Speaker 1: Not to be overshadowed as Max Chadwick who joined us
Speaker 1: today on a whim and we appreciate it. Man. We
Speaker 1: broke the emergency glass and we got one of the
Speaker 1: best in the business. How are you, by the way,
Speaker 1: how are things through you?
Speaker 2: I'm doing good?
Speaker 1: How you guys doing excellent? It couldn't be better. We're
Speaker 1: past May, which means we're in June and we can
Speaker 1: see the season within our sites now. And with that,
Speaker 1: we figured at some point Aaron Rodgers would be a
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steeler. We haven't spoken with you in months, so
Speaker 1: let's kind of do a reset. Where are you at
Speaker 1: with the Steelers as a whole and with the Rogers
Speaker 1: component along with Arthur Smith and company.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it just seems like the Steels are gonna be
Speaker 2: where they always were, which is basically, you know, maybe
Speaker 2: good enough to just make it sneak into the playoffs,
Speaker 2: but not good enough to actually compete for a Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: If they had Bason Rudolph as the quarterback all year,
Speaker 2: maybe they could reset and be one of the worst
Speaker 2: teams in the NFL and then get a top draft
Speaker 2: pick and completely reset without a brand new, young franchise quarterback,
Speaker 2: but now with Rogers, it kind of seems like the
Speaker 2: same old Steelers are now kind of like what they
Speaker 2: were last year with Russell Wilson. It might be a
Speaker 2: slight improvement off what they had in Russell Wilson, but
Speaker 2: maybe not that much. So I think it's extremely similar
Speaker 2: to what they had last year.
Speaker 1: I think for fans that get excited about it, it's
Speaker 1: more of just the confirmation that there's something that got
Speaker 1: done there with Rogers, they can now breathe and move on,
Speaker 1: not necessarily celebrate. It's more of a okay, fine, this
Speaker 1: portion of what's going to be a several act of
Speaker 1: drama is over. Now we'll see what's ahead for Rogers.
Speaker 1: And I agree with you, Max, Max Chadwick Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1: There's not much of a difference, you know, metrics wise,
Speaker 1: but between the two guys last year, and look at
Speaker 1: what Wilson was able to do. Rudolph obviously was the
Speaker 1: guy that would have led him to Tank City and
Speaker 1: they could have gotten that fifth he does. He's looking
Speaker 1: very much like a magnum p I, but unfortunate he's
Speaker 1: gonna be holding a clipboard for a little bit. So
Speaker 1: Rogers in that offense obviously it gives them at least
Speaker 1: some degree of competency. But I agree with you, these
Speaker 1: better days are probably behind him. With the Achilles, he
Speaker 1: doesn't move as well out of the pocket. He's not
Speaker 1: escaping the kind of pressure he used to. And the
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith component. It's gonna be interesting because Rogers likes
Speaker 1: to own the line of scrimmage. He's his own coach
Speaker 1: at times, and Artie is not. Hardy's not a big
Speaker 1: fan of handing over control. How's that dynamic gonna play?
Speaker 1: Does Tomlin need to get in it? Have they already
Speaker 1: had that discussion?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be interesting. You know, Aaron Rodgers obviously
Speaker 2: steamrolled everybody in that Jets organization when he went over there,
Speaker 2: and I think it's ultimately why it really didn't work
Speaker 2: out well at all is because he just had way
Speaker 2: too much control over that entire organization, whether it be
Speaker 2: over the general manager, over the coaching staff, everyone. It
Speaker 2: was Aaron Aaron Rodgers show in New York. I have
Speaker 2: more faith than Mike Tomlin to not get steamrolls. You know,
Speaker 2: Mike Tom's a very well respected coach, a Super Bowl
Speaker 2: champion coach, and I don't think he'll ever let anyone
Speaker 2: steamroll him, right, So I think he's gonna come in
Speaker 2: there and be like, well, Sen, you're a quarterback, you're
Speaker 2: nothing else, right, Yes, exactly what. We're paying you to
Speaker 2: be the quarterback for one years a one year contracts,
Speaker 2: not a multi year thing like what the best thing
Speaker 2: could be a one year deal. So I think I
Speaker 2: think Rogers is going there and gonna play football next year.
