Fantasy Football Daily - Pittsburgh Steelers with Brooke Pryor | 2023 Franchise Focus Podcast

Episode Date: June 28, 2023

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) chats it up with Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) from @ESPN and @GetUpESPN about the 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers, including making up a Steelers prop bet involving Taylor Swift. Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠ ⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle. From numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. I'm Joe Nolan and this is the franchise focus podcast series at FantasyPoint.com. We're continuing this week with the AFC North and we started with the AFC East and over a six week period, I will be interviewing 32 different people, 32 different beat writers, analysts, podcasters, who are really close to each of the NFL teams. And the object of the franchise focus podcast series is to glean useful fantasy football information from people who would know

these things as we head into training camp and the 2023 NFL season. They're an educational process for me, and I always like to get as much information as I possibly can. So I decided, why not just record these interviews, why not record these conversations, and hope that the listeners can glean some information as well. Again, we are heading into the AFC North in this section of our podcast interviews. We've already done the AFC East. I hope you enjoy. I hope you subscribe to the podcast feed.

But without further ado, here's my next guest talking about an AFC North team. Welcome back to the franchise focus podcast series here at FantasyPoint.com. Very excited about today's guest. You can find her on GetUp on ESP. She covers the Steelers for ESPN. And if you're not looking at her on GetUp, she's probably at either Bojangles or a Taylor Swift concert. Her name is Brooke prior at BE prior on Twitter. Brooke, it's been a summer of Swift, I gather. And I believe you've seen T. Swizzle this summer. You know, I like Taylor's music. Not like the biggest fan, but I got to admit, I've had some serious fomo, like not actually being at one of these shows because it seems everybody I know was that one. So I've seen her twice. I am incredibly lucky that I have friends that got in the pre-sale, one in Arlington, Texas, and then one in Pittsburgh. And I just saw her in Pittsburgh, and she was incredible.

I'm like, don't get me wrong. I am a big Taylor Swift fan, but this was the first time I've ever seen her in concert this tour. And I think that even if you aren't a Taylor Swift fan, just the production of everything, the spectacle of it is so cool that, like, you could. you know, have your ears plugged and, you know, noise canceling headphones and everything, and still be entertained if you were watching the show on mute. Just, you know, the screens, the dancing, the display, everything was incredible. So, yeah, it has, it's been a summer of Swift. And I also had Bojangles for lunch because I'm in North Carolina. So I have, I'm incredibly predictable, and I have checked off both of those boxes. Yeah, I mean, I'm in South Carolina. And I could,

I could go out my door and I could crab walk. And, any direction and hit a bojangles in about 13 minutes. So might be looking forward to a biscuit or two tonight. So you mentioned the production and just the unbelievable choreography of the Taylor Swift show. You know, when I talk to my Steelers friends, and I'm a Pennsylvania guy, so I'm southeastern Pennsylvania, but a lot of my friends are Western Pennsylvania. When I talk to them, they like what the Steelers did this offseason. They like the signings. They like the draft picks. but there is a but and the butt is the choreography

of the Steelers offense with Matt Canada. What is, look, they haven't been the most entertaining offense in the NFL the last few years. We understand that. What has Mike Tomlin so convinced that Matt Canada is the right man for this job? Well, there's a couple of things at play here.

The biggest thing is that Mike Tomlin does not fire coordinators. They go until the end of their contract. So first of all, Matt Canada's contract went, I think it's through the end of this season. So knowing Mike Tomlin's track record, there was virtually no possibility that he was going to part ways with Matt Canada after last season. I think there's two more things here that Mike Tomlin considers when he looks at reasons for optimism with this offense. The first thing is you look at the momentum that this team gathered after the by week. I think that they looked significantly better.

