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Brian Batko's Steelers chat: 04.21.25
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Brian Batko
2:00
Hope everybunny had a hoppy Easter. What an exciting week. Draft week. Let’s chat.
Henry Hill
2:01
Over/under 40% that Shedeur Sanders is a Steeler on Thursday night?
Brian Batko
2:01
I’m going under
Happy Gilmore
2:02
Brian, is it starting to look like the Steelers will hit the 10 year mark in their current playoff win drought? I just don't see Rodgers, Rudolph, or a rookie getting them over the hump in the next 2 years.
Brian Batko
2:03
Yeah, I'm not predicting them to go under .500 until I see otherwise but I'm also not predicting them to win a playoff game until I see otherwise. I'm riding the status quo because they're so darn good at it. I'll be a year late on one of those, but I won't be early.
Jim From Beaver Co
2:03
Brian, after further review, I'm leaning on Steelers taking best available QB with their first pick.    I can't imagine they start the season with Rudolph as only viable option.    What say you?
Brian Batko
2:05
Well, they won't do that. If it's not with their first pick, they'll almost certainly draft one later. And if Aaron Rodgers doesn't come around, Carson Wentz and some other veteran options still remain.
Life's Work
2:06
Hi Brian. Hope you had a good weekend. Their top 30 visits were DL and RB heavy with QBs and WRs being the positions that had the next most visits. Should we read into this as a hint at how they're going to draft and in what priority? Suggests DL is the 1st pick, RB is their next pick, and the recent frequency in mocking Jaxson Dart to them at 21 is unlikely if a DL/RB/WR they have graded at 21 is there. Any insight on how much interest they actually have in Dart? Was his visit more due diligence than potential pick? Thank you.
Brian Batko
2:07
I think you always do your due diligence on quarterbacks when you don't have a franchise quarterback. Mason Rudolph is a solid option in the right situation but you're really stretching reality if you call him a franchise QB. As for Jaxson Dart, only the Steelers should want to know how much interest they have in him. Why tip your hand to other teams one way or the other?
Steel Town D
2:08
I just don’t see this team posting a winning record this year.  What record would it take to have HCMT be asked/choose to part ways?
Brian Batko
2:09
It's very unlikely Art Rooney II will ever ask him to do that. That's just not how he operates, nor has the franchise operated that way since it turned the corner in the '70s. But hey, if they have a horrendous season or back-to-back bad seasons, life will become rather unpleasant for everyone there. Even more so than it already is.
Tampa Too
2:10
Brian, do you think that some of these pre-draft visits are not necessarily to be in a position to draft these players but perhaps to look at them for free agency several years down the line?
Brian Batko
2:11
That does play a factor, yes. Clearly, the most immediate reason is for draft prep, but the Steelers and their personnel department need to be well-versed in every player for trade talks, not just free agency circumstances later in their careers. Generally, I'd say they're bringing in players they're heavily interested in, have some concerns about, or in some cases both. Or a third factor, which could be lack of FaceTime at pro day, combine, all-star circuit, etc.
Buckeyes
2:12
Any chance we see Will Howard, Emeka Egbuka, Ty Williams, Jack Sawyer, or Trey Henderson's name called Thursday?
Brian Batko
2:14
Not gonna spoil it, but Chris Carter and I are combining for our own respective first-round mock drafts later this week and I have two of those names included.
Gene
2:15
Did the Steelers hire a new strength and conditioning coach this offseason?
Brian Batko
2:16
They did not, so that should be fun to see how this year's training camp conditioning test goes!
JPinPDX
2:16
Hey Bats! Thanks for your time and energy with these chats!! Best prediction for Thursday? Steelers stick and pick or make some kind of move up/down the draft board?
Brian Batko
2:16
Hey man! No problem at all. Buuuttt I'm gonna hold off on that until I put out my full 7-round Steelers mock draft. The official prediction. Much-anticipated, I'm sure, considering I didn't get a single pick correct last year.
John in Florida
2:17
Thanks for your time Brian. If Sanders, Harmon, and Grant are all available when the Steelers pick, who do you think will be the choice?
Brian Batko
2:18
That's probably the ultimate scenario, John, nice job. Maybe throw Dart in there, too, but from this trio I'd go ... Kenneth Grant by a whisker.
Greg
2:18
What do you think the likelihood is for Carson Bruener as a late round legacy pick? They seem to like those ...
