Pittsburgh Steelers Unknown Is Impressing Everyone

heyy guys I think the Pittsburgh Steelers just found a Hidden Gem and the Hidden Gem that I want to talk about is undrafted free agent jacobe winman and this defense I truly believe it's poised to be one of the top units in the 2024 season but here's the thing it's one of the highest payrolls I mean we're looking at standout players like TJ watt Minka Fitzpatrick Patrick Queen cam Hayward Playmakers at every level and that's I think rightfully so there should be high expectations we're looking at um The Unofficial depth chart for the 2024 season that was recently released and you're looking at a guy like Alex heith obviously listed as a starter at right outside linebacker behind him we're looking at herig he's entering his second season as you guys know expected to build on a really impressive rookie year but now you got a guy like Marcus golden officially listed as the third right outside linebacker he decided to retire for some reason um I didn't really look into it that much but he was going to be probably the next guy up in the event of injuries um maybe the guy to take some meaningful snaps um but with him gone High payroll we need a player to pop out here and jacobe windman appears to be the guy and I'm really excited about this and uh this is Sports Talk Steelers I'm your host Sean hey if you would subscribe subscribe subscribe uh we are pushing towards a thousand subscribers and uh man would really appreciate it would be a huge blessing so while it's challenging right an undrafted free agent it's hard to secure a roster spot it's not guaranteed and on top of that it's hard to get significant playing time but I think Wiman is an outlier and defensive coordinator Terell Austin he recently spoke to the media and he expressed an admiration for him um he highlighted his impressive showing against the Houston Texans in this last preseason game and I want to hear directly from the coach yeah for sure he did a good job he's a good football player and it's funny because he's had to in a pinch and practice had to play some outside linebacker for us an inside linebacker and he does a good job at both of them and I think it's this versatility that makes him such a huge blessing to this team and he did make a notable impact he had four total tackles and a pass deflection and it just really caught the eye of his de coordinator I think when you watch him play he's got really good instincts he has a really good feel for the game he's a good communicator and he gets himself around the ball so he helped himself I thought this week and here's something that's really interesting and I want to go to this PFF little blurb here PFF agrees they ranked him as the seventh highest rated rookie in week one of the preseason and this is as an undrafted free agent and he's he's right above my head here so so we're looking at this and he's in such good company the Steelers are going to play the bills in this upcoming preseason game and um you know what I'd like to see some more execution I'd like to see a victory for you guys um we're also going to see the first action of Russell Wilson I feel like Justin Fields kind of squandered an opportunity with not being on the same page with the center that just that just really put a damper on everything and um I don't know I think this is just really interesting I don't think it's time to hit the panic button at all with just a preseason loss and um yeah I think it's really good Steelers jacobe Whitman I think he's going to build off this impressive outing against Houston and um once again he really stood out and as the Le team looks ahead all eyes will be on how they adjust how they perform against the bills and I hope that this continues and I think windman is just on a mission to secure a spot on the roster he has two more games to prove himself and there's a need with that retirement he absolutely has the opportunity and if you look back to his college years I think we got a really good player for the Pittsburgh Steelers and I think I think this is like really sign ifate and I'm going to close that down so if we look at him from college he played his final two years in college at Michigan State a Midwestern guy uh he transferred from UNLV to get there and last season he not he unfortunately only started the first three games and I'm going to get to that there's a lot to that so fast rewind just a little bit he spent three seasons at UNLV played in all 12 games as a freshman here 12 tackles one for a loss and a pass break up he started to get more legs The Following season in 20 named an all Mountain West honorable mention 39 tackles five sacks two pass breakups and a force fumble this guy has shown progression every single year and then this final season with the rebels he had 119 tackles and that ranked 13th in the nation it's crazy that he wasn't drafted but I think there's a big reason and that's when he trans for the Michigan State at Michigan State he showed versatility he was used at inside linebacker and defensive end and in his first spring game that's in 22 scooped up a funall returned it for a touchdown and then in his first game as a defensive end against Western Michigan he had four sacks he was named Big 10 defensive player of the week and then in his second game against Akron uh he forced three fumbles again named Big 10 player of the week and he just became the first Michigan State player to earn the award three times in a season because in week seven he made his first start at inside linebacker that's right this versatility from defensive end to inside linebacker and he had 11 sacks forced a fumble intercepted a pass and and to beat Wisconsin and Wisconsin's a good team and then during his first years a Spartan as well he made six starts at defensive end two linebacker led the nation with six Force fumbles and that was a tie for second most in a single season in program history and his finish for the season was 49 tackles 10 and a half for a loss five and a half sacks and an interception and I know I'm thrw in a lot of stats and numbers out there but it's really really good and um the thing is it could have been better his last season with the Spartans it was a great season it was going strong and it came to screeching haul I don't know if you guys remember that that it's a 29 to7 loss at Michigan both teams were for some reason they used the same tunnel to exit some tempers were high a few Wolverines were celebrating a lot in the face of a few Spartans and the Spartans reacted wrongly they reacted with punches One Michigan player was thrown into windman and to kind of hear hear it from him I kind of caught him pushed him away aggressively so I was suspend Ed for shoving the other guys are jumping the guys we didn't condone that kind of thing but everything just happens for a reason I'm not sure what reason but uh no excuse for that but Wiman was suspended for the remaining four games finished still as a national leader with six Force fumbles he was one away from the school Rec record and also I think it was a big hit on his reputation that might have had something with him to do with him not being drafted and um here's a hear it from him I treated It Like A Life Lesson because the game of football was taken away from me I feel like I couldn't function at the time because that was one of my biggest years I wanted to come out for the draft but I couldn't leave that reputation of that being me I wanted to better myself better for Michigan State so I came back another year um he came back last season as a team captive Captain but um he was injured in the second game so he never really got a chance to truly redeem himself he tried to play through it the third game struggled underwent season ending surgery recovered well enough to run still a 46540 at his prod day 31inch vertical 16 bench reps and um you know that kind of hurt his stock too so you know the Steelers gain he signed with the Steelers after this post-draft spent much of his spring as an inside linebacker but there's also a lot of talk on the team of him playing outside as well and and this is him to close this is him in response to the draft process the scouts put me an outside linebacker which is kind of a combination of both linebacker and defensive end a lot of this translates and I'm able to show my versatility I'm able to rush a pass or I'm able to drop in coverage when I need to be and it kind of helps with this timing and um kind of talking about coming on to Pittsburgh he's saying my coach mentioned it just kind of bringing me down to get some work just to add some depth also show the defensive coordinator I'm versatile enough to do both which adds more value for me and uh he doesn't seem to voice uh a preference for which position this guy just wants to get on the field this guy just wants to contribute and I think uh man that really hurt his reputation with that suspension when he was with Michigan State and then last year I think he was probably going to redeem himself but he got injured just kind of some tough breaks for this kid I think windman is a good kid I think he is a great addition to your Pittsburgh Steelers and uh hey you guys let me know what you think I think it's an exciting story I think it's a nice plug-and playay for cheap following that kind of ridiculous uh retirement and uh you guys let me know what you think it has been fun so far like And subscribe so I can continue going and uh let's work together to get to a thousand subscribers thanks so much you guys and we'll talk soon see you