The offense was running better. The run game got established with a better offensive line. Nashi Harris got in a groove. Kenny Pickett figured some things out. They still weren't scoring touchdowns at a very high clip. They had the fewest receiving touchdowns in the league by a wide margin. I want to say they had 12. And I don't remember what the next lowest was,

but it was not anywhere close to 12. So that's obviously a concern. But I think that if you want, want to measure it in progress from where they were at the beginning of the season to where they ended. They saw Kenny Pickett really grow up. Can he picket play well in two-minute scenarios, in game-winning drives, things like that? This team was moving the ball very well. They just were not very effective in the red zone. And that's a huge problem because you win football by scoring more points on the other team. It's very simple math. And the Steelers were not doing that.

But I think the other thing that was a point in Matt Canada's favor is this is the first off-season. that he's had continuity at the quarterback position. When he stepped into this job, when he was elevated from quarterback's coach to offensive coordinator, Ben Rothesberger was in the final year, what would become the final year of his playing career. And there are limitations to what Ben Rothesberger could do. There are also, I think, some limitations as to how much he wanted to do what Matt Canada wanted to do. So they were at odds for a lot of that season. And I don't think that we really saw the Matt Canada offense. Then you look at last year, he starts out with Mitch Trubisky as the quarterback, a Trubisky that was playing, knowing that there's a first-round quarterback right

behind him. And I think that that led to some very conservative plays. Even if, you know, it's hard to know how many times he had a deep ball available that Canada had schemed up and how many times he checked it down instead. But I think that that was a recipe that was not going to show you any kind of high-flying offense when you have a quarterback that's, you know, you don't want to say playing scared, but playing aware that, you know, he has to protect the ball and he has to do something to keep Kenny Pickett from taking the field. Then he gets benched, half time of week four, and Kenny Pickett comes in, and now you've got a quarterback who is talented, but did not practice with any of the first team offense at any point in the offseason,

at any point in training camp OTAs, nothing. And so I think that that's why there were some significant growing pains because there just wasn't that chemistry. He was in the process of learning the playbook, understanding what he could do as a plate caller, as a quarterback, as the starter, all of these things. And so, you know, I don't necessarily want to paint myself as a Matt Canada apologist, but I think that, you know,

yes, there are some real concerns about how the schemes have been run. The jet sweeps, if I see another jet sweep, I might just like, I'm just going to get up, and leave and go make a trip to refuel on like the French onion dip and chips and I'll come back in the fourth quarter. Because it is, a jet sweep is great when it's used effectively, not when that is like your go-to play every time. That's me with wide receiver screens, by the way. I hate them. I hate them. There's just some plays, especially in the Matt Canada offense that make me want to pull my hair out. But I do think that having continuity, going into a full offseason with Kenny Pickett as your starter, also having the history with Pickett from, you know, recruiting him at Pitt and understanding how he works, what his strengths are.

And then also, I mean, still having the same quarterback room and adding on the offensive line with guys like Roger Jones, Isaac Sayamalu, you add some more weapons like in Alan Robinson, a Darnell, Washington. I like what they have done. And this is the year that there are no excuses for Matt Canada. If they can't turn things around, not only does he, you know, is that bad as far as stats go, but he's also, you know, at the end of his contract. So I think that there will not be the same number of built-in excuses or reasons why he needs more time or why the offense didn't work. You got into the team throwing the NFL lowest number of touchdown passes.

Kenny Pickett at just seven versus nine. interceptions. But, you know, I think based on what you just said, you would probably agree with me. I thought the eye test was a lot better than the box score for Kenny Pickett. But as we evaluate him going into 2023, what did he do best as a rookie? And what does he need to improve on the most? I think that the thing that impressed me the most about him as a rookie is how he was playing at the end of the season in the high pressure moments. You know, he leads the game-winning drive against the Raiders. He had, I think, what was it, the one against the Ravens after that? The end of the season kind of blurs all together. But he had a couple of these game winning drives.