Speaker 2: I don't think Mike Tomins can let him have any
Speaker 2: really control over anything else, or at least you shouldn't
Speaker 2: let him have any control mate. Now, of course, Arthur
Speaker 2: Spith's gonna, you know, consult Rogers, considering he's one of
Speaker 2: the greatest quarterbacks of all time and say, hey, what
Speaker 2: are you comfortable with? What are some plays that you
Speaker 2: like if we can incorporate for you. There's something gonna
Speaker 2: be some collaboration there. But I would be really surprised
Speaker 2: if Aaron Rodgers had as much of a vice script
Speaker 2: over the Steelers as he did over the Jets.
Speaker 1: Trey Faco's got a question, but I'll add this. I
Speaker 1: would give him three gold jackets if he can plow
Speaker 1: through and destroy the Steelers, the most stable organization ever,
Speaker 1: that would be as impressive as taken it can be
Speaker 1: if he could just finally put the Rooneyes in the
Speaker 1: ground for all and ruin what's been the most stable
Speaker 1: organization for decades. If anybody could do it, it's mister Rogers. Trey,
Speaker 1: you have a question for Max.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Max, obviously this is a bridge year that is
Speaker 3: obviously in the contract. To your point, it does feel
Speaker 3: like it's going to be the same old Steelers. It
Speaker 3: feels like they're probably going to be picking around nineteen
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one right now, as you see this roster
Speaker 3: in the way that it's constructed, what do the Steelers
Speaker 3: need to do to prepare for that future quarterback that
Speaker 3: it looks like they're going to get next year in
Speaker 3: next year's draft.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they're doing a nice job building up
Speaker 2: the offensive line, right. They spent the last two first
Speaker 2: round picks or before, I should say this year on
Speaker 2: for on tackles. Right, So they got younger on the
Speaker 2: offensive wind of a great young center and Zach Frazier
Speaker 2: in an awesome rookie year last year. So I love
Speaker 2: that the receiving corp is still severely lacking right now.
Speaker 2: I think guess the one thing. Yes, they did trade
Speaker 2: for DK Metcalf, but they also traded away George Pickens,
Speaker 2: So it's kind of almost like a neutral move right
Speaker 2: there for Pittsburgh. And the weapons outside of Metcalf are
Speaker 2: uninspiring to say the least right now, so they got
Speaker 2: to keep building up their receiving corps. The defense is
Speaker 2: really good. The d line's maybe the best in the
Speaker 2: NFL right now. He's got Derek Carmon in the first round. Two,
Speaker 2: the tackle from Oregon. I think the defense overall because
Speaker 2: really good. Still building up a secondary a little bit,
Speaker 2: but and he needs Tom up a corner. But I
Speaker 2: think the really big thing is, yeah, you look the
Speaker 2: old line. Still build up on that old line a
Speaker 2: little bit. Is a very young and talented old line.
Speaker 2: I really want them to attack the receiving corps even
Speaker 2: more and get more wide receivers in there outside of
Speaker 2: DK Metcalf.
Speaker 3: Max, you're now Rooney, You're now the GM of the Steelers.
Speaker 1: You're going into next year's draft.
Speaker 3: You're picking the future franchise quarterback for this organization is
Speaker 3: Arthur Smith. The type of offensive coordinator that you want
Speaker 3: to try and build around a young quarterback or do
Speaker 3: you want to maybe bring somebody else in that's I
Speaker 3: don't know, a little bit more dynamic, maybe a little
Speaker 3: bit more progressive. When it comes to the offense. Is
Speaker 3: Arthur Smith the offensive coordinator of the future. I know
Speaker 3: it's a one year sample size, but I look at
Speaker 3: last year and I'm like, it's kind of a step
Speaker 3: up for Matt Canada. But I don't know exactly how
Speaker 3: great this offense is. Granted, who if they had thrown
Speaker 3: the ball? Who have they had running the ball?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a good question, you know. I
Speaker 2: think it's all depending on how it looks next year.
Speaker 2: You know, if he makes it work with Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 2: and the offense is above average next year, I say, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, I'll give him another shot going into twenty
Speaker 2: twenty six. But if if it's still like a below
Speaker 2: average offense or anything like that, I probably say, you
Speaker 2: know what, it's probably time to move on and get
Speaker 2: a new OC in there. So I don't know how
Speaker 2: much longer Mike tom It's gonna be the coach. I'm
Speaker 2: not well, miamimans, I'm not calong for him to be fired.
