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Chapter 1: What are the early thoughts on Omar Khan as Steelers GM?
Today, my friend, we consider Omar Khan in all his glory or lack thereof so far as the Steelers general manager. In this time, in this year, in this season, in this offseason, how Omar Khan is really in position, I think, to put his stamp on this franchise. In fact, I think that the Mike McCarthy hire
was largely an Omar hire, a guy who was familiar with, a guy he no doubt lobbied for, a guy the Steelers targeted once they knew he was available, and really, in the end, it seems, didn't seriously consider anybody else. The minute that their NFL requirements were fulfilled on interviews, it was boom. Mike McCarthy. Limits, how are you today? I'm doing well, Joe. It is wonderful to see you.
It's better to see you, and I brought you another Egg McMuffin, didn't I? You did, and I really appreciate it. I'm wondering if there is starting to be a little bit of extra motivation to try to put some more weight on me from the Egg McMuffins. Well, I think that'll help. I do think that'll help. Which I appreciate. But I really... Yeah, I don't think you eat enough.
And I think sometimes that may affect your mood during the show. Honestly, that was one of my motivations. Plus, you like Egg McMuffins, right?
I do.
They're very good. So I'm just doing that as one friend to another. Thank you, friend. I will be very bubbly and excited for most of the show today, I'm sure. I'm glad to hear that, I think. All of the show today. Bob is a cardboard cutout again. Ron, we've taken him off of our YouTube show, at least for today, at least for the early parts of today. So Omar Khan speaks at the Combine.
There's news there. The newsy part, and I'm going to get to more of Omar's, well, his track record so far, the present and the future for Omar. But the newsy part of this is he said Broderick Jones might not be ready for the start of camp. Is that right, Limits? This is all happening real time, by the way. So as you get clips to play, just let me know.
We'll let people behind the scenes of how things work like a well-oiled machine between you and I, yes? Correct. So just let me know on that. But he did say that. Yes, it was from Ray. Ray Fittipaldi put it out there saying Omar Khan said he did not know if Broderick Jones would be ready for training camp after suffering the serious neck injury in November. Wow.
So as that stands right now, it feels like it would be almost derelict of duty to give him that 50 year option, right? I mean, that would be nuts for the money involved there. That's a lot of money. Well, you're talking about what could be a career-defining injury. That's really too bad. And who knows? He may be perfectly fine in the middle of camp or ready for the season.
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Chapter 2: What updates did Omar Khan provide about Broderick Jones?
But in those first couple drafts, they have Joey Porter Jr. who absolutely now looks like a keeper. Man, if he hadn't panned out, it would be shredding time for Omar. It really would when you think about that draft. But ā To his credit and Porter Jr. 's credit, he's turned out to be a pretty darn good player. I think that's the way it looked. Keanu Benton looks like a player.
Mount Washington was a pretty good pick. Nick Herbig was a great pick. It's hard to complain about that draft, honestly. Even with the first round guy, if he goes down here, then you have Fatanu, Frazier, Peyton Wilson, Mason McCormick from the second draft. That's a pretty good draft. It is. And then you have Derek Harmon. We don't know about the rest of that draft yet.
That draft's in question because Caleb Johnson looks like an unmitigated disaster right now. It's early yet, but we're behind 8-0 in the second inning on him. Jack Sawyer, who knows? He was okay when he got in there. Showed some, you know, promising signs. I'm not going to go too crazy on him. Y.A. Black, we'll see about him, too. He looked okay. Will Howard, the future of the franchise?
In the sixth round, I guess we'll find out about him. That draft is in question. Derek Harmon does look like a keeper. I'll say that. I don't know if he looks like Mean Joe Green. He seemed to tail off a little bit after a pretty good start when he was in there anyway. So that draft we'll call incomplete. The one before that is trending toward
A B+, an A maybe, A-, Fatanu, Frazier, Peyton Wilson, McCormick. That's an A-, B- draft. You agree on that? Yeah, I would agree with that. Solid depth with McCormick later in the draft as a starter. I don't think you're going to try to replace him. He's played well enough. I think he's pretty good. I think Peyton Wilson tailed off in a big way at the end of the year.
So did his playing time in some ways as they went to different alignments defensively. But he looks like he's going to be a starter for a while. And then Fotano and Frazier look like, you know, building blocks on the offensive line. Roman Wilson, eh, not good. And then throw out Jones from the previous draft. You have, like I said, Porter, Benton, Mount Washington, and Herbig.
You get four guys from a draft who can be impactful players. That's pretty good. So my problem, by and large, isn't really with the draft necessarily with Omar Khan. It's just that nothing's changed for as much as maybe the philosophy has changed.
However, you want to look at that like a little bit more of a swashbuckling mentality from the old school Steelers, although that kind of started to change anyway, like with trading a first round draft pick for Minka. All those years ago, like taking a quarterback with the 20th pick, but both turned out to be, well, certainly the second one ill-fated.
They had already started to change their ways a little bit. He's increased that. But the records are the same. Nothing's really changed. And the failures so far have been they haven't found a quarterback. And believe me, I put that on Tomlin. And these drafts, too, by the way, I should mention because I've ripped Tomlin for the drafts.
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Chapter 3: How does the Broderick Jones injury impact the Steelers' draft strategy?
I don't have the list in front of me. Juan Thornhill. Chuck Clark. Darius Slay. Jabril Peppers. I mean, even Kyle Duggar at the end, and I still remember the email, or maybe it was a tweet I got from somebody like three games into Kyle Duggar. You're going to admit you were wrong about Duggar? No, not yet. He's had a couple good games. Can we relax?
There's a reason the Patriots got rid of him so easily. And I think we found out by the end of the year. So overall, here's what I would say about Omar so far. Pretty good drafts with Tomlin getting credit too for those. Two of them anyway. We'll see about last year's how it goes here. Not real impressed for the most part with the veteran acquisitions. There have been some good ones too.
Kenny Gainwell, for example, was a great signing. The total inability, almost comical at this point, to shore up the receivers. And even the signing of DK Metcalf now appears to have been a reach and the spending of too much money. And then the overall record. You are what your record says you are. And so far, Omar Khan's been mediocre, period.
Now, having said all that, how much power has he really had? That's an open question. When we're talking about the Steelers hierarchy, it seems to me that Mike Tomlin was more Omar's boss than the other way around. They could paint themselves as partners. Tomlin had incredible powers, as much power as any coach in the National Football League in this organization.
And when Omar replaced Kevin Colbert, I think it just emboldened and empowered Tomlin even more. But now Tomlin ain't here. And that's why this is Omar's chance, I think he believes, and I think it's a fact, Omar's chance to exert more power and influence in this organization. This is it. And I think step one was him lobbying hard for Mike McCarthy.
Maybe him and Art were on the same page from day one with that. I don't know. Nobody appears to know. But man, it's awfully interesting that they really don't appear to have considered any other candidates seriously at all. It was Mike McCarthy or bust. And Mike McCarthy is going to come in here. Sort of the last chance saloon for him from 1137 Greenfield Avenue.
And I don't think he's interested in buying the groceries. I think he just wants to coach a football team. This is not a guy who's going to have a ton of personnel power, I don't think. So what we're looking at with Omar is a huge leap in influence and power in this organization. And my first question for you is, is that a good thing? Do you trust Omar?
If the reins of the Pittsburgh Steelers in a big way are being handed over to Omar Khan, do you like that? Do you trust that? Do you think it's a good thing? 412-928-9370, off the top, presented by J.P. Roofing and Siding. I'm not sure it is. I really don't think, and I don't know if this is fact more than opinion, that Omar is really a football guy. That's why Andy Weidel's here.
Who knows for how long with Weidel? I don't know. I'm not sure. I think Omar's a very sharp guy. I do. He's very smart, obviously. cap manipulation, things like that. And by the way, the Steelers also have some money to spend. I'm open-minded about the Omar era, as I'll call it, starting. And I think it really is starting now more than it did three years ago. I'm open-minded.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of Omar Khan's decisions in player acquisitions?
It was very strange still the way that Tomlin left town. You coach that long and then you just are gone with the wind. That's it. 15 minute meeting with the owner. Everything normal here, I guess. Well, it turns out he spoke a little bit longer with Omar. Do we have that clip limits? Here is what Omar Khan had to say.
And I broke it up a little bit for you, Joe, into three different pieces about Aaron Rodgers and the potential of this process. Were you paying attention? No. I was taking calls. I love that answer. No. I talked about the Tomlin thing that Omar said about how they met the day, you know, the day that he met Art. Do you have that clip? Oh, I thought I did. If you give me 30 seconds, I will.