The moment never felt too big for Kenny Pickett. And to me, that's a sign of a guy that I think can be more than a game manager. But that is, I think, one of the things that I do want to see him improve on more is that to me, he showed that foundation of he can go out and be that guy that wins you, a game that you're not just putting him in there like hey don't lose this for us like you can trust him to you know orchestrate uh game winners but on the flip side of that i think that i want to see him throw the ball down the field more and that is also a product of matt canada and what he's installing the mastery of the playbook but i want to see can he picket be able to have more freedom to you know run hot routes to make those throws to to just get the offense more explosive um i liked what i saw out of

his mobility i'd like to see it more i mean the whole kenny wheels thing like that's real like he he i like the he's not big sliding in the NFL but it does add this i think electricity and spark to the offense and that's why they made the switch with him anyway but i just i want to see more of that because, I mean, let's face it, he's in the AFC. This is an incredibly quarterback heavy conference. The AFC North is a division is incredibly loaded with quarterbacks also. And it's, you know, Piquet has, I think that there's a gap between Piquet and the other guys in this division. But I think it's one that he can make up some ground on in his second season.

You mentioned Najee Harris getting into a groove in the second half of 2022. And the numbers bear that out. I mean, he was significantly better in the second half. How much was that foot injury, which was, I guess, a minor Liz Franks brain. How much do you think that affected him in the first half of the campaign? You know, I think it's twofold. I think it definitely affected him early because he was playing with a metal plate in his shoe. And in fact, after one of the games, he pulled it out and he showed it to me.

I think it was his first game without it. And it was in his locker and he was like, yeah, this is what has been in my shoe this whole time. And I thought, no chance could I like even walk down the street. in that and you're asking him to be the same kind of explosive back that he wants to be with this extra, you know, contraption in his shoe. And so I think that that injury early, at least, affected him more than he wanted to let on. And then you couple that with the turmoil that was happening on the offense because not only are there issues with it within the quarterback room between, you know, Mitch and Kenny, not that the two of them had a conflict, but just in terms of, you

know, externally, hey, you know, we're just waiting for Kenny kind of thing. I think that that created a lot of issues. I think that there was some, I mean, there was definitely some frustration that the offense wasn't scoring, that it wasn't being very explosive, and that I think Najee tried to say, hey, you know what, I'm going to be a leader on this team, and I want to make every play a big play. And in doing that, he bit off a little bit more than he could chew. Football is a team sport. That is a no-dust statement. But when you want to hit the home run play, every single time you're touching the ball, you overthink things that led to him doing some of that what looked like dancing before he hit a hole. You're trying to process all of these things to be like,

all right, you know what? The passing game can't get it going. I'm the first round running back. I can do this. And you can't. Not when your offensive line isn't getting the holes or you're not seeing the holes. And they were just all on different pages. The offensive identity was dead. And I think it took a lot of come to Jesus meetings with Najee, the line, the coaches, everyone. And the, not by week, and that really fueled the turnaround the second half of the season. There's a big kind of disconnect in the fantasy community. There's people like me who see that Najee Harris was much better in the second half last year, has touched the ball more than any running back on planet Earth the last two years combined.

And there's also those who think Jalen Warren was so much more efficient than Najee Harris last year, albeit on a smaller role, and he is going to command more touches in 2023. Which side of that debate do you think you fall on? One guy's a first run running back. You know, don't get me wrong, Jalen Warren was really good and really effective when he was in the game. But I think it was also a lot of situational ball that was dictating those stats. They were having Najee Harris run the ball frequently on first down, first and second down, situations that everyone in the stadium knew he was going to touch the ball, right?

I mean, Jalen Warren is really good. I wish that I could recall all the stats that I pulled up. It was around the buyer right after. the buy, but I looked at it and compared, you know, Naji stats to Warren's stats and Naji was much more effective with the ball. I don't think that this is going to turn into Jalen Warren taking Naji here's his job. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Naji even more this season. I think that he is more effective when he isn't playing every single down. He wants to be the guy that's in there playing constantly. It's not always for the benefit of the team because,

know, one man can only take so many hits, can only, you know, play so many snaps. But I think that he is at his best when it's, you know, maybe a 75, 20 percent split somewhere in there. 60, 40 might be too much. But I think that they're going to continue to use Jalen Warren situationally. But I don't think it's going to be a 50-50 split or even, you know, the balance is tipping in Warren's favor. So I think one of the one of the other questions that people had, getting excited about George Pickens, the talent that he had. We all met him introducing himself to the national audience with that spectacular catch on Thursday night football. And then it really comes out most of the year he's running wind sprints.