Speaker 2: And because I think he's a great coach, But it
Speaker 2: is very hard to win with a defensive head coach
Speaker 2: in the NFL nowadays because you know, you need a
Speaker 2: great offensive mind in there. And if you're if you
Speaker 2: have a defensive minded head coach, you have a great
Speaker 2: offensive coordinator. That offensive cordator is gonna be scooped up
Speaker 2: by a head for a head coaching job very very
Speaker 2: soon after that, right, So it's very very difficult to
Speaker 2: have that happen. So it's kind of a wait and
Speaker 2: see mode right now. You know, I'm not I'm not
Speaker 2: saying Art Smith should or not should not be fired
Speaker 2: right now. But if he has a bad year next year,
Speaker 2: yeah they tried to should move on. But if he's
Speaker 2: pretty good next year with Aaron Rodgers, then maybe give
Speaker 2: him another shot.
Speaker 1: Max Chadwick PFF dot com joining us on literally two
Speaker 1: minutes notice, which is why he's the goat, among other reasons. Max,
Speaker 1: you can find his work at PFF dot com. Will
Speaker 1: promote everything in a minute, quick whip round around the league.
Speaker 1: A couple teams and storylines. I'm fascinated by the Giants
Speaker 1: quarterback room could have its own Hard Knocks series, And
Speaker 1: you know Dart Wilson Winston might be trade bait. Who
Speaker 1: knows at that point. Do you have sort of an
Speaker 1: idea in your mind? Who you envision being the starter
Speaker 1: day one? Is it is? It? Is it Russ and
Speaker 1: then maybe turn it over to Jackson mid season? Is
Speaker 1: it Russ all year? Or does Jackson get the nod
Speaker 1: from day one?
Speaker 2: No, I think it's gonna be Russell Wilson's team. I think,
Speaker 2: you know, Brian Dave Beli even came out and said that, hey,
Speaker 2: you're Russell Wilson is the starter. Jackson Dart is not
Speaker 2: competing to be the starter at least right now. I'm
Speaker 2: not closing off the idea of hey, if Russ struggles
Speaker 2: out there at Jackson Dark could go in there. But
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't even know if Jackson Darth is
Speaker 2: the second string quarterback right now. Right I think Jamis
Speaker 2: Winston might even have that job over him too, so
Speaker 2: I would. I think Russell Wilson is pretty much guaranteed
Speaker 2: to be the week one starter, but it all depends
Speaker 2: on how the season goes before you know whether or
Speaker 2: not they try to turn in Jackson Darvis. You gotta remember,
Speaker 2: I mean both Brian Dabel and Joe Shane. They're both
Speaker 2: on the hot seat right now, and the owner even
Speaker 2: came out and said they're both in the hot seed
Speaker 2: right now. So if they're struggling with Russell Wilson, they're
Speaker 2: gonna like move on from him pretty quickly and try
Speaker 2: to put Jackson Dart out there. That way they could
Speaker 2: at least show ownership. Hey, here's what the future looks like.
Speaker 2: You know, let me work with this guy a little
Speaker 2: bit more and we'll see what we can do in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. If you start Russell Wilson all year
Speaker 2: and you go five and twelve, you're gonna get fired,
Speaker 2: right there's no really future that you showed that year.
Speaker 2: So if they're doing well with Russell Wilson, they'll keep him.
Speaker 2: But if they start losing a lot of games, I
Speaker 2: think Jackson Dart would be started there pretty quickly. Just
Speaker 2: so you know, Brian Dable and Joe Shane can save
Speaker 2: the jobs.
Speaker 1: Honestly, Max, it's way too early to predict a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl unless you're a sports talk host in June and
Speaker 1: you have to just mess around. And that's what we
Speaker 1: do on this show. My early like shocking hot take
Speaker 1: super Bowl, which is what we do every year. Would
Speaker 1: be Rams Broncos. And here's why. And I saw your
Speaker 1: rankings you put out last week. You've got the Rams,
Speaker 1: you and the company there have them at six, I
Speaker 1: believe right now. And then you've got Denver and nine.
Speaker 1: And the defense. What they've done at corner is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: They got the pass rush, you got the two strong
Speaker 1: corners there, Bo had a great year at quarterback. And
Speaker 1: the Rams. I want to talk more about them with you.
Speaker 1: That's a team that I just see lurking right now.
Speaker 1: With all that talent in the front seven. You've got
Speaker 1: obviously two very talented receivers on the outside. Offensive lines
Speaker 1: coming together. Stafford v State's healthy McVeigh can always win.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't surprise me a bit because they almost beat Philly.
Speaker 1: Could you see one of those two teams maybe working
Speaker 1: into at least the championship game?
