Greetings and salutations and welcome to the weekend.
Well, our trip back home to Florida last week was beyond awful, just like I imagined it would be. If that weren’t enough, our three-year old little girl, Finley Pearl, a West Highland White Terrier, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly within the first 24 hours of us getting back to Las Vegas Monday night. She suddenly suffered from autoimmune hemolytic anemia Sunday afternoon at the boarding facility while we were preparing to fly back home and went downhill very quick from there after being transported to the local veterinarian hospital. As you can probably imagine, my wife and I are crushed with the sudden loss and it’s hard to shake this depression we’re both in. We miss her so much.
The 2020 NFL Scouting Combine will be getting underway next week in Indianapolis, IN and as usual, Alex Kozora and I will be tracking the entire event for all you in real-time. We will post the link to the spreadsheets as soon as the weigh-ins start coming in. I spent most of today getting those set up. This year the drills will take place in the evenings as opposed to the mornings and as usual, all of it will be shown on the NFL Network.
Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert will hold his annual scouting combine interview on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. EST and we’ll be recapping that on the sire for everyone as quickly as we can.
I don’t have much more to add on what is a solemn and sad Friday for me. I do, however, as usual, have five questions for all to answer in the comments below.
Thank you for your time and site support, and I hope all have a blessed weekend.
1 – Do you like the fact that the NFL is expected to switch to a new playoff format as soon as this coming season that will allow a total of seven teams from each conference to play in the postseason tournament?
2 – How confident are you that the Steelers will ultimately draft a tight end this year prior to the start of the fifth-round?
a) Very confident
b) Pretty confident
c) Fairly confident
d) Not very confident
3 – Will Steelers tight end Vance McDonald still be on the roster come the start of the 2020 NFL league year on March 18?
4 – If forced to predict right now in late February between quarterbacks Devlin Hodges and Paxton Lynch, which one is most likely to be the Steelers No. 3 behind Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph come the start of the 2020 regular season?
5 – Rate the Steelers hiring this past week of Ike Hilliard to be the team’s new wide receivers coach on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being excellent.
Recap of 2020 Valentine’s Day Weekend Friday Night 5 Questions
Question 1: Steelers Depot respondents ended up in the middle on their confidence in the Steelers selecting from Mason Rudolph, Duck Hodges, Paxton Lynch or JT Barrett as Ben Roethlisberger’s back-up quarterbacks. On the 1-10 scale, responses ranged from 0-10. The median response was 5.
Question 2: Depot respondents have varied opinions on the contract Javon Hargrave will sign. The predictions ranged from three to five years for $24-75 million. The lowball prediction of $8 million per year might have him remaining in Pittsburgh. The consensus has Hargrave signing a four-year contract for $54.5 million. If Hargrave does go (he is still on the Steelers offseason roster), I’d like him to get as much money as possible. If he ends up in Baltimore as one outlet predicts, wish he would make $20-25 per year – eat up that cap space!
Question 3: Half of respondents say TJ Watt is the current Steeler other than Ben Roethlisberger with the best chance to eventually make it into the Hall of Fame. Minkah Fitzpatrick, Dave DeCastro, Maurkice Pouncey and Cam Heyward each got two votes. One respondent took a flyer on Tuzar Skipper while another said no current Steelers other than Ben has a chance to make it to the Hall of Fame.
Question 4: We are an optimistic group. 70% of respondents state that they are more confident heading into this offseason than last offseason. Many cited the significant improvement of the defense.
Question 5: Will he stay, or will he go? 55% of respondents predict Tyler “Dirty Red” Matakevich will continue to call Pittsburgh home. Most see him as a special team’s contributor with not a lot of upside as a defensive player. That may dampen demand. Here we go!