I mean, he's running straight down the field and he's not even getting looked at. Do the Steelers believe that there is a lot more to unlock with George Pickens game? And is this the year he kind of takes that step towards being their number one big time outside receiver? Well, you know, I can tell you that George Pickens thinks that there's a lot more. his game. You know, he's being a little bit more diplomatic about it in this off season than he was when he was frustrated with his lack of catches, lack of targets late in the season. You know, I think it was the Atlanta game. He came off the field yelling, get me the effing ball, that kind of stuff. I think that he very much has that drive to be great, to be a dominant outside wide receiver.

It's tough to say, you know, you would have to think that he's going to be more involved this year, right? I mean, I think that he was just barely scratching the surface of what he can do. He is so incredibly talented. But he also, we didn't really see him much in OTAs in minicamp. Don't know what the situation is, if it's, you know, an injury or what. But he wasn't really wearing a helmet much. So it's hard to say what the level of involvement will be other than it's got to be more than it was last year for this team if they want to be an explosive offense. He's got to get the ball.

How many new starters could there be along this offensive line? First round pick, obviously. They sign Isaac Sayamalo. They also brought in an interesting guy by the name of Nate Herbig, who got some spot starts with the Eagles a couple of years ago. I'm thinking at least two. Could there be upwards of three on this line? You know, could be. At this point, I think the only one that I would set in stone as a new starter is Isaac Seumalo. Obviously, you don't draft a first round tackle to have him sit the bench, but at least through OTAs in training camp or OTAs and mini camp, it's still been Dan Moore Jr. in that left tackle spot with Chuksookora for at right.

Maybe there ends up being some shuffling. Dan Moore goes to the right side. I think that a lot of that's going to end up shaking out in camp. So you could see two new starters at some point this season. I don't think of this point that Nate Herbig would be a guy that unseats anyone on the line. But this is, I think, the most quality depth the Steelers have had in the offensive line room in quite some time since there was kind of a mass turnover within the last couple years. You have guys like David DeCastro retiring and Marquis Pouncey and Alville and Ova moving on. There were stalwarts on this offensive line for a long time.

And they went through some real growing pains. And it wasn't again until the second half of last season that they started to work out some of those kinks. You know, they still were not a top 10 offensive line unit by any means. But I think that the continuity that they had really helped that helped the run game. Kenny Pickett was offered more protection late in the season than he definitely was early on when he had some of those scary concussions. And so I think that the Steelers need that depth because they knock on one, you know, didn't have many injuries. on it last year. We're pretty intact the whole time.

But yeah, I think this year, it's early on, I'd say one new starter, eventually too. Yeah. So the the one who would be eventually would be Broderick Jones, the first round rookie. And, you know, it's kind of funny how the Steelers at, from a fantasy perspective,

I'm like, they're never a team that's going to like really take you by surprise. Like, I think everybody on planet Earth knew that they were in on Najee Harris in 2021. did you know Broderick Jones was in the cards? Insofar, they even traded up for them because they traded past the Jets. Did you know that was in the cards before the draft? You know, you knew that they wanted a tackle.

You knew that they want that the offensive line was a priority. I didn't think that they would end up with Project Jones. To me, the telegraphed pick this year was Joey Porter Jr. You know, you didn't know how or when they were going to get him. I thought that they were going to use their first round pick on him. Then there was kind of an early run on corners. I thought, okay, or I guess actually there wasn't. It took a little bit longer.

