Happy Friday to yinz and welcome to the last weekend of the 2018 NFL calendar as the 2019 league year will officially begin next week.
What a crazy and busy week it’s been. Not only did the Pittsburgh Steelers get some players, tendered, re-signed and extended this past week, they almost had wide receiver Antonio Brown traded as well. Will they be able to get him traded in the next 24 hours like Brown suggested during a Friday Instagram video? We’ll wait and see.
Not much is going on with me this weekend other than getting some last-minute tax preparation work done so I can be done with my accountant for another year. I really hate this time of year when it comes to that.
Next week figures to be super busy on the site with the start of the new league year. Also, we are likely to hear about a contract extension for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at any time now.
As usual, below are five questions for yinz to answer on this Friday night and I look forward to reading the responses in the comments below.
Have a safe and happy weekend and peace and love to all of yinz. Thank you for stopping by the site this past week.
1 – The 2019 NFL Draft is now 48 days away. Who will be the first-overall player selected in it?
2 – The Baltimore Ravens signed tight end Nick Boyle to a three-year contract worth $18 million, for an average of $6 million a season. Will Steelers unrestricted free agent tight end Jesse James get a deal that averages at least $5 million a season or more from a team?
3 – Will the Steelers have a trade of Brown in place by midnight Sunday?
4 – Name the position of the first outside free agent signed by the Steelers after the start of the new league year.
5 – The Steelers now have three 6th-round selections as a result of them trading tackle Marcus Gilbert to the Arizona Cardinals. If all are ultimately kept, would you like to see one of those three 6th-round selections spent on either a punter or a kicker?
Recap of 2019 Scouting Combine Friday Night 5 Questions
Question 1: 61% would NOT mind if the Steelers drafted the cousin of wide receiver Antonio Brown, former Oklahoma wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, this year. Supporters of such a move said that picking him in the 2nd round would be reasonable. Others pointed out his small size, foot injury, and that there were other more talented wide receivers available in this draft. In response to several who asked, why not? A respondent stated, “His nickname is already Hollywood and he’s AB’s cousin. What could go wrong?” For what it’s worth, Hollywood was one of five WR’s that the Steelers met with during the NFL combine.
Question 2: Three of the six draft prospects we cited as receiving too much hype were quarterbacks. Appears that 2019 is a much weaker quarterback class than 2018. Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray got more mentions than the others combined. His small size may be a factor. Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State & Dan Jones Duke’s Dan Jones were the other quarterbacks on this list. WR D.K. Metcalf, CB Deandre Baker & LB Mack Wilson also received mentions as being oversold.
Question 3: The Steelers will re-sign tight end Jesse James at some point during the offseason according to 57% of Steelers Depot respondents. Most just do not see him as a starting tight end. However, Alex Kozora pointed out on the Terrible Podcast this week that there are teams that have offenses that fit the Outlaw’s skillset and they may pull the trigger on him. This could result in Jesse riding away with more money than the Steelers are willing to pay to keep him in the Black & Gold corral.
Question 4: Two folks outright refused to name a team other than the Oakland Raiders that is most-likely to give the Steelers a first round draft pick as trade compensation for Antonio Brown. They are calling it. Brown will be in a Raiders uniform in 2019 even if the NFL is currently preventing fans from purchasing custom Raiders jerseys with Brown’s name on it. However, other respondents offered a plethora of teams that might be willing to part with a 1st round draft choice to acquire brown’s services: New York Jets; Jacksonville Jaguars; Seattle Seahawks; San Francisco 49ers; Washington Redskins; Green Bay Packers; Tennessee Titans; Philadelphia Eagles; Cleveland Browns; Buffalo Bills; and Dallas Cowboys. The Steelers have reportedly told NFL teams to get their best & final offers in by today. And the answer is …
Question 5: 59% of respondents correctly predicted that a player would run the 40-yard-dash in less than 4.34 seconds at this year’s combine. Most learned this when D.K. Metcalf’s combine results were trumpeted by the press. Metcalf ran it in 4.33 along with fellow wide receiver Mecole Hardman. Four other NFL prospects ran even faster 40 times. WR’s Andy Isabella & Parris Campbell were recorded at 4.31. But, the two fastest times were by defensive backs. Auburn’s Jamel Dean ran a 4.30 40. Ole Miss Safety Zedrick Woods had the fastest time at 4.29.
We were asked if the Steelers would designate Le’Veon Bell a transition player in the First Offseason Weekend of 2019 Friday Night Five questions. Over 62% of respondents correctly predicted that the Steelers would not place the transition tag on Le’Veon Bell prior to this year’s deadline. March 5, 2019 was the deadline for NFL teams to designate (tag) Franchise or Transition players. Six teams designated franchise players. None use the transition tag.
Also, the Steelers signed Ramon Foster to a new 2-year contract worth $8.25 million. Steelers Depot asked readers about Ramon Foster’s future with the Steelers in the 2018 Week 9 Friday Night 5 questions and again during the Conference championship weekend.
Back in November 69.5% of respondents agreed that Ramon Foster would be with another team in 2019. As a group, the consensus was that Foster would get a 2-3-year deal worth $13.4 million. Annual compensation predictions ranged from $4 to 6.7 million per year. Several folks were remarkably close in their predictions four months ago. Chris92021 & Steel Paul (aka Steel Realist Paul) both predicted Foster getting a 2-year deal for $8.5 million. Lil Smitty, Will, ImMikeD & Lou Rock all predicted 2 years for $8 million. Kudos for making the call on his compensation within $250 thousand. Steel Paul, Will & ImMIkeD also went against the herd and predicted that Foster would re-sign with the Steelers. Double Kudos.
Then at the end of January 53.3% said that the Steelers would re-sign Ramon Foster. Not sure what caused the change of heart, but the trend was moving in the right direction. Excellent job readers!
