Steelers-Falcons: Believe Mike Tomlin's spin on WRs, OL? Cam Heyward deal a good compromise?

good morning everybody and welcome to Jason Mackey's first 10 short version podcast talking all things Pittsburgh sports today is Wednesday September 4th and we found out yesterday that cam Hayward would be a on helmet player cam signed an extension congratulations to him makes a lot of sense for the Steelers going to get into all of that actually wrote a column on that while I was on my way to pit volleyball uh last night well not while I was on my way uh once I got there the news broke while I was on my way and kind of reacted into that we'll get into some thoughts with pit volleyball and some of the stuff that I saw there as well as the Pirates they won again in Chicago um and wrote a column yesterday I want to get into this was during the day comparing them to the Kansas City Royals and some things that I think the Pirates can learn from the royals quite honestly but first the cam Hayward extension and what it does for the Steelers that's going to be my lead topic it's saved 9 million against this year's cap which I think is important it's a new $45 million deal uh probably seen a lot of this this year's salary converted into a signing bonus $16 million honestly it's what should have happened all along I understand negotiating sometimes you know I I consider or I I likened it in my head to the Brian Reynolds situation where one side's starting way over here the other one's way over here and they meet somewhere around there um and that's that's kind of what we saw here you know cam wasn't going to get $25 million and the Steelers shouldn't have allowed cam to play anywhere else he should remain a Steeler as he will and I think this is a very important year for him um you know going back and looking at at some numbers it is crazy two-year stretch where Cam Hayward had 20 and a half sacks 2122 you know there's some recency where you look at what he did last year only played 11 games 25 tackles two sacks you say oh man he's you know doesn't have it anymore well he was he was pretty darn hurt um I also understand the idea that not going to throw a bunch of money at a guy that is coming off injuries that is Cam's age um but does this make sense in my opinion yes it does you have three years basically covered by this contract and I know it's kind of shifted around a little bit but if you take $45 million divide it by three elementary math 15 million a year is Cam Hayward relatively speaking worth that much for the Steelers and their defense yes he is to me that that's an expense I if you would have told me at the beginning of this thing you have to pay cam Hayward $15 million a year for the next three years I would have signed up for it I'm not paying 25 but 15 I think is a reasonable price so I like that the the point of my column frankly was that it's time to move on to other things you know cam Hayward no nobody knows about the Steelers playoff drought more than cam Hayward Nobody Knows the lack of acceptance or how that's taken inside that locker room more than cam Hayward so now the focus needs to turn on how to make it stop right although there is one bit of business that I think this this could enable them um to well they they were planning for this before it's not like this move is what triggered it but Pat PRI moth has to get done right has to get done it's the lowest paid starting tight end in the league um it's like the you know top third of backups make more than Pat Frou and this actually makes a lot of sense for the Steelers to to get this done now if you think about it what is going to happen with his value in Arthur Smith's offense theoretically especially with Brandon auk not coming here and him effectively being the second wide receiver you got to get this done now and I think they want to obviously the policy of not negotiating in season that's going to work against them but you it it makes all the sense in the world you want pad here I think it makes a lot of sense um you just you you got to get that price now before it Skyrocket so I expect that to happen um some concerns Mike Tomlin talked yesterday and spoke on a few of those things and I go into the Falcons game a little worried about some things I don't know about you all but the wide receiver situation was something that came up with Tomlin uh yesterday at the UPMC Rooney sports complex and for valid reason Tomlin even admitted in L trro to to sort of barging into the wide receivers meetings and talking or um you know expressing his concern with the position and I don't think anybody can blame him still don't totally understand Deontay Johnson gone away replaced with not much right and I mean that's not small production ction I didn't catch these numbers until I saw it in Jerry's story but 83 catches 921 yards and five touchdowns that's what he averaged over the past four years the Steelers simply haven't replaced that I like some of what van Jefferson has done I've liked some of what Scotty Miller has done I'd feel a heck of a lot better if those guys were threes or fours and not twos you know you're counting on guys to basically have a career year so we'll see tomlin's quote from his presser yesterday the consistency in which those guys performed in L trro and through team development has made me more comfortable specifically talking about Miller Jefferson can't say enough about the consistency which which they perform their floor if you will they behave like veteran players well they're going to have to behave like Elite or at least serviceable number two wide receivers we'll see if that happens I have one more Steelers topic I want to get to before moving on to some pit volleyball and Pirates but of course our usual break from the Bradon Area Convention convention and visitors bureau enjoy embrace the laid-back charm of Island life while sinking your toes in the sand and discovering real authentic Florida in the Bradenton Area unspoiled Beauty and pristine beaches a vibrant waterfront downtown energized by local arts and culture fresh FL Bean Cuisine with a flourish of Rich history and friendly locals ready to welcome you to this preserved Paradise on Florida's Gulf Coast plan your visit today at Bradenton Gulf islands.com and welcome back to first 10 about four more minutes in today's episode the other thing that concerns me it's not a big one is the offensive line what is a big one I guess I should say but uh they're going into this game looking to be more physical looking to establish the running game looking to give Russell Wilson time to throw downfield with a whole heap of question marks along the offensive line check out Paul zeiss's Callum on this he lays it out well um Isaac sealo is currently hurt and the Steelers got some good injury news with him it's week to week he's