I thought if there was an early run on corners, they'd go Joey Porter Jr. And then maybe trade back up in the first round and get the tackle. I did not think they were going to end up trading up with their first round pick. But, you know, if I've learned anything in the two years that Omar Khan has been the GM, he is willing to be aggressive. it, you know, the Steelers have always been a team that has been relevant within the NFL landscape, but they're usually pretty quiet or at least status quo when it comes to free agency in the draft. You know, they just kind of play the hand they're dealt, maybe make a few key trades

here and there, but they don't make any big splashy signings in free agency. You know, they just kind of, they want to draft and develop and they will develop a guy anywhere from, you know, the first round to the seventh round. Doesn't matter to them. But seeing the way that Omar Con wheeling and dealing through free agency, trading up to get Roger Jones. I mean, I think that we're in a new air of Steelers football. And it's somebody that, you know, that is what I'm doing with my life right now is following the moves they're making. It's exciting. And I'm glad to kind of see that happening.

I'm excited to see how this pays off this season. So, Brooke, I've been letting everybody go at the end with just one more question. Maybe a player we haven't mentioned thus far. maybe a player we have mentioned who could be a lower end contributor who you wouldn't be surprised maybe put up some points from a fantasy perspective who would that be on the Steelers this year so I've got two I think one is a guy they drafted this year darnel Washington I know that a lot of people think he's brought in to be you know a sixth O line an extra blocker I got news he's got hands I think that he could be a really fun red zone target he's a big body

I think that he has just this rare combination of size and he's going to be a matchup nightmare. I think that it's just going to depend on him staying healthy. And also, I mean, you've got Pat Friermouth already who is an incredibly talented tight end. Zach Gentry also pretty good. I don't see a scenario where there isn't, you know, a darnel Washington game at some point when they use him in the red zone because he's just such a big target. And then my other one is Alan Robinson.

Again, this is an uncharacteristic Omar Khan move to go out and make that trade, but it makes a ton of sense. They got him for incredibly cheap. And I think that he's a guy that, again, we could see in the red zone. He's had some injury issues recently. But in some of these short-yardage situations, especially around the goal line, I think that his veteran knowledge helps out a ton. His skill set helps out. And so I wouldn't be surprised to see him be a sneaky contributor at some point. I will guarantee you that Taylor Swift played more songs at her concert than touchdowns the Steelers scored last year, at least through the air.

Honestly, that might actually be completely right. Steelers did not score a whole lot of touchdowns last year. So the goal for the Steelers this year is more touchdowns in Heinz Field than Taylor Swift played songs. What's the, yeah, I love it. What are you setting the line at there? You know what? I'm going to have to go back through and count all the songs on her set list. I love the direction this is going.

I'll bring it up right now, Brooke, as a matter of fact, before we let you go. Okay, so this, oh, well, I said, I said Hinesfield. Believe me, I know it's Accrocer Stadium. Nobody, what, which, what would now, which concert did you go to? The first night or the second night? I went to the second night. Okay, that would be June 17th. She played, oh, the Steelers didn't even come close to this, Brooke.

She played 44 songs. So, uh, wow. I'm going to take the, I'm going to take Steelers touchdowns under 44 songs, under 44 this year. If they get to 44, it's going to be a really good fantasy football season for the Steelers. I'll let you, I'll let you know that for sure. Which was the best song of the night, by the way? Oh, man. Let's see.

Okay, well, so she did the story of us as one of her surprise acoustic songs. I would like to apologize to everyone in. section 107 because the scream that I scrimped was feral. I, you know, I, I, when I saw her in Arlington, I had completely avoided like any TikToks about the concert, the set list, like I didn't know anything. And so I didn't understand the significance of a surprise song that like, once she played it once, you were never going to hear it again on the tour, like how just insane this was. And so, And I didn't love the surprise songs in Dallas. And so when she played the story of us,

all of a sudden, like, I'm back in high school, and I was just scream singing. It was incredible. So that was a good, a George Pickens, one-handed touchdown grab. Very good analogy. You know, I think you said that the scream you scrapped, it's like, you know, those things you just don't know you have in them.

It's like those stories about mothers, like lifting up trucks to save their children. You just like, you just don't know until it's there. what can happen. Her name is Brooke Pryor at B.E. Prior on Twitter. You'll see her on Get Up and she covers the Steelers for ESPN. Brooke, it's been a pleasure having you. Thank you so much for humoring me. And we'll have you back soon on the podcast. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform and come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.