Speaker 2: Definitely? I think it was the two you know, sleepers
Speaker 2: out like a lot right there. I think Los Angeles,
Speaker 2: like you just mentioned, I mean Los Angeles, they almost
Speaker 2: beat Philadelphia in the divisional round, and if they won
Speaker 2: that game, they could all of a sudden, they could
Speaker 2: beat the Commanders in the conference title game. If they
Speaker 2: do that. Listen, the Rams had the front seven like
Speaker 2: the Eagles that could dominate Kansas City. Like, I know,
Speaker 2: it's kind of stretches things considering they lost the divisional round,
Speaker 2: but the Rams weren't that far away from winning a
Speaker 2: Super Bowl last year. You really look at it, right,
Speaker 2: So I don't hate that call out at all. And
Speaker 2: then yeah, Denver, you know, one of the best defenses
Speaker 2: in the NFL right now. And then you have, you know,
Speaker 2: a quarterback in b Nicks who is very solid in
Speaker 2: his rookie year, a really good offensive line in Denver
Speaker 2: as well. I don't love the receiving corps in Denver,
Speaker 2: but it's not the worst in the NFL either. And
Speaker 2: then Rje Harvey is a new running back there. I
Speaker 2: like to lock him out of UCF. So yeah, I
Speaker 2: think Denver, you know they're gonna make the Super Bowls,
Speaker 2: can be off the defense. But I think it's a
Speaker 2: two good calls right there for sure.
Speaker 1: Max.
Speaker 3: One final question for me, being a yinser, I have
Speaker 3: a little bit of a vested interest in this.
Speaker 1: I had a hot take kind of similar.
Speaker 3: We've been doing this whole hot take thing, and my
Speaker 3: hot take was I looked at Cleveland, the Cleveland Browns,
Speaker 3: I don't think it's out of the question for Shador
Speaker 3: Sanders to be the starter coming into this season day one.
Speaker 3: Just looking at that quarterback room.
Speaker 1: On paper, I know there's Joe Flacco.
Speaker 3: He's good for a couple of games off the bench,
Speaker 3: but as we've seen, that's about it. I don't know
Speaker 3: that he's true starter carry you through the season. Material.
Speaker 3: Uh what are your thoughts in the Cleveland quarterback room?
Speaker 2: H yeah, I would agree with you. I think Sanders
Speaker 2: is pretty in my opinion, at least pretty easily the
Speaker 2: best of those four right there, whether it be Joe Flacco,
Speaker 2: whether it be Kenny Pickett or Dylan Gabriel. I don't
Speaker 2: know if we'll start week one only because they took
Speaker 2: him in the fifth round of the draft to drafted
Speaker 2: the guy, and Dylan Gabriel over him too. So I
Speaker 2: think just Kevin Stefancy is just gonna it's gonna be
Speaker 2: really hard.
Speaker 1: Wait, Max Matt, you're not following the o t A
Speaker 1: stat leaderboards right by the way. Those are vital Those
Speaker 1: are vital metrics.
Speaker 2: Now, come on, I've seen a lot of those stats.
Speaker 2: I just saw one even yesterday, I said, should is
Speaker 2: the only one who didn't take any first team reps
Speaker 2: either for.
Speaker 1: Prime. Coach Prime is gonna call you that, I don't careful.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Max, Sorry, you're.
Speaker 2: Guessed as good as mine. So what the heck the
Speaker 2: Brown is gonna do next year at quarterbacks? I think
Speaker 2: no matter who starts at quarterback, it's gonna be it
Speaker 2: could be a historically bad offense in the NFL next year.
Speaker 2: I just look at that offense top to bottom, and
Speaker 2: it's it's a disaster everywhere. Man, you got the worst
Speaker 2: seeding corps football, maybe the worst offensive line in football.
Speaker 2: And then obviously you have no idea what you have
Speaker 2: do what you're doing a quarterback right now? Running back?
Speaker 2: Man's that's really all you're hanging your hat on right now.
Speaker 1: S Garrett in Japan and no leadership. Everything we talked
Speaker 1: about is Cleveland. They're five seasons. If you're a Cleveland
Speaker 1: fan or if you're a Cleveland you know, a member
Speaker 1: of the media, everything that was talked about, of course
Speaker 1: isn't happening. We expect Miles to step with media leader.
Speaker 1: He goes to Japan, everybody freaks out. It means nothing
Speaker 1: but it's so wonderful because it's Cleveland and it always
Speaker 1: keeps us entertained. And now they have seven quarterbacks. We're
Speaker 1: gonna play them all. Uh, we will see what happens.
Speaker 1: We'll touch on the Panthers next time around, because I
Speaker 1: think it's too early to tell. That division is always crazy.