going to avoid IR um should be back this month that's great but into his play steps SP Spencer Anderson we've talked about that two snaps last year Zack Frasier is going to be making his debut James Daniels is basically the only constant on the right side I guess you could say Dan Moore Jr is but they've tried every which way to replace him brck Jones has been less on the right side than he is on the left Dan Moore has said he cannot play the right Troy fanu has been Limited in practice so I mean how much are you going to play a rookie if he's Limited in practice yeah yeah between that and the wide receivers you'd certainly like to feel a little bit better going into Atlanta but hey it's it's coming one way or another and Steelers are going to have to figure it out so all right shifting gears a little bit pit volleyball after I finish recording this I can't wait to tear into a column and uh go through some of my notes and and quotes and stuff from last night but just so fun such a breath of fresh air being at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse um the Panthers absolutely crushed the university Buffalo by the way three nothing um pit one by 12 15 and 10 points it there they they just cruised as I sort of expected um you know just wanted to experience the atmosphere I'd never seen it before was obviously a ways away with pirates stuff um and had never seen a match live at the Fieldhouse and and just absolutely loved it one of the things I'm going to be writing about from my column it's kind of interesting how much they talk about winning a national championship and not being scared by this goal being very obvious about it um some of the the players talk to me about speaking it into existence and how we know you it's going to happen if we don't talk about it so it's very much a regular part of their team culture not so much like a Superstition or anything but just you know a daily part of what they and it's just it's trying to walk parallel paths too and I'm going to try to outline this well but they really um Embrace like being uncomfortable I think they said you know being comfortable leaning into discomfort and being comfortable being uncomfortable there's a lot of like quippy sayings that I have to go through that um it one of them sounds like coache two of them or you know a whole bunch of them the way they it's it's just interesting the way they sort of um calibrate their brains around winning a national championship which obviously I think we can probably all agree the Panthers have a very good chance of doing that I I like their team because there's so much coming back and that's so rare in college sports right especially you know they're returning what 80% Quicky math something like that um maybe even above that honestly there are seniors transfer um extra year due to co like you know five six players that have been around there for a long time and another influx of talent obviously but it's this um you know great amalgamation of experience um of young talent and whatever that has contributed to pit being among the most dominant teams in the country and somebody that I really look forward to following this season we'll talk about quite a bit more Tory Stafford was wor the watch by herself absolutely ridiculous um so just flat out dominant but like if you go into her story and Abby Schnabel wrote about this had a benign tumor in her TI tibia um causing a pathologic fracture had surgery in February there was a lot of big words to say that she had some major stuff going on and you'd never know it by watching her her play but the whole team they just there's so much talent there they play together they're fun to watch they're fun to cover it's a fun atmosphere can't recommend it enough check out my column when it goes live Pirates won again uh for transition to my last topic but U Paul skes impressive I don't know if you saw that 19 change UPS 11 swings 10 whiffs um far be it from me to question what Paul skines does with his pitch mix I think he's doing just fine with my advice but um the change Up's good I've seen it before that was one of my biggest Impressions seeing Paul for the first time that like this this will play this is good enough to use in a game though he doesn't always have to get there last night was one of the ones where I think he said his quote was he had to reach into his bag of tricks but yes do that more I like that which I know is an overly simplistic point and that that's the point but like you know it's just he continues to evolve every single start showcases something else was not terribly efficient through the first three I'm thinking like is this going to be a three-inning start for him and winds up getting through uh was able to get through the final six outs pretty quickly but all in all good start from Paul got the offense going enough Jared triola with the big Homer by the way triolo hitting 245 with three homers a double and 11 ribs since August 14th and that would that would be an interesting thing though obviously that sample is very very small but what if that would continue that would offer some interesting Food For Thought given the position he plays and what the Pirates might do in this off in the off season but to this point triolo's Ops is around 600 I'm not going to guarantee him anything but I do want to see more he'll have the opportunity to play a lot more well I didn't have any time to get to the Royals thing maybe I'll get into it more tomorrow but U the gist of it to refer you to our website is basically some stuff the Kansas City Royals did this past off season spent some money uh spent it in a specific way the type of baseball they're playing you know clean the offense is good enough very good with pitching um outs above average The Royals are number one in baseball now it hasn't gone well lately they've lost seven in a row uh Most baseball teams are going to encounter something like that they still have the last American League wild card spot but the point was that the Pirates can learn a thing or two from this situation they're not far away from the pirate I mean they're a smaller Market than the Pirates but they spent money uh spent a lot of money and if you remember 106 losses last year from this team they were terrible and they've spun out of it in a positive direction and a very quick way so check that out I'm over time I can't get into it too much um make sure you like And subscribe you get all of these videos and much more from our post cazette uh reporters and columnists back here tomorrow thanks for checking out first 10 everybody thank you for checking out this content from Post cazette sports if you watch this video on YouTube please like the video and subscribe to our channel for all of the sports covers the Post Gazette has to offer visit postgazette.com [Music] he