Starks: Steelers Need To Go Young At Quarterback

Max, how are you, man? I'm doing alright. I can't complain. How are you doing? I'm very well.

Thank you for taking the time to join us. I guess we might as well start off with your Steelers. We see Justin Fields is gone. Russell Wilson is a free agent. What do you think is the best thing for these Steelers to do? I know your buddy Ben Roethlisberger says he got another pass left in him, but I don't think so. You know, redemption story, a guy off the couch. I mean, it had Joe Flacco's done it.

Remember Gino Toretta when he came off the couch? You know what I'm saying? They went and helped the Jets out.

So, I mean, yeah, you do have those. I don't think that's the case here. I think when you look at just, you know, where the Steelers are, I think they're trying to figure out, you know, what the best opportunity is. Is it starting brand new with the young guy, knowing that you gave DK Metcalf a five-year window with the team?

So grow and learn together and give them a reliable, steady target. Or do you go with something that's a retread, you know, in Aaron Rodgers or bringing back Russell Wilson? I would be less inclined to the latter just because due to age, I mean, you look at where Russell is and, you know, if you're saying that Russ is too old and has lost a step, what are you saying about Aaron Rodgers? Because I think, you know, when those two actually went head to head, Russell Wilson got the better of Aaron Rodgers when we played the Jets on Sunday Night Football.

So, you know, I kind of look at that and I say, no, I don't think that's the right course of action for them. I think it is something younger or something with a proven type of mentality, or maybe it's still a trade out there that we don't know about. But I don't think that the question lies in someone over the age of 33 years old or better to be a quarterback for this team.

Max Starks is joining us here on the JR Sport Brief show. Let's talk about someone younger than that much. Well, not that much younger, but he's younger and he seemingly has a lot of maturity issues now that the Steelers have acquired DK Metcalf. Do you think it's still worth it for the Steelers to have Pickens on the team or do you think they should maybe move them, move on?

I think it's still worth it because, I mean, you look at, just look at the field, right? I mean, when you're talking about the AFC North and what it has to offer, Jamar Chasen, T Higgins, prime examples, right? You got two alpha receivers on the same team.

And so I think when you look at that, you got to have a one-two punch combo. Jordan Addison, Justin Jefferson is another one of those that I think of. You know, now obviously you see Devante Adams paired with Puka Nakua out in LA, they realized they needed to get somebody that was a little bit more durable than Cooper Cupp. But you want a one-two punch because, you know, the era of calling someone a wide receiver one is really dependent upon the defense that you're playing, right? Because wide receiver one will get the double, but guess who gets the wide receiver one balls? It's the off guy. It's the guy that's not getting double covered.

So you need someone to take that pressure off, but you need a complimentary or a comparable guy on that opposite side. And I think that's what the Steelers see is like, you know, too many teams tried to neutralize George Pickens and you didn't have that reliable other guy to go to. So now if you could take pressure off of George or, you know, when it does go to George, now you have DK, now teams are putting a quandary where they have to think about which side am I going to double bracket, right? Because I can't double bracket them all. You know, there's only 11 guys on defense and we're already dedicating two guys to each of these resources and then you forget that you still have Pat Fireman in the middle of the field. So I think having more options is better.

I don't think you gain one to trade one in my mind. Max Starks is here with us where you talk about the AFC North, one team that has a big decision to make next month. That happens to be the Cleveland Browns. We know that they're sitting in that number two spot, have to wait and see what the Tennessee Titans do. What do you think is the best course of action for the Browns to be more competitive? Is it absolutely snatching up whoever's left or the top quarterback available?

I mean, I mean, they've already gone after, you know, a Super Bowl winning quarterback in Kenny Pickett, right? Oh, my God. Hey, Max, that's not nice.

Come on, Max, come on. I'll just say, I'll just say, you know, listen, I had to be a little tongue in cheek with the fellas, you know, I mean, you know, because I was always taught, you know, as a young kid, I lived in Florida, we used to be on boats all the time, you know, there was maritime law. And the rule was if it's Browns, flush it, this yellow, let it mellow, you know, so I learned that.

So I just it's in my mind, so I can't help but do that. But but I think, you know, for the Browns, really, I think it is you're going in trying to find somebody younger, cheaper, because, listen, you've allocated a lot of resources to that quarterback position and you can't recoup any of that. You remember that whole fully guaranteed contract situation? So I think they have to go in the well and they have to go draft somebody, you know, we'll see where Cam Ward ends up. You know, Chidor Sanders, another one, or if you like a Jackson Dark or, you know, or you like some other guys that are coming out in this draft, whether it's a well Howard State, Ohio, East Ohio branded if you want from OSU guy. So I think there are some options in the draft. But, you know, when you have that type of money committed and I got still on your roster, you know, it's tough to go and find another competent starting quarterback that is going to want to come there because you know what you're dealing with because you can't cut the Sean Watson.