Speaker 1: Just one more thing though, this Saints. The Derek Carr situation.
Speaker 1: That is fascinating in a way because the guy wasn't hurt,
Speaker 1: but then he was and he didn't have the surgery.
Speaker 1: Was he just ready to quit? What's the story with Carr?
Speaker 1: And when are they going to finally as a wholesale
Speaker 1: you know, effort tear it down and build it right
Speaker 1: or does the salary cap just not batter anymore?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think no, it does matter. I think you're
Speaker 2: seeing you're seeing the effects of it right now. I
Speaker 2: think I think this is when they're gonna start tanking
Speaker 2: a little bit. I think this is I think the
Speaker 2: Saints are and the Browns are, you know, two of
Speaker 2: the worst teams in football right now. They're probably fighting
Speaker 2: for that number one overall pay it's really them and
Speaker 2: the Browns that have no idea what to doing that
Speaker 2: quarterback right now, if you want to throw the Colts
Speaker 2: in that mix to at least the Colts, you know,
Speaker 2: are hoping Richardson could be the guy. And then they
Speaker 2: have Daniel Jose's backup. The Saints right now are throwing
Speaker 2: out Tyler Shuck. Wow. I didn't love coming out of Loutsville.
Speaker 2: I won't lie to you guys. And he's gonna start
Speaker 2: day one as a rookie. I just don't love that
Speaker 2: at all for him. So, yeah, they're gonna be pretty
Speaker 2: bad next year. And I would expect New Orleans to
Speaker 2: have a top five pick in the draft. And honestly,
Speaker 2: I mean you look at the draft next year. You
Speaker 2: got a couple of quarterbacks there that have a lot
Speaker 2: of ties to that organization. You got arch Manning, who
Speaker 2: might or might not declare for the draft. Obviously, his grandpa,
Speaker 2: Archie Manning, is the second greatest quarterback in Saints' history,
Speaker 2: only by Drew Brees. And then you have Garrett nust Meyer,
Speaker 2: the LSU quarterback who not only is playing in Louisiana
Speaker 2: or the state of New Orleans, but also his dad,
Speaker 2: Doug nust Meyer, is the offensive coordinator for the New
Speaker 2: Orleans Saints. Right now as well. So it's gonna be
Speaker 2: really interesting to see what New Orleans does next year.
Speaker 2: I don't think Tyler Schuck is gonna be the franchise
Speaker 2: quarterback for them unless he has a great year next year.
Speaker 2: You could be looking at a New Orleans taking a
Speaker 2: top five pick at a quarterback next year too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Panthers fans right now are just saying, hey, be
Speaker 1: just good enough to be bad, and just be just
Speaker 1: bad enough to not be that bad. That's a frightening thought.
Speaker 1: Arch or Nusts down there, You're right, his dad's on staff,
Speaker 1: and we think Arch is going to be a superstar.
Speaker 1: We just hope, as Panthers guys, it's somewhere else. We
Speaker 1: will see how that works out. Max Chadwick, one of
Speaker 1: the great analysts in the business, covers the college football
Speaker 1: scene for PFF and does a great job with the
Speaker 1: draft and covering the NFL as well. What are you
Speaker 1: up to these days? And where can we find the work?
Speaker 1: We all know where to find it. Let's just uh,
Speaker 1: let's actively promote it.
Speaker 2: No, I appreciate that. Yeah, I host the PFF College
Speaker 2: Football Show. We host that twice a week right now.
Speaker 2: Kind of going over a bunch of rankings where we
Speaker 2: just finished ranking every position in college football, the top
Speaker 2: ten players at every position.
Speaker 1: You were. You were very good at Clemson, by the
Speaker 1: way I saw your Clemson rankings. My goodness, that front behind.
Speaker 2: Listen. I'm not trying to my own horror, but I've
Speaker 2: picked it back to back national champions in Ohio State
Speaker 2: and Michigan preseason, so I got both of them, right,
Speaker 2: I am leaning towards Clempston right.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Oh my god. Oh, somebody pull the
Speaker 1: fire alarm again. The big y'all.
Speaker 2: Yeah they are. They are loaded next year. But yeah,
Speaker 2: talking a lot of Clemson football. And we're actually going
Speaker 2: to preview every single team in college and in the
Speaker 2: power for on our channel very soon. So I'm very
Speaker 2: excited to do all that very very soon.
Speaker 1: You're the best, Max. Thanks for making time, man, Thank you,
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys,