothetical world goes, goes forth to Indianapolis. I hear you. I like this comment. I like this conversation. This was a fun little conjecture, not necessarily like, yeah, this is a little different on the other production. If you hear me steal this topic on Steelers nation radio mind your own business, all I ask is that you call me into the show for that topic. There we go. That's a lot to do. There we go. He's West, Euler West. Thanks so much for joining us here in the lock on Steelers podcast. I thought I could find you falling. You'll get more of your work. Yes, sir. Stealer nation radio with Arthur moats. We're on at noon. You can also get us in podcast form easier just on demand whenever you want to listen Steelers blitz wherever you get your podcasts. And then as Chris is always kind enough to let me plug. Yes, I do do all the West Virginia radios and podcasts as well too in the gun and ears and beers. If you are a tortured mount near soul like myself. Absolutely. Again, thank you, West Euler, to coming on to the show. Thank you all for checking out the show, whether it's on your favorite podcasting app or on YouTube. Like this video if you enjoyed it on YouTube, subscribe to this YouTube channel to get all your daily Monday, Friday episodes as well as our bonus content. And we thank you for making us your first listen every day because we're your team every day. And if you want to help out the show even further, go on Apple podcasts, rate us five stars with a positive comment. You both at the same time, you get a shout out at the end of the show. 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We'll see what he's got to say as we get ready for rookie camp and the NFL schedule release coming out this week. We'll have to talk about still, it's going to be a fun one. We'll see you then right here on the lock dawn Steelers podcast. A prime members, you can listen to this lock dawn podcast and free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today. ♪♪♪♪♪