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Minimum $10 per order additional term supply. Andrew, how are you, man? I'm good.
It kind of feels like the movie, what is it, 300, where the guy's got the sword drawn and there's like an army of human beings coming at him. And so people are trying to make me feel like that. But I feel good. I'm sure you're going to ask me about the stuff. And I'm not changing my story on this.
I think he's going to be a stealer. I believe that they have a deal pretty much done other than dotting some I's and crossing some T's. And I understand what people in the national media have said. There's even one local reporter who's tried to refute some of the information I have.
But I'll just say this. I would be very, very surprised if the people I've talked to about this story would A, want to mislead me or B, would be wrong about things. So maybe there was maybe there ends up being a last second change of heart or something falls through. But I've been given no indication from what I tweeted a few hours ago that this was done. I've got no reason to feel differently, even though it feels like every big name NFL insider seems to think that this is not at the finish line yet. Andrew Filipponi is joining us here.
The JR Sport Reshow. Andrew, for people who are not familiar, you have certainly been in the news over the past several days. You helped break the news that the Steelers were interested days ago, that they were working on a deal. You never changed your tune. There were some who said that there was no deal. The deal was off. You never changed your tune.
And as you just mentioned, you tweeted out and shared earlier today that this is basically a done deal and that it's just a matter of working out his contract. And so why has your thought process? It hasn't changed over the past few days. Why do you think people are kind of throwing slop at you saying that you're wrong? Well, because I don't think they're talking to the same people I am, and that's fine. And I understand skepticism and cynicism with this stuff because this isn't what I do for a living. What I do is what you do. I'm not paid to break news. But when you've worked in one market for as long as I have, you know, news oftentimes comes to you. Exactly.
And so I get it. You know, some people want to say this is a click bait thing on my part, which doesn't really make any sense because I'm not posting an article trying to get people to a Web site to read about it. I'm not breaking the news on my radio show where I'm saying, hey, listen to me at this time and I'm going to give you the news.
I'm just putting out there what I've heard. And I trust the people that I'm talking to enough where I'm comfortable doing that. So, you know, I did I will admit this, you know, very early yesterday afternoon, Adam Schefter went on McAfee show and said that the Steelers were not a landing spot. And when someone with his credentials says that, you no doubt start to question what you've heard and wonder, oh, my God, how could I possibly gotten this wrong? How is the person that I'm talking to on this so in the dark? That doesn't make sense. But then Schefter hours later had to basically retract what he said. And he changed his story to the Steelers were very much in the mix to get. So I have not heard anything from the people I've talked to throughout this thing that said, hey, pony, you've actually now got that information. Your source screwed you or made you look bad.
You've got to do a 180 or offer up a mea culpa. So unless that happens or until that happens, Shayar, I'm going to stick with what I've been saying the whole time on this one. Andrew Filippone is joining us on 93 seven, the fan in Pittsburgh. But knowing that that you said the Brandon, Iuk is on his way to Pittsburgh. What are some of the potential terms that might get the deal done? Do you mean the money for him or do you mean the compensation for San Francisco in a deal?
Both ways. We know that he's he's what we know. Justin Jefferson is getting thirty five. I think we all know he ain't getting thirty five. And yeah, for forty Niners team that's trying to win a Super Bowl right now. I don't think he's he's leaving in both ways. Yeah. So, you know, I had heard that the Patriots offer for him financially was thirty two million dollars a year.
I don't know if anyone else has that, but that's what I had heard a couple of days ago. That's what he had turned down from them. And it was not so much about the money as much as it was. He just didn't want to play for the Patriots and he really wants to be a stealer. And I think he's willing to leave some money on the table with that. I would not be at all surprised. In fact, I'm pretty confident saying I think the number with the Steelers is going to be between twenty eight and twenty nine million dollars.
That's that's what I think it will be for him on that front. And then the trade thing is interesting and I'm not on this part of it. You'll notice a lot of what I'm saying is a little bit of educated speculation based on some of the information that I've heard, because I don't have total clarity on the trade part.
I'm not going to lie to you on that. J.R. I've heard repeatedly that a first round pick is not in there. I heard of some players that the forty niners wanted back that the Steelers didn't want to include in the trade, including wide receiver George Pickens. So I don't have a great answer where I feel like I'm giving you complete confidence on it, but I think there's probably going to be at least a second round pick in there, maybe a conditional round pick in twenty twenty six, depending on how it does. But you've got to remember the draft is here in Pittsburgh in twenty twenty six. So I don't think it would anything I don't think it would be anything like a first or second and maybe a player. But it's just hard to find players on the Steelers roster that A, they're willing to give up right now.
And B would be guys that the Steelers would deem expendable that would actually fit into the forty niners plans for this year. Andrew Filipponi joining us here on the J.R. sport brief show, the guy who actually throws the football or I should say the guys. We know that that Russell Wilson is QB one as of right now over Justin Fields.
No shock, no surprise. We don't expect to see Russell Wilson playing on Friday against the Texans. How have things looked, especially with Russell Wilson missing that first day with the Cavs? Well, how things looked with Fields, I think Fields has made I think Fields has made his presence known and I think he's made a good impression. I think early on he was pretty erratic and inconsistent, missed a lot of easy throws, but also can make throws that leave your jaw on the floor. And I think it was a lot of up and down play early on. I think he's gotten better as he's got grown more comfortable with the offense and working with a lot of first team weapons in practice. So I definitely think there's a curiosity. I definitely think they're intrigued. Now, is it enough where Justin Fields is going to start week one over Russell Wilson?
