Bear Hands

Yeah might as well give the young investments a clear path. Depending on how things develop, we're setting ourselves up to be in a very solid spot for 2026.

Per Adam Schefter: https://x.com/AdamSchefter/status/1920523706624823739 Expected, but just want to rub it in here.

XL working out really rounds out a complimentary room - McMillan is X, Legette can go slot or flanker — same with Coker. All dependent on what teams bring at us. The nice thing is McM will warrant the CB1 and have him preoccupied. So teams with lighter DB rooms will have an issue with Legette. Not to mention Coker will be a perfect valve who proved to have sticky hands. We theoretically should be able to carve defenses up pretty methodically. Still think adding a speedster to this mix instead of Thielen could round it out to the point where we’re a problem for teams. A Mims/Jamo type would be huge. Thielen seems like a great presence but he’s nearing a point of only being so helpful on the field. Been a stand up dude here so no problems with him sticking this year, just hope it doesn’t limit Coker.

PIT’s draft picks next year are looking more than plentiful. With the OL they’re building (Jones, Frazier, McCormick, Fautanu all promising and very young), DK, & the Kaleb/Jaylen combo, they’ll be in a good spot to put a rookie QB in a sound position come 2026. They may look lost right now, but it will be corrected in short order. There’s a sequence to things there.

If he pulls this out, he’s gonna get some great opportunities as a promo guy for GI medications.

We’ve seen plenty of late round WRs come and go so I don’t have much stock in Horn. He’s definitely a wait and see/maybe he surprises. Looks fun, but then you consider the history with Gettis, T Godwin, Pilares, etc. I’m gonna hold my breathe haha

I’m optimistic but I’m setting an expectation that he could revert at times…there could be ruts where he looks pretty bad again. The Reich year and the first two last is hard to unsee. His play needs to show us this year that we have no questions at QB. If he is looking questionable during/after a 3rd season, then we absolutely should be looking around. I just pray we don’t fall into the dead zone where he looks slightly above average, we still don’t sniff the playoffs but the org will be willing to commit in 2026.

He was back in a groove for the finale. He had some critical catches in that win and kept drives going. I think he could surprise some this year. Not some monster stat book, but he could have a very respectable year and provide key plays throughout.

Only 3 guys have given us 20+ TD seasons in the 30+ years this team has existed. It would be nice to see again. If his play is progressing and consistent, I think a 20 TD, 10 INT type season just shy of 4k yards would be an expectation to have. Beyond stats, I just was to see him have us in the wildcard race. Even if we miss out, would be fun to see us fighting for a spot until week 17-18 come around. Would be nice to have meaningful games in Nov-Dec again.

Anyone know if his middle name starts with an "i"? Because then it's pretty obvious lol

I won’t pretend to know his game well but did select him in R4-5 a fair amount in PFF mock drafts haha. Score!

Geez people, it's nicknames. People naturally shorten names, so it will happen. Morgan even did it in his presser. It's not disrespectful, it's just people doing the single syllable shortening. I personally am just going between McMillan and Tmac, but wgaf about policing how others address him. I had a name that could be shortened into an annoying one growing up..I didn't raise a stink even though I hated it. You can't dictate your own nicknames. People will call him what they call him, again wgaf. I think the current trendy way to put this is "let them", as all the suburban women are saying these days lol.

Yeah I was sold on all the Husky receivers, Polk didn’t just hit a rookie wall, he was barely able to get to the wall to attempt to make it over lol. Both him and that over the top UCF WR were hyped and fell flat on their faces.

Most of our recent drafts had a bad taste for a variety of reasons. This one is at least refreshing from a value and perception standpoint. -Legette was ~60-80 on many big boards (and reportedly on actual team boards), not to mention passing on Ladd and DeJean for him. And we traded up! -And then moving back and then trading up again, overpursuing Brooks when we could have landed Sainristil, Frazier, etc. Guys who were obvious fits. -Prior year, sure we landed Bryce and felt promise, but both Mingo and DJJ felt like major reaches on capital gained from CMC. Just felt like duds even before we saw how they were shaping out. Missed out on great prospects like Tuli, Brents or Byron Young. This year, we landed guys that just slipped from other teams reaching, tapped into the value stream that still aligned with our needs. We didn’t reach, but we stayed aggressive to pursue fits.

Yeah Scourton is exciting for more than a few reasons. I don’t want to set too high of expectations, but I really can see him getting a lot of snaps from the get go. He seems more ready to go than most edge prospects in this class. No injury concerns, no undersized edge setting concerns, he fits a starting role and if he wants it, it’s his to grab and run with.

I see we’re at the stage where everyone is trying to showcase how OG they are lol.

I mean nothing is wrong with some coddles but we’re simply acquiring weapons. This isn’t overindulgence or anything to compensate for Bryce/make him extra comfortable. It’s to elevate this offense and add firepower that can win us games. Need to score if you wanna win.

What happened to just prank calling your closest Chinese restaurant amiright?

Nice good stuff

Yep… if we took those offers, we’d basically be looking at Nolen or one of the outlier or low production guys (Walker, Mykel, Stewart) paired with maybe Higgins or Noel at WR. This McMillan+Scourton+Princely combination just seems way more sound, has far less/no flags and way greater potential. Honestly, stepping back and looking at it, it really is one of the stronger scenarios we could’ve asked for. WR1 and 2 potential starting OLBs. The Denver trade we made was a very cool package that gave us a lot of flexibility. One of the more interesting mid-draft trades we’ve made and I think it really helped us out.

This guy is a bit cerebral. He’s very into refinement and figuring it all out. You don’t see this with a lot of prospects. Super sharp kid.

That’s interesting to know. He’s adjusting and conditioning to what feels like the optimal situation for him. I’ll tell you, sounds like he’s been coached very well to recognize those things, have the strong run game skills and continuing to build out his moveset. He really seems like a high floor guy that I’m just surprised lasted that long. Feel really strong about him and Princely. Just tough guys with good experience, size, skills, there’s no weird outlier question marks with either of them.

Figured to group all the picks in one place so we can take a more holistic & zoomed out look at the class. My overall one sentence glance: We played it smart, moving up to get guys we wanted, however in that process, maximized value without mortgaging the future picks. Strong blend of smart + aggressive this year. Some initial notes: We've got ourselves a real WR1. Coker & Legette can fill into very complimentary roles. Then we took a swing on a returner/shiftier type later on, with real juice, in Horn. Pass Rush was nonexistent last year - so landed a guy in Scourton who many had pegged as a 1st -- he's back to his Purdue weight, where he looked like a potential superstar, has great measurables, and attitude. Power guy, growing moveset, & real edge setting ability. Princely may start out as a specialist (maybe more), but he has real upside and the frame to fill into a 3-down edge. Nick Bonitto-ish. Etienne I like. He's basically our 3rd down back who we can trust catching balls. He may get more playing time than expected and we have a bit of a 70/20/10 type thing with Chubba/Dowdle/Etienne I've said it before, Evans is excellent value. True inline TE that can play every role at the position. Good hands, good blocking. Thought he'd be a 3rd-4th rounder. Cam Jackson we keyed in on, interviewed him a few times. Big boy, we definitely had a connection and affection. All for it. And last but not least, Ransom who was one of my top safeties. I was thinking Watts or Sanker to compliment Moehrig, but before FA, Ransom was the one I was hoping for, and we freaking landed him. Tenacious, physical, pure football talent (& film junkie) with a nose to end plays. Where I find this to make sense is we have a lot of DB heavy looks, and FS is not the most critical position these days. Having insurance and someone who can get in sub packages is important. And I think we like our FS Richardson (Maybe we sign Blackmon, but I feel very comfortable here) Oh and we landed one of the top kickers via UDFA

Smitty has a bit of the Chris Simms complex. Became a personality, identified a mid rounder who became great (Kupp), and then ran on that juice for a while, as someone with that keen eye for talent. But over time, the hit rate adjusts and you see he's not the best at it by any means. And now they have a falsely built-up confidence in their evals and get all defensive about it. It's all good. I hope McMillan proves to be a top-WR in the league and shuts these knuckleheads up. Now it's time to get this team rev'd up for a big improvement year.

Thought this should get some attention being Matthew Wright (our rostered kicker) was on 3 teams last year. Ryan Fitzgerald Factoids: #2 Ranked Kicker on the Beast Was perfect in 2024, including a long of 59 yards Was 19/21 in 2023 Hasn't missed an XP in over two years Seems like we may have ourselves a new kicker: