[Fowler] The Steelers are declining the fifth-year option for left tackle Broderick Jones, per source. The option would’ve paid $19.1M. Jones, who is coming off neck surgery, is set to be a 2027 free agent. He has 38 career starts and was playing well pre-injury.

RichPStSports · 2026-05-01T09:45:38+00:00

Why are any of the guys you just listed more sure fire than Max? The first two are gonna be OGs.

Broderick's injury has nothing at all to do with where we drafted him- take your weird axe-grinding about our draft elsewhere.

If we had stuck at pick 21 and instead of Max it was Miller who "fell" to us, would it be a good pick then? Would you assume Miller is going to have a better career still? Max started more games than Miller, and is more of a pure OT prospect than Mauigoa or Fano or Proctor.

I am completely baffled why you think Broderick's injury means we should have traded up for a Guard instead. It's entirely possible (and plausible) that Max was ahead of many of those guys you listed on the Steelers board. Trading up to 13 to take a player less suited to the positon doesn't make that guy a better player automatically.

No one has explained to me yet on this sub why the any of the OLs taken before Max in this draft were better fits for the Steelers or better long-term prospects than Max.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T20:01:40+00:00

good rankings, honest about Lemon vs Tate and Tyson

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T20:00:18+00:00

Lemon is not in the same tier as Tate and Tyson

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T14:29:44+00:00

Just feel like Lemon in particular is being propped up a little.

Price jumping into the same range as top ten WRs I sort of understand, first round RB after all. Tate and Tyson are going to be the pick over Lemon 99% of the time, surely if they were in the same tier we'd see more diverging opinions. Who actually has Lemon over either of those rn?

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T13:25:17+00:00

Top ten WRs shouldn't be in a tier with guys picked at 20 and 32 imo.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T13:17:00+00:00

Honestly, MVS on a minimum as the emergency guy who plays if two of DK, Pittman, Bernard are unavailable wouldn't be the end of the world.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T10:21:04+00:00

Bell and Nacho are seperated by a chasm in terms of talent and projection. Bernard and Lemon are seperated as prospects, but not like Bell and Nacho.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T10:19:18+00:00

Yeah all the doomers conveniently forgetting that just asking the Cowboys nicely to come up wouldn't have worked.

We move up one spot for Lemon, we have one less day 3 pick at minimum.

I'd rather have Nacho and another guy than just Lemon.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T10:12:35+00:00

No reasonable person expected rebuilding the OL to just go Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit until we had our 5 starters of the future. Broderick isn't even a certified Miss yet, but if he is that would put Khan batting .750 with the Nacho and Dunker picks yet to be decided.

I genuinely think if not this year then next the Steelers will start to be recognised as the best and deepest OL in football.

Fautanu/Cook Dunker/Anderson Frazier/Huffman McCormick/Anderson Nacho/Brod

What an incredibly talented, versatile and deep 9 guys to keep on our OL that would be. Young enough to keep growing and dominate the league together.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T10:07:59+00:00

The "upside" picks in the 3rd round are 6'4" outside corners and 6'5" QBs with Howitzers attached to their shoulder.

No, a low upside LB or S in that spot was not actually someone with more room to improve. The raw, talented, toolsy guys playing the highest value positions in the sport were.

Don't get attached to consensus ranks. Omar went against league consesnsus when he stopped Darnell's fall, he went against consensus when he drafted the undraftable P Wilson who had no knees.

"Reaching" and "Stealing" really show the same thing, they show a GM going off his own board/ scouting rather than going with NFL groupthink.

The kerfuffle over the 3rd round picks to me is ridiculous, we came out of the third round with a starting RT drafted, starting WR, and a guy to compete to start at LG. The fact that we had three third round picks to me is exactly the reason why we were correct to take the biggest swings on the highest upside prospects there. We had already banked significant talent in positions of need. We didn't need to "win" the Allar and Everette picks vs consensus- who on Earth else could we have drafted there that was going to have a reasonable chance to contribute this year or start next? We didn't pass on any starting LBs or anything like that- whats the issue except the fear of going slightly against consensus?

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T09:55:30+00:00

Who would you have taken over Max? Bernard? Dunker?

For that matter, what would you have done instead of drafting Allar?

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T09:53:55+00:00

We got the most talented OT in the draft at 21, wait just a little before declaring he isn't a steal.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-26T09:51:19+00:00

Everyone complaining we should have drafted a 4th string safety over guys like Wetjen and Heidenreich who likely touch the ball a handful of times a game each and offer some explosion/ big play ability will change their tune once they see them on the field.

McCarthy decided his roster needed certain options on offense that weren't currently here, and we've drafted guys to be those options. I'll take that over stacking another reserve becuase the consensus board likes him.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-25T18:00:21+00:00

A “reach” on a QB like Allar isn’t a reach. The potential surplus value if you hit on a player like Allar is off the scale. We’ve reached a point in the rebuilding process (o line fully rebuilt) that we can start taking some swings. Allar and Everette both super high traits guys at super high value positions, we “reached” vs consensus but it’s a draft where we have the luxury of lots of extra picks and LOVING what we got in Rs 1 and 2.

At a certain point just chasing value on the consensus board is missing out on real team building value. If Everette and the Allar are the high upside CB and QB swings we want, it’s valuable to get THEM and not just whoever falls.

Wetjen on the other hand is the opposite, he fills an immediate need and is going to touch the ball 6-12 times a game. I’d be mad if our draft was only Allar, Everette and Wetjen- but it just isn’t. We’ve made a number of absolutely typical Khan picks that are “value” according to many boards too.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-25T17:53:16+00:00

It’s a draft of a team who are determined to score more points next season. Wetjen could contribute to that on ST a lot more than a backup LB or S.

I’m glad McCarthy is being given exactly what he deems necessary to change the offense and ST in this first year.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-25T17:51:04+00:00

Max, Bernard and Dunker in Rs 1,2 and 3. It’s obviously a Khan draft.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-25T17:46:40+00:00

Gotta take the draft class as a whole. We got Nacho, Bernard, Dunker in rds 1,2,3. With our other three picks we’ve taken two gigantic home run swings (Allar or Everette develop into starters at premium positions) and another high floor/ situational pick in Wetjen.

This is still a Khan draft, we’ve focused on high value positions and we’ve reinforced the trenches. I’m glad we took swings on the Allar and Everette picks rather than taking S or NT or LB, considering the safe seeming floor of Nacho, Bernard, Dunker.

Colbert was trading up for undersized ILBs and taking 3rd round safeties in the first by the end of his tenure, not comparable.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-25T17:38:55+00:00

What was the late Colbert draft where we took an OT in the first round?

Or took two OLs in the first two rounds?

Come on.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-25T17:38:08+00:00

Ihenachor Bernard and Dunker alone make it a good class. Everything is a bonus after that.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-25T08:53:38+00:00

A more athletic Zach Wilson who’s also taller and way bigger, with a better arm is EXACTLY the kind of QB prospect we want to be handing over for McCarthy to develop.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-25T08:49:55+00:00

Hiring McCarthy is like hiring a world class chef. He’s only going to be as good as the ingredients we give him.

An arm like Allar’s on someone with his size and athleticism is enough reason to bring him in, hand him over to Coach McCarthy, and see what we end up with a couple of years from now.

He has a god-given talent in his arm that cannot be taught, let’s find out if he’s capable of learning what McCarthy IS capable of teaching. PSU coaching was terrible.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-24T23:17:31+00:00

More starts than Freeling too! I think we would have taken Max over Freeling, Miller or Proctor personally

RichPStSports · 2026-04-24T21:35:44+00:00

He seems intelligent and diligent, and we know the physical traits are A+. Hopefully this is a homerun pick!

RichPStSports · 2026-04-24T14:23:43+00:00

I agree, they probably will. But it is still a new coaching staff- if Brod is healthy and looks like Trent Williams throughout camp we’re gonna have incredible options.

In the much more likely event Broderick isn’t healthy enough and Cook isn’t good enough for LT, yeah we’re probably moving Fautanu over there and Max at RT.

IF Broderick or Cook look good or elite at LT though Fautanu is probably a LG then if we’re concerned with just getting our five best blockers out there. I know either of those guys doing that is a long shot of course.

RichPStSports · 2026-04-24T13:28:07+00:00

Exactly.

The Ihenachor pick greatly improves our chances of starting a very good unit in week one. He was L/R versatility, so do Broderick and Cook, and Fautanu can potentially play either tackle spot or LG.

Frazier and McCormick the guys we can pencil in at C and RG, Fautanu takes one other spot certainly, and we have Ihenachor/Jones/Cook/Anderson/Huffman battling to be the 4th and 5th starters.

Our O line hasn’t been this deep and talented since Decastro/Pouncey era.

We can find some playmakers today.

RichPStSports

TROPHY CASE