No, I don't think so. But do I think Fields has done enough where if Wilson isn't good, if he's just average, if the team isn't winning and they're not getting difference making play from quarterback, do I think Mike Tomlin would go to Fields? Yes, I do right now, unless he really stinks up the joint in the preseason or there's an injury or some other variable that is not available to me right now. I would say right now, Russell Wilson is still the week one starting quarterback.
But when you couple his injury and what Fields has done to open ice in camp, I think that it's a much shorter leash on Wilson now to start the 2024 season. So, Andrew, Mike Tomlin has been very keen over the past several weeks and months about how his two quarterbacks, as well as his new offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith, these are scalded individuals based on the experiences from last year. What do you expect to see from Arthur Smith with this offense? Are we getting some run heavy play?
What do you expect here? Well, I don't think you can afford to do that if you're giving Brandon Iuch $28 million a year or thereabouts. And I think that, like I said, to start the interview, I still believe that's going to happen. So if you've got Pickens and Iuch, you've got to be able to throw the ball. And I think that they will.
I think it'll make everybody's life easier. Those guys were big explosive targets last year. Pickens was number one in yards per catch.
Iuch was number two. And so how do the safeties creep in? How do you stack the box when you have that kind of playmaking at wide receiver?
You can't. So I think it's going to turn into a pick your poison situation. And that's why I do think if Russell Wilson cannot take advantage of that, fields will go in, because not only will you then have the running backs in the run game to worry about and account for, you're also going to have the playmaking of fields with his legs to make plays. So I think Arthur Smith, more pressure on him when this deal gets done, when it becomes announced, because right now they have one of the worst receiving cores in the NFL after George Pickens. They probably have the worst after him.
And that will all change when Brandon Iuch becomes a stealer. Andrew Filippone is joining us from 93-7, the fan in Pittsburgh. For all of the Steeler fans' hopes, I hope that he does Arthur Smith a better job than what he did down here in Atlanta, Georgia. Speaking of a better job, Mike Tomlin got himself a contract extension. Andrew, every time I'm up in Pittsburgh, I'm in an Uber, I'm sitting at a whiskey bar, people are like, ah, I love Mike Tomlin. Somebody else goes, ah, they need to get rid of him.
They need to grow. Have people settled in on the fact that he is there and he's not going anywhere yet? Well, people have made peace with that because the Steelers just don't fire head coaches.
They've had three since 1969. So I think everyone is abreast of that reality. Anybody who's sane and has a brain knows that he's not going to get fired. I understand and I'm probably one of the band leaders for the criticisms he faces because it's been a very long time. It's actually the longest playoff win drought since Chuck Nolte took over as head coach, that they haven't won a playoff game in seven years since 2016. And hey, I will give Mike Tomlin credit while giving him a criticism, so this will be backhanded. I think what he's done here this offseason to get not only Brandon Iuch, but Patrick Queen on a less than market value deal. And Justin Fields got traded here for only a six round pick because the Bears wanted to do Fields a solid and get him to the team he wanted to play for. And a lot of that had to do with Mike Tomlin, of course.
I think Tomlin's stature in the league and popularity in the league is paying dividends for the Steelers this offseason in terms of player acquisition. However, there are still some unforgivable sins here, like Matt Canada being the offensive coordinator for the last two seasons. He had to get fired last year mid-season. He thought Arthur Smith was banned in Atlanta.
I'm going to raise you and say, go back and watch Matt Canada's offense with the Steelers. It never made sense. Unlike Smith, who had a great Tennessee tenure, this guy was a nomadic college coordinator who got fired after one year at LSU.
So that never made sense. I think Tomlin's had a really hard time with the offensive side of the ball. Randy Fuechner before that, I think he was very much behind quarterback miscues, keeping Ben around, bringing in Mitch Trubisky, drafting Kenny Pickett in the first round.
So he's got to wear that. But yeah, even though fans are livid with their early exits from the playoffs, lack of postseason success, they know he's not going anywhere. And if and when this IU thing gets done, I do think fans, even his harshest critics, will say Mike Tomlin had a lot to do with it and he deserves to get a pat on the back for it. Well, having said that, Andrew, what do you think is most likely to happen this upcoming season, especially in what is always a loaded AFC North? Well, I think they'll win nine games. I think they'll finish with a winning record. I think that there are teams around them that right now, you know, I'd say I'd lean that the Jets will have a better season than them. I wanted to think the Chargers would have a better season than that with Herbert and Harbaugh there.
But that's changed now that IU is coming here. They play Baltimore great. Lamar Jackson has not played well against the Steelers. And they've even made Joe Burrow look mortal at times, like when they went there and won in week one a couple of years ago. So I think I think the non-loosing season streak will continue. But the AFC is so good, so much better than the NFC. What ultimately I think happens this year is they have a better team. But I don't think their record in playoff performance will reflect that ultimately.
And we'll see at the end of the day, based on how they play, if those reasons for them not doing better are good enough to rationalize them having what would be eight straight years without a playoff victory. Well, Andrew, I appreciate the time. You've certainly been on the forefront of all of the IU news over the past several days. Where can people follow you nationally, locally in Pittsburgh? How can they hop aboard the Pony Express? Well, if they're diehard Steelers fans, there's a chance if somehow this blows up in my face that I will be their least favorite Twitter personality if I'm not already. And so you can follow me on X at the Pony Express, pony spelled P-O-N-I, like the last four letters of my last name. And then I'm on two to six ninety three seven to fan stream it on the Odyssey app.
Listen to it. We're a CBS sports radio affiliate. We've had you on for years, JR. We love the work you do. And I appreciate you having me on the show, man. Thank you.
No doubt about it. We'll talk to you real soon about everything going on in the Steel City. Catch you soon, Andrew. OK, you bet.
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