Yeah. Two hundred and thirty million dollars guaranteed in that powerball hit the jackpot. I'm sure he's rehabbing in Miami right now, Max. I'm sure he is no question from one Super Bowl winning quarterback to another one. This guy won seven championships. His name is Tom Brady with Tom Brady out in Vegas.

They've made some changes. Pete Carroll is in. I know he has a five percent stake of the team. He also has Geno Smith.

OK, fine. He's a broadcaster. He has a piece of the team. What do you think this means for the Raiders?

Is this like a big deal, a small deal? Is he broadcasting too much? Like, is it his team?

Is he running it? What is the Brady effect on the Raiders? No, I think the Brady effect is he understands that there has to be a division, right? You know, in season, he's a broadcaster. Off season, he can work more front office management ownership related things to a degree, right? You know, and I think that's where, you know, the input, the insights to Mark Davis kind of being that sounding board and, you know, kind of confidant slash other opinion that goes into Mark Davis's mind. I think that's the role that he kind of sits in. That's why they you know, that's why they wanted to bring him in as a small minority partner.

But I believe he has more control than just five percent and more decision making power and leverage than just that five percent ownership stake. Here's the thing that's going to be the really big thing is in a year or two. You know, when he has kind of put his thumbprint on this team in the off season, when is his presence going to be felt in the season when it really counts when decisions are made, when you have to have, you know, more insight, more say in the process, whether it's, you know, managing Pete Carroll, whether it's going in with another situation. That's where it's going to be really interesting to see if he continues with broadcasting, because I can tell you right now, if I had a choice between broadcasting or ownership stake, that ownership stake is going to be worth a lot more than that broadcasting piece over time. Two times Super Bowl chant Max starts to see it with us.

That was going to be my next question. You certainly understand how much work goes into broadcasting. Do you think he's going to see through this next, I believe, in nine remaining years? No, no, I don't see that. I don't see that. There will come a decision where he'll have to make it, I would say in the next, I would say next two, maybe three maximum, maybe three.

I don't think he makes it five years broadcasting. I certainly understand that, given all the work on both sides. When we talk about Geno Smith going to the Raiders, we saw Sam Donald make his way out to Seattle, apparently for the contract that Geno Smith rejected. Is Seattle kind of just spinning their wheels right now?

I mean, it's a process. You have to trust what Mike McDonald's trying to get accomplished as a coach. You realize you had to trim a lot of fat to get back to a place where you can build this team back up. They've traded away a lot of resources, they've gotten a lot of draft capital, so I think the signal is, hey, we're young, we're going to rebuild, and we just have to deal with it.

And yes, I know Sam Donald is appealing and attractive, we brought him out here, but we're still growing in this process and we just need something to keep us competitive with the rest of the NFC West as far as the name brand of quarterback. But at the end of the day, I don't expect them to be a competitive team for this year and next year. You talk about the NFC West, we saw the Rams go to the postseason and surprise folks a little bit with their fight.

And then we also, just over the past two days, two, three days, we've seen what the 49ers have done. The 10 starters who are now off of the team, where do you think they still fit in when it comes down to just one of the top teams in NFC? Are they even still there? I don't know if they're still there because they still haven't done the deal with Doc Purdy yet. He's up, but he's injured, and I think they're still trying to wait to figure that out to see his health status and to know if they can be a team that can push. His contract will really be the last shoe to drop to see how they view him and how they think about him as a quarterback. So I think right now it's kind of a wait and see type of situation. You know, you had a Christian McCaffrey who's not getting any younger, but yet at the same time, he commands a lot of money as well as a lot of those other options on that team.

So, you know, you look at it and you say, yeah, they want to be competitive, but I don't know if they're in the top NFC picture right now. Max Starks is here with us on the JR Sportbreeze show. Before I let you go, I have to ask you about the man that you played for in Mike Tomlin. He's always catching heat and is like a 10 and 7 average season that we get every year and out for the Steelers. What makes him such a great coach that everybody internally loves him and then the fans just beat up on him on the outside? I mean, you can't spell fanatic without spelling fan, right? I mean, I think that's what we kind of understand. You know, fans, you know, they have a high expectation of themselves.

They want to see championships and they want to see them all the time. But I call his caution fans when they do ask that. I said, remember the 70s? Okay, great.

Great. Now keep that in your mind. Now, remember the 80s?