Of course, I can buy you 30 seconds limits. And I appreciate all you do back there. You're a very busy man. Did you finish your egg McMuffin? I did. It was very good. It also goes well with hash browns, I might add. I thought I recorded the Tomlin section. Turns out I just tweeted it. That's okay. I confused myself. Yeah. You do what you need to do back there.
Why don't we go to a call in the meantime, then? Here is Mikey. He's in Johnstown. Hello, Mikey. Hey, guys.
How you doing? I've never been better. How are you? I'm all right. It's pretty cold one out here today. I'm out reading meters for water utility. Oh, my God.
Tell me a little bit about that job. Are they easy to read? Like you can do it in one second. You ever get a meter that's that's a little bit difficult to read? That's sort of like reading Sanskrit or something. How does that work?
It all depends on the route, but I usually get pretty lucky when I'm down in the city area. It's just walking house to house. It's on the outside of the house. Some of them, I just scan it. And then some of the other ones I have to type in the numbers, but I have a tablet. So it's definitely more high tech than back in the day.
So do you have people coming out saying, what the hell is going on here? Why are you looking at my house ever?
Yeah, not so much when it's cold like this. Nobody bothers me. But in the summertime, it's rough with the dogs and stuff. You definitely have to watch. You ever been bit by a dog reading a meter? I have, but luckily it's been only a small dog, nothing too bad yet. But I've been doing this for like six years now.
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Chapter 5: How did the mentor influence the speaker's career?
especially if you're young and fresh out of college, they assign a mentor to you. And my mentor was a fellow Mount Lebanon graduate a couple years older than me who had been there for a while named Keith Cosgrove. He is still there. He is now the head of content for NFL Films, and he's the one that reached out to me about this project. So it's kind of a full circle moment for me.
He's meant so much to me in my career. He's taught me so much. And now to be able to work with him again on this has really been a fulfilling project for me.
That's incredible. All right. The greatest sports documentary ever made. I'll give you three in my opinion.
Chapter 6: What are the greatest sports documentaries according to the speaker?
Survive in Advance, which is a 30 for 30 about the NC State team under Valvano. Hoop Dreams, obviously. And the Chuck Knoll documentary on NFL films. What do you got?
Oh, you're putting me on the spot there. There have been so many... great, great sports documentaries over the years. The 30 for 30s have really captivated me and I think captivated America. The Two Escobars, I thought, was a tremendous, tremendous film. One that NFL Films did, which I thought was unique, was The Four Falls of Buffalo, which I know is near and dear to your heart.
But I thought it was really unique how they positioned that film in a way that, you know, those players kind of watched that stuff back and relived it because when you, when you relive stuff, you usually you're reliving happy moments. And, and those, that stuff that those guys have had to live with throughout their career. So to kind of, to kind of tell that story in a way that was,
you know, still positive and uplifting for the Bills and the fans of Buffalo, but, you know, help you really feel and understand the agony of that, I thought was really well done. So, too many to list. It's a... a great world of sports documentaries that are out there. And, you know, thankfully this, this can be added to that list. Hopefully.
I've always wanted to start specifically a Pittsburgh documentary, a sports documentary channel. So if you want to combine on that, let's do that. I don't know how we get, how we get access to the video. That's the whole key to it, but I want to do it.
Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's a lot out there. So it's, uh, I think it's a great idea. And I think, you know, if this film teaches you anything, I think we'd have a captive market to, uh, to have people who are interested in those stories.
Did you see the latest Miracle on Ice documentary on Netflix?
I did. I just watched that the other night. I thought that that was, I thought it was great. You know, it's a story that's been told a thousand times over, but to find a new and unique way to retell it, I thought was great. You know, it was cool to see Craig Patrick's involvement, you know, in a way that he was able to sort of be reflective on that at this stage of his life was great.
And, you know, hard to tell a better sports story than that one.
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Chapter 7: How did Pat McAfee get involved in the documentary project?
A hockey glove? Clever. I think so. I'd like to see it. What would you like to see chronicled? Man, the first thing that came to mind for me, and it kind of already has been, But it's just the run to the 2013 Pirates season. The 20 consecutive years of losing. Yeah. What all went into that? Go behind the scenes. Some of those teams like 2012 that thought they were going to be the one to break it.
And, you know, 07. Think about that All-Star game in the middle of that stretch as well. Yes. How it ultimately cultivated with... Andrew McCutcheon winning the MVP, Cueto dropping the ball, Russell Martin's homer, and giving us the best Pittsburgh baseball moment of the last 25 years. I like that one.
And then you could get, of course, inside that wild card game with rare footage and go inside the locker. You know, all the stuff, all the places you want to go in these documentaries would be phenomenal. It wouldn't be the first thing that I would do, but it was the first thing that came to mind. And I appreciate that. You know what else would make a great documentary? What's that?
Robert Morris upset over Kentucky. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Would that be a great documentary? Wouldn't it? You know who I'd like to see chronicled limits? Andy Toole. Well, as part of that documentary. John Calipari? As part of that documentary, yes. But I'm talking as a separate 30 for 30 type thing. Who else? Tons of people. Jack Lambert, for one.
And I'd like to drive up to his house, wherever he is, up 28 North, and have that be part of it. And finally get to sit down with Lambert and make that into a Lambert documentary, which needs to be done in Pittsburgh. Doesn't it? Well, yeah, he's just kind of disappeared just on his own volition. He's only the most popular player in Steelers history. So arguably, I guess.
We don't really know anything about him since. Well, we know some things, but not enough. No, we really don't. Or about his career. I want interviews. I want a Roger Staubach. I want Jack Hamm. I want... All kinds of people. Terry Bradshaw. I want whoever, if people are still around, whoever helped to draft him, who scouted him. I want college footage of his time at Kent State.
I want all of that. I want peewee football highlights. I want to see him as a game warden or whatever the hell he is up in Katanning or was up in Katanning. I want photos of the current house. I want him playing hockey with people like Jay Caulfield in the celebrity games. You know how it is.
I want a 30 for 30 on one of the most famous and yet mysterious characters in the history of the Steelers and the NFL. That's what I want. Jack Lambert, 30 for 30. Yeah, there's so much of the onion to unpeel on him. Behind the music type thing with Jack Lambert. Right, Limits? There's so much. And I wonder if there would be former Steelers that would maybe try to coax him into that.
Like, would Jack Hamm be a voice of influence to say, hey... Lambert, this would be really cool for not just everybody out there, but also for yourself too. Maybe we could get Phil Spano, the pizza guy. He's buddies with Lambert. Maybe we could bring Lambert a pizza and have that be the opening scene. Right? I think you could set that up. You and Spano are buddies, right? Yeah.
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Chapter 8: What potential Pittsburgh sports documentaries are discussed?
But it is mediocrity nonetheless. And it's mediocrity personified perfectly. Year after year after year. Limits, the floor is yours. So Texans general manager Nick Casario today said that trade speculation around C.J. Stroud is moronic and that C.J. Stroud is not going anywhere. Well, good for him, but they have to be absolutely mortified at what went down with C.J. Stroud.
They ruined, he ruined, a year in which I think they had one of the best defenses in recent memory, honestly.
Yeah.
You give that defense even a bad quarterback and they may go to the Super Bowl. Instead, they had a historically hideous quarterback who all he did in the playoffs was give the ball away. It was ridiculous. Starting here, of course, this team couldn't take advantage of it. Although David Todd, I'm sure, thought they played a pretty good game. They have to be privately responsible.
mortified at CJ Stroud, just like, what are we going to do here? So that's nice of him to say, but if I'm them, I cannot feel good about this situation moving forward. It's sort of stunning. Like, okay, you have CJ Stroud, who was really good to start out, then had some tough years with injuries up front, injuries to his receivers. So he receded a little bit. He disintegrated.
He disintegrated in the playoffs last year. He legitimately was not somebody you trusted to throw the ball. In that game against New England. Even the Steeler game, he wasn't very good either. And that's coming off of a rookie year where he was a pro bowler. Whatever. But 23 touchdowns and 5 picks. And he threw for 4,100 yards. From that season, his passing yards have digressed.
His touchdowns every year have also gone down. And his interceptions last year was 8. Two years ago was 12. They've basically just made him a... dump the ball off type of player and don't take too many risks. And we're not going to worry about it too much. We're just going to ask you to not lose the game for us. Sound familiar? except that he lost the game for them.
The Fan Hotline presented by Sullivan Super Service, Pittsburgh's trusted plumbing and HVAC provider for over 50 years. 93.7 The Fan Trading Cards brought to you by Baseball Card Castle, your go-to destination for sports cards, collectibles, and memorabilia.
These cards have picks and stats of the fan hosts, and you can pick them up at the Baseball Card Castle in Cranberry or anytime we're out in the community. Next. Next up on the docket here for you, Joe. Falcons new general manager Ian Cunningham has confirmed that Kirk Cousins will be released in March on the first day of the new league year.
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