DK’s Daily Shot of Steelers: Why not Jefferson?

DK’s Daily Shot of Steelers: Why not Jefferson?

[Music] wide receiver wide receiver wide receiver everybody wants to talk about wide receiver so why doesn’t anyone want to talk about van Jefferson good morning to you good Tuesday morning I’m Deon kovachich of DK Pittsburgh sports and this is daily shot of Steelers it comes your way bright and early every weekday if you’re into hockey Andor base ball I also offer daily shots of penguins and pirates in the same place that you found this if you’re not familiar with Jefferson and there’s a really good chance you’re not because I don’t see hear or read this individual’s name anywhere and that’s not just because he was really tough to find after practices in these summer workouts he’s got a resume that probably out does the rest of the resumés on the roster at least in terms of the longevity or quantity he’s been in 61 NFL games made 35 starts 113 catches 1,600 on the nose yards 10 touchdowns and he’s not that old he’s going to be turning 28 later this year so what’s his major malfunction why does nobody including myself by the way I’m not exempting anything here I I don’t even think about the guy and I probably should at least a little because if you’re looking at that specific depth chart regardless of where it is that they line up on the offense meaning right or left or slot or outside or whatever it probably goes George Pickins and I don’t know Roman Wilson Calvin Austin again depends on how you’re structuring them but it might be Jefferson as far as outside guys and where I stand on this and it’s it’s ambiguous but you always hear me talking about don’t listen to what they say watch what they do well in this case the they are a couple other teams not the Steelers because Jefferson opened up last season with the Rams and pukaa did too guess who suffered for nkua showing up there right exactly they actually didn’t need him at all they sent him to the Falcons you know that team where Arthur Smith was the head coach Smith ends up getting him 12 catches in 12 games and yet somehow that season ends Smith becomes the coordinator in Pittsburgh Smith had to have been involved in any recommendation if not being front and center in such a recommendation to bring Jefferson here the way he’s been with other players notably C Daryl Patterson but we’re only months removed from not just one team not wanting his contributions but from two teams not wanting them and it’s not like there’s some slew of wide receivers in Atlanta to block you so what does this mean I mean they’re all going to tell you and they did by the way that it means nothing uh we’re we the Steelers are going to look at him through our own prism and then more significantly Jefferson show well at least as well as one can in OTAs and mini camp so barring some major Omar Khan move that it feels like all of us are still waiting for Jefferson’s going to get his reps in lro he’s going to get his opportunity to be part of a starting offense I happen to believe he’s not going to be blocked here again barring that big move but you know there’s also a part of me that doesn’t foresee anyone at that specific position getting a ton of action regardless if you go back to Smith’s offense in Atlanta the catching totals were along the lines of two tight ends way at the top a third guy who was a wide receiver like somewhere at a level below that but still miles above everybody else I can’t know right now to what degree that can be adjusted I can’t know right now what kind of formations he’s going to put onto the field what I can and do know is that Pat fruth’s a happiest guy on the planet right now and that there’s cause for that because he has been told and he has been deployed as such that he’s going to be the guy getting a ton of targets he’s going to be the guy that the Steelers feed a lot and if he’s used in that role whether it’s over the middle or actually in these summer sessions he was to his credit effective all over I saw frith running routes that I hadn’t seen since his Penn State film and if that’s the case and you keep George Pickin as the Deep threat as the splash guy and then you have somebody else in the slot well whether it’s Wilson or Austin it’s entirely plausible that the other wide receiver position won’t even exist which then begs the question is Jefferson a sufficient replacement for Pickins if Pickins gets hurt now we’re starting to go off the deep end here with this subject this is why I don’t bring him up okay it’s not out of disrespect and it’s not because he was incredibly hard to find to interview this summer it’s because I just I I’m not buying this okay when we come back J1 Q this segment of daily shot is brought to you by our good friends at Mike’s beer bar they’re located on Federal Street directly across from PNC Park Mike has more than 500 beers on to including from more than 50 local breweries stop in and say hello tell Mike we sent you Mike’s beer bar [Music] today’s j1q comes from James but it’s far from the only one that was sent this way on the subject from yesterday of whether or not Nick herig is already being buried or not being buried or was buried last year whichever stance anyone would happen to take on that there were strong feelings expressed most of the those basically saying just figure it out get him on the field more and then from there the expected comparison points between herbig and the 2023 version of Alex heith with people coming in on both sides of that too some people really liked what they saw of heith and felt that he was underappreciated despite having only seven sacks James says if the Steelers didn’t see or care about Mason Rudolph’s abilities blind eye syndrome could it be the same with herbig and the funny thing is James wasn’t the only one to bring this up like I was not expecting Rudolph to show up in this debate in any form but he did several times and I no no every time I’ve mentioned the Steelers obviously poor evaluations of Rudolph I’ve referenced the quarterback position specifically what I have been told by people on the inside is that they whiffed on the quarterback because they weren’t used to having to analyze quarterbacks specifically Mike Tomlin didn’t have to do that for the better part of two decades now tomlins had his share of whiffs at Edge rusher Jason world was put on to the wrong side acknowledged to everybody that he was on a side that wasn’t all that comfortable for him got absolutely nothing done then they moved him to the other side and woohoo there he went something similar though not anywhere near as pronounced happened with Bud Dupri and let’s not even bother to rewind the clock to Jarvis Jones who never should have lined up opposite in NFL tackle not at his stature great dude one of my favorites to come along in that locker room but my goodness no it didn’t take a degree in football Aly to see that he was undersized for his position at this level and at the same time I mean I’d like to think that the organization and the head coach is involved in this that identifi TJ watt when he’d spent most of his college career on the other side of the ball they probably know what they’re doing I could say the same for heith performing as he did at a small college program in Charlotte full credit so no I don’t think it’s that they don’t see what hering’s doing he’s kind of hard to miss you know he gets a handful of snaps a game and he’s coming up with a forced fumble or a sack or both but I do know for a fact that they believe deeply in heith they value things that heith does that they feel and maybe correctly that the rest of us don’t appreciate as much as they do let’s remember that he was identified very quickly and very emphatically as an extension candidate after that 14 sack season but not because of that and they seldom even brought that up it was about everything else that he offered not least of which is his durability the snaps that he can handle how he holds up in those snaps and until you see herig out there for 17 games and 6570 snaps a game you’re not going to have a great answer neither will I for this comparison but I’m with you man I i’ I’d love to find out I’d love to find a way to get him out of the field I just can’t think of anything I couldn’t think of anything yesterday I can’t think of anything today I appreciate the question I appreciate everybody listening to daily shot of Nick herbing we’re going to do another one of these tomorrow

Why does no one ever mention Van Jefferson?

#HereWeGo #Pittsburgh #Steelers

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