You remember the 80s? That's right. There was no Super Bowl appearance. There was no championships. They got close, you know, just like the Steelers did. Mike Tomlin's been to the mountaintop twice, won it once, and we lost to Green Bay the second time. And then he's been to the AFC Championship as well. Now, has it been recent?

None the last six, seven years, but it is still in the pedigree on the resume. And, you know, this team, they held on to some pieces a little bit too long. And now you're kind of trying to rebuild that. And I think we're doing the right job.

You know, we finally address the offense. That's super young, looking for leadership there for guys to grow up in that position. But, you know, defensively, now you're getting a little old and now you have to kind of shuffle the deck and kind of rebuild that defense to give them some depth again.

So I think it's just a balancing act. And it's tough to find a generation of quarterbacks, you know, with how many teams are trying to do it on a year in and year out basis. Because they don't have that guy.

They don't even have a franchise guy. They can look at it and say, man, when this guy was our quarterback, man, it was crazy. You know, Tom Brady's aren't walking this earth. You know, the Steve Youngs, the Joe Montanas, the Ben Roethlisberger's as well.

Eli Mannix, the guys who've won multiple championships, that's not walking the face of the earth and available to you right now. I mean, just as great as we talk about Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, one Super Bowl between the two of them. And, you know what I'm saying?

So it's a tough thing to do. And I think for Steeler fans, trying to get them to understand that because it has short term memory issues at times of remembering that. You got to remember the Bubby Briches are going to talk about the Gary Bradshaw's and the Ben Roethlisberger's, right?

You know, those are the things that you have to kind of remember in this process. And, you know, the Steelers are figuring it out and they're still winning despite of it. A lot of teams have to tank and lose to get a Joe Burrow, to get a Jayden Daniels, right? And these guys are top five picks, but what you have to do is you have to have worse five records the previous year. The Steelers have not had that in the 21st century except for one time in 2003 where they drafted Ben Roethlisberger at number 11.

Hey Max, last question for you, man. You talk about having a franchise quarterback and a top coach. We've seen Bill Belichick basically get the boot from New England. I know you're a Gator in the SEC. I got to ask you about the ACC. How do you think he's going to do at North Carolina? Has the college landscape shifted that much that he will be perfectly fine coaching these young men? I think it's going to work out for the first couple of years because I think the biggest thing you have to remember, you're not trying to just reach the kids, you're reaching the parents of those kids. And guess what?

The parents remember what Bill Belichick was in New England. And so, you know, that's going to automatically give him a draw. And I think his approach is going to be a little bit fresher than a lot because he's brand new to this. I think, you know, some of the things he's already started reinstating in the spring practices without using the names on the back of jerseys to kind of get guys to buy into the team concept first I think is, you know, is a novel approach, something that has not been done yet. And let's see where it goes from there. You know, I think, you know, if you do get those guys to buy into that, which I've heard from a number of guys, you know, young men that have spoken about it, you can hear the buy-in.

You see what they're doing in practice from some of the clips and everything. And everybody's excited, man. You got a six-time winning Super Bowl champion coach as your football coach. I think he knows a thing or two about winning and what success looks like. So I think he has their attention. What's going to come is, you know, after year two, after year three, is it sustained success?

Is it not sustained success? That's when we'll see a flip. And we'll see what Bill Belichick does. Hey, Max, I appreciate the time. And Max, you have an interesting, you got an interesting energy. I'm literally here on the air with you and someone who you're familiar with, Willie Colon, is over here messaging me about his educational foundation. I guess it's something with the Steelers in the air, man. Yeah. You know, I mean, we're everywhere.

That's all you have to know. We're everywhere. You know, we're like babies, kids.

We don't have to multiply. I see. Well, I have not seen that in a long time, Max.

You've been watching Bebe's Kids? Oh, it's been a while, Max. Come on.

The late Robin Harris, baby. Oh, my God. That little baby, you know, we got to have that every once in a while. A little nasty. I have not seen that.

The little nasty ass baby with the flies on his diaper. I got to go back and watch that, Max. OK? Yeah, man. Take a little hot tub time machine back and watch it. It's a good little laugh.

It certainly will. Listen, Max, you keep pretty busy. Where can people follow you and keep up with you or your broadcast and analyst work? Tell us. Yeah. You know, if you go to the X or the Twitter machine, however you classify it, Max Dark 78.

Also, you know, I.G. M. Stark 78, but also I'm on Sirius XM radio. I'm also on Steelers Nation radio. So I'm everywhere. ESPN radio on game days during the season for NFL and college. So I'm everywhere when it comes to football. J.R. Yeah, I heard that.

All you Steelers are everywhere. Max, we'll catch you on down the line. Always a pleasure. All right. Pleasure, man.