Brian Batko
2:18
I had that in my initial 2025 7-round Steelers mock draft back in February before free agency. He's not a bad player at all. But now that Malik Harrison is in the fold at ILB, I won't be projecting that a second time around ... probably.
bill cowher
2:20
Brian thanks for the chats. First do we take a qb this weekend and in what round? Second do you see any significant free agent signings, non qb, after the draft?
Brian Batko
2:21
You're welcome, Chin. Yes, but not sure what round. I'm leaning 6th as we sit here today. And all players are significant to me, so yes!
Pittfan
2:21
Hi Brian. I just watched video of Jalen Milroe slicing through SEC defenses like a hot knife through butter. A lot of people want the Steelers to take a DL first. This is a scoring league designed that way by the NFL. That’s why the Bengals are always a threat. The Steelers need to try and try again until they find a QB. Then they can build a defense the way the Eagles did.
Brian Batko
2:23
Great imagery, my friend. Have you ever heated up a knife just to slice it through some butter? Might have to try that later. It's the only way I'll ever feel like Jalen Milroe. He can run well enough, but can he throw well enough? That's the question there. I'm all for trying to find a QB this year and having no allegiances to him come draft time next year, depending on how he looks, but that doesn't mean Milroe is the best option for that strategy.
Arthur Smith’s Moustache
2:24
Brian, Gerry reported that the Steelers have a first round grade on Dart. If you have a first round grade on a player at the most important position in all of sports and he’s there at 21, don’t you have to take him? Not that I agree with their grade
Brian Batko
2:26
In theory, I would say yes. But they're likely still stacking their draft board within their grading system, and if a D-lineman, for instance, is way up there above the QB, perhaps the Steelers will say the heck with positional value and stick to their board. All I can guarantee you is that when Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan meet with us Thursday night after the pick, they'll have gotten their guy!
epiballo
2:27
Hey Brian - thanks for the chats! Finally, the draft is almost here. Of the rumors saying 1) the Steelers will either trade up or stay at 21 and select a QB and 2) Pickens will be a draft day trade, which is more possible? And will there come a point that the Steelers give up on Rodgers? When do you see a 'must decide' moment on the timeline? Thanks!
Brian Batko
2:29
I lean toward 1 but I would never try to make a habit of betting on what the Steelers want to do at QB or with George Pickens. As for Aaron Rodgers, he owes them nothing and they owe him nothing at this point. If that double-edged sword leads to them making plans elsewhere at QB, so be it. But the fact that Mike Tomlin threw out the start of training camp as a "line of demarcation" has me thinking that timeline is wider than many would like.
RAM
2:30
Hey Batts! What do you think happens first: A) Rodgers signs with the Steelers or B) A new Pope is selected?
Brian Batko
2:30
Well, given that A may never happen, give me the Pope!
Yates
2:30
Hi Brian-  What % of Steelers Nation from your bead on the pulse of things support using their 1st round pick on a QB?  I say 5%. Is that too high?
Brian Batko
2:31
You all are my pulse. And sometimes I actually talk to actual human beings in real life, too. I actually think 5% might be too low. How about 10-15%? There are some Sanders and Dart believers out there.
Chet
2:31
Hey B-ri, great chat as always. Curious about the new approach to free agent's that the team has taken recently. To me it makes all the sense in the world, obviously you hope to draft and develop but when you have a miss like Devin Bush, what's wrong with giving someone like Queen the contract you would have given Bush? It's not like they're spending more than they would have. I think this would make sense for Broderick Jones as well, if he struggles and you don't resign him, go get a top tackle in FA and give that player the contract you would have given Jones. Thoughts?
Brian Batko
2:32
Of course. Every team's first preference is to build through the draft with your own homegrown players. You know them the best, you cultivated them, you have a comfort level there. But when those plans go sideways, you have to look outside the organization and take the inherent risk with that. I had no issue with the Patrick Queen contract at the time and still don't. He wasn't as consistent as I expected last year - I predicted him to be team MVP, in fact - but I'm not writing him off.
TV
2:32
QB is the most important position on the team - if Sanders falls, do the Steelers have to seriously consider taking him and foregoing DL until round 3?
Brian Batko
2:33
I'd hope they've already seriously considered that well before they're on the clock. But that doesn't mean they should do it.
Rons
2:33
I would love someone at the PPG to do an in depth analysis on Mason Rudolph’s strengths and weaknesses as a QB. Some think he is serviceable or better, and some think he stinks. I would ask, is he as good as, better, or worse than Neil O’Donnell? And why?
also please, more written articles and less “watch” videos. Thanks for the great job the PPG staff do on Steelers coverage. That’s why I have a digital subscription.
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