The Pomp And Joe Show
11AM - Ray Fittipaldo on Aaron Rodgers, Will Howard, and Patrick Graham; Alan Saunders updates us on the Senior Bowl & players to watch
30 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Well, Limits, it's official. I've just signed up for Donnie's wedding. Nice. Have you already done that? Yeah, I did that two months ago. Now he has to insult me. I try to make a little banter and talk about how much fun it's going to be to be at you and Sarah's wedding, and he takes a shot at me.
No, you asked when did you sign up, and I told you when I signed up.
I'm very excited for Donnie's wedding. We're like an old couple just arguing about these trivial things. I didn't say when. I said, did you? and then you had to throw in. Donnie, that was absolutely a shot.
Would you agree? A little bit. I made him feel better, Austin, because he was far from the only person that we've been waiting on. Hounding.
Limits, it's all black. We have to dress in black. Do you have your outfit picked out?
Yeah, remember what I wore to our steak dinner? I asked Donnie, is this okay for me to wear? And Donnie paused for like a couple of seconds and said, that might be okay. So I still don't really know what I'm wearing.
That was a little flashy, Limits, and I think you'd stand out at the wedding and perhaps steal some of the spotlight if you wore the same thing. I'm being honest as your friend. What? Yeah.
Don't you think other people are going to be wearing a suit coat and like a black dress shirt?
Well, why do you think Donnie paused?
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Chapter 2: What are the latest updates on Aaron Rodgers' potential return?
Well, you see how he interacts with coaches, how he learns, um, how he picks up things, his work with teammates. You know, he was lauded for that. You know, he was a guy who, hey, you know, DK Metcalf was coming back from the suspended list. You know, Will Howard was the one on an off day who was throwing him passes. So he's one of these guys who just does everything right.
He wants to be good, and I think they've taken notice of that. Now, we don't even have preseason games to judge him by, but, you know, based on him being in that building for, you know, 10 hours a day for, for eight months now, they have a pretty strong feeling that there's some potential there to work with.
Ray, the thing that worries me a little bit, I brought this up to Joe last hour, that outside of preseason games where we didn't get to see Howard play and okay, he looked good in some drills with the football and shorts period of things. The other guys that have been highlighted players in the football in shorts period of the offseason are Roman Wilson and Caleb Johnson.
So it doesn't exactly paint a pretty picture because it's two guys that were healthy scratches for majority of the season.
Yeah, you're absolutely right. Caleb Johnson never recovered from that special teams gaffe. Um, you know, I would make an argument that there really wasn't a way for him to get into the lineup. Cause they got a pretty strong one, two punch there with Jalen Warren and Kenny Gainwell. So I don't hold that entirely against Caleb Johnson and the Roman Wilson thing.
Listen, he just never meshed with Arthur Smith or Aaron Rogers. Now this off season is going to be big, you know, uh, Roman has to take it really seriously. Um, you know, I trust guys like Adam Thielen. who come in and earn a role on this team basically in days and a guy like Roman Wilson couldn't do it in months. I know he's inexperienced.
I know he was like a rookie last year, but hopefully Roman had his eyes wide open because Thielen, a guy who's at the very end of his career, came in and helped this team out. when that probably should have been Roman Wilson. So this is a big offseason for him. He's got to get it done. But, Donnie, I understand your point.
I mean, there's potential, and then there's going out there and doing it in the game and contributing to the cause to help your team win. And, yeah, to your point, none of those guys have done that to this point.
What should we expect the dynamic to be when it comes to coach, GM, assistant GM? Because Mike Tomlin used to love the offseason activities like the Senior Bowl, like the Combine, everything with ā free agency, the draft, and he would even get into the activities if he was still the coach down at the Senior Bowl this week. Mike McCarthy not really striking me as that same guy.
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Chapter 3: How does the AFC landscape look for the upcoming season?
So we are going to see physically more coaches. So you're pretty confident in that. We're already kind of seeing that. They're going to interview Jari Evans, who is a borderline Hall of Famer. He's down to, I believe, the finalist for the class year of 2026. Now, Clarify, if you can, that would be as the assistant offensive line coach, right? Because they already have Campin coming in here.
Yeah, and they also interviewed somebody else for that position whose name is escaping me at the moment. But, I mean, listen, they could have... three offensive line coaches and maybe their titles. One of their titles is running game coordinator. You know, um, if you look at Mike's Dallas staffs, he had analytics people on his coaching staff.
Uh, he had somebody with the title of director of football operations. Um, so I think you're going to see new stuff like that. Um, it was inevitable, like with the new coach coming in, um, these coaches are very, um, you know, regimented in what they do. So if Mike had a big staff in Dallas, I'm sure he was going to have a big staff in Pittsburgh.
And like I told you guys last week, I don't think, you know, the Rooney family or the Steelers were going to stand in his way. If it's a couple of hundred thousand or a couple million dollars, I think they'll see that as a wise investment if it can help the Steelers win.
Donnie, may I engage Ray in a game of free association or do you have a burning question you'd like to ask first? You may. Ray, you're ready? I am ready, Joe. Scott Tolzien, is he going to be the coordinator offensively? He's got a good shot. Who's the competition? Oh, yeah, the guy that neither you or I can pronounce his name. How about Kenny Gainwell? Will he be back? Yes, he'll be back.
Broderick Jones get a fifth-year option? No. Sayamalu back? I will say no. Dylan Cook, the long-term answer at tackle? He might be, Joe. Where are you on Cam Hayward's possible retirement, 50-50?
Yeah, until we hear from Cam, I'm still going to say 50-50, but he's playing at a high level, so I think he wants to come back and play somewhere.
Will one of the outside linebackers get traded? One of the edge rushers, Highsmith or Watts?
I don't think it's going to be high, Smith. I'll say no. Jalen Ramsey back? I'll say no.
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Chapter 4: How does Will Howard fit into the Steelers' quarterback plans?
Oh, no, I think that's very likely. The way Mike McCarthy answered that question in his press conference, he would definitely have him back. And that he had talked to him about it. I mean, if you had talked to him about it and he said no, he wouldn't have said that that way. You know, he'd have probably tried to couch it a little bit.
I mean, I don't know what ultimately Aaron Rodgers is going to decide to do, but it sure feels like that's looking like a likely possibility. And, I mean, he has a great relationship with James Cameron, the new offensive line coach, and It just seems like everything's coming together for an Aaron Rodgers return, and I don't think that precludes the idea of them trying to develop Will Howard.
This guy hasn't taken a single meaningful NFL rep yet. So, I mean, it really feels just like a running back on his rookie year, get him in the preseason, give him a chance to win a backup job maybe, and see what happens.
What has your impression of Scott Tolzien been since he's down there calling the plays for the national team?
Seems like a really smart guy, very passionate, kind of soft-spoken, which you don't normally get from a lot of these guys. But there's still a lot of passion and knowledge there, even though it's not being screamed at you, but definitely a little bit of a gentler-voiced guy. You can tell he was a quarterback. He understands the position, I think, at a high level.
He was really hands-on with the three quarterbacks on his team, which in addition to Nussmeyer were Taylor Green from Arkansas and Luke Altmeyer from Illinois. He was really hands-on with those guys. They all spoke very highly of him. Just being the coordinator at the Senior Bowl, it's kind of a big deal.
Like they they're handpicking someone who is a position coach from around the NFL that they think has the potential to take that leap sooner rather than later. And so I think he, I mean, you look at what he did with Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shuck. Those were not well thought of players going into this year with the saints and, and they produced some significant results.
Alan Saunders from Pittsburgh Sports Now. He's down in Mobile. You mentioned a name there, Talon Green. Now, his numbers weren't good at Arkansas. There's no arguing that, but he's 6'6", 230, and he's a great runner and an interesting sort of physical specimen. What's the talk about him down there?
Yeah, I mean, the passing is very inconsistent. He runs well. I think that most of the talk I've heard is that someone's going to take a chance on him because you feel like you get two shots at it. If he doesn't work out as a quarterback, you can try to turn him into Taysom Hill. And I don't think that he would be bad at that. He's a great runner, and he's big. He's bigger than Taysom Hill.
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