QB Carousel: Colin Dunlap, 93.7 The Fan Pittsburgh

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Do I feel lucky? What does the future hold for all 32 NFL teams at the QB position? Now I'm going to give you an opportunity to spin this wheel right here. Let's spin the wheel and find out which teams we hit today. The Pittsburgh Steelers. All right, let's go out to the fan in Pittsburgh.

Just tremendous job. And the fan morning show that of course is Colin Dunlap. Colin, we'll talk about the Steelers in just a second, but I know you love the NFL. What is your takeaway from this big deal that just went down, the Bears falling back to nine, getting the 61st pick in this year's draft, the first in 2024, second in 2025 and DJ Moore and Carolina moves into the number one slot? Does Carolina really think Anthony Richardson is good? I don't think it's Richardson. Imagine if it is.

I don't know. If that's the value and that's what they have to give up to move up to get their number one guy, so be it. Carolina making moves.

I like it. I like the offensive staff that they've assembled in Carolina and I think that they're looking to strike quick and looking to be good on offense right away. How can you blame them? You look at now the Bears receiving room. They have DJ Moore. You know this being a Steelers guy. They just got Chase Claypool. How do you kind of view that receiving room right now moving forward for the Bears? Any receiving room is toxic as long as Chase Claypool's in it. I'll just be frank with you. It's not Antonio Brown level toxic, but Chase Claypool, one of the reasons, if not the main reason, why he was shuttled out of Pittsburgh for a pick that some people thought was that the Steelers kind of didn't get enough for was, you know, that Chase Claypool ended up being a pain in the backside and it surfaced not real deep into his Bears career either.

And I'm not like dogging a guy as he's on his way out of town here in Pittsburgh. It just ended up being, he ended up being a problem and he couldn't coexist with Deontay Johnson. Talk right now to Colin Dunlap. When you look back at year one as we're doing a QB carousel on the Pittsburgh Steelers and you look back at Kenny Pickett, what did you like and what are some things you think he needs to improve on? It is the ultimate 12-game sample size of I don't know really what I saw. The offensive line was great. The Steelers are going nowhere with Matt Canada employed as the offensive coordinator.

It doesn't matter who their quarterback is. But it was 12 games. His completion percentage was I don't have the numbers in front of me. It was like 65% I think. It was six touchdowns to nine interceptions, something thereabouts. And I think it was like a 75 or 76 quarterback rating.

It was, if you got a report card, it was incomplete, but that's kind of what we expected. I think if the Steelers had to do it all over again, they would have told Mitch Trubisky to sit down and camp and from day one, the miscalculation was that Kenny Pickett should have been the man the day he walked in the door. And that's the thing I never got. And that's why I called Mitch Trubisky Mitch Trubusky because it made no sense to me and we know the guy's a bust, but why they would start him week one when we all knew that Kenny Pickett, and I know this wasn't a great draft class from a year ago, only one guy went in the first round and it was Pickett, but everyone said he's the most ready NFL starter in this class. Mike Tomlin said that, which was so curious. So if the curve was going to be what it was going to be, which was flatter than most, and he was so much, this was a big talk too, how much older he was than everybody else. So why not play him from day one and then you would speed up and accelerate that learning curve, whether it was a little shallower or even steep as normal quarterbacks are. And then whatever happened in week six would have happened in week three, whatever happened in week 10 would have potentially happened in week six and you would have expedited everything. I don't understand.

And I think it was a gross miscalculation on the Steelers part. So they go into this year and you're still left wondering when you don't have a definitive answer on what he is. Why did Tomlin bring back Canada? No idea. I don't know. I'll tell you this. Mike Tomlin has been loath on the offensive side of the football in particular to ever hire an up and comer or someone who sort of challenges his authority.

He's like that kind of in wide form. You tell me the last time you heard a Steelers assistant interviewed for a head coaching job. Brian Flores doesn't count either because it was the only place he could land was in Pittsburgh. But other than him, there are no rising people in the coaching ranks. Nobody goes from here anywhere.

There's none of those whiz kids that, you know, have a pencil behind their ear and a drawn up place. They never hire those guys. I think it comes down to authority. And Mike Tomlin doesn't like anybody to be a bigger dog than him in that room. Now, when you look at Belichick, I know his guys get hired, but none of them really turn out to be any good. But the approach on offense has been very similar.

Now, I know Bill adapted and brought in Bill O'Brien, someone he trusts. But last year, it made no sense why Patricia and Judge is running that offense. And it makes no sense why Canada's back for Tomlin and the Steelers. I agree with you. It makes absolutely zero sense.

And nobody here gets it. And at some point, you know, Mike Tomlin has gone a long time doing this. The one guy that had success, you know, Ken Wisenhunt had some success. Obviously, Bruce Arians had success and he was forced to retire, so to speak. But any time this happens and Mike Tomlin has gone on and not had offensive coaches that have had any modicum of success, at this point, it's in Art Rooney, the second situation.

He allows Tomlin to have full reign over the, you know, over the whole hiring process. It's become a farce. And, you know, if I were to ask people about this, they wouldn't answer this. They couldn't.

They wouldn't know the answer. They think the Steelers are much better than what they are. The Pittsburgh Steelers have three playoff wins in 13 seasons. But people don't think that because of how tradition laden the organization is, because of what that logo stands for. And they never bottom out, Colin. Like they they they always even in a bad season, they're either 500 or above. Yeah, well, show me the trophies for not having losing seasons. You know, the Jacksonville Jaguars right now are probably better positioned than the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh, yeah, especially in that division, too. Corrected.

They bottomed out, right? Yeah. Colin Dunlap here with us. So I know Philip Pony, Andrew Philip Pony, who does afternoons on your station on a scale of one to ten, his love of Kenny Pickett's out of 20 on one to ten. What is your number on your love for Kenny Pickett?

Six and a half, seven, because I don't know. They've got to get offensive lineman. They've got to get a left tackle. I mean, it's got to happen. They've got to draft Skowronski if he's there. I think that has to happen.

That's a good pitch name, too, by the way. Oh, the tremendous Pittsburgh name. I would trade Deontay Johnson right now. Someone would take him. He's overrated. He's in insanely overrated and drops the football in gigantic situations. Jack or Zach.

Excuse me. I would trade him right now if I could accrue picks. I would hope the heck that Calvin Austin can play who's coming back from injury. You saw him at Memphis. I know that, you know, he was high on a lot of people's boards. They drafted him. He got hurt right away. And I would hope in that second or third round or second or third pick that the Steelers have, Zay Flowers was there and I would draft him right away.

And that's the move I would make. George Pickens. You guys got to be in love with him.

What he showed. Are there any concerns about him? George Pickens next year will be a top five receiver in the AFC and in the next two years will be a top five receiver in the NFL. No question.

The only thing is you got to make sure it doesn't go off the rails. I mean, that's why he was drafted where he was drafted. And that is, too, part of the concern with he and Deontay Johnson in the same receiver room.

There is going to be, mark my words, and I'm kind of here for it because we're in the controversy business. When George Pickens becomes the bona fide number one receiver, the Pittsburgh Steelers very early in this twenty twenty three season, Deontay Johnson ain't going to like it. And it will cause a diva on diva rift in Pittsburgh. And it's going to be something to see because Deontay Johnson thinks he's the undisputed, undeniable number one guy in Pittsburgh. And George Pickens has a whole lot to say about it. And quite frankly, Kenny Pickens works better with George Pickens than he does with Deontay Johnson. I want everyone to hold hands.

I want Deontay Johnson and George Pickens to hold hands and be friends and for them to work in Pittsburgh for you. Colin Dunlap. Right. OK. You're in the same business I'm in. You don't want anything to get along or anybody to get along. Zach, don't fool me.

Colin Dunlap. Appreciate the time. Thank you, my friend. All right, Zach.

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