Here are some things that still happened in Pittsburgh sports this week, even as we are still deep into the sports shutdown.
5. LeSean McCoy Returning To Pittsburgh?
McCoy said publicly this week that he feels he has two more years left in him to play in the NFL and then he is looking for that perfect opportunity. He wants to go to a winning team that might be missing that one veteran piece to add a spark to the running back position.
Putting those comments together, it launched speculation on whether the Steelers should sign him. There's arguments to be made on both sides here. One says that McCoy is going into his age 32 season, coming off his worst year as a professional in being essentially a healthy scratch down the stretch for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. The other side says he could provide some needed veteran depth to a running back group that is young and full of injury concerns with James Conner leading the way. Pittsburghers are, of course, very familiar with his work going back to his days at Pitt.
I would still like to see the Steelers go after one of either JK Dobbins from Ohio State or Jonathan Taylor from Wisconsin with their 2nd round pick over signing a guy like McCoy. The problem is, the closer we get to the draft the less likely it looks like either one will be there for them at 49th overall. Once you get past those guys, Cam Akers is intriguing from Florida State, but I'm not sure he would be worth the 2nd round look.
If the money is there and the running back prospect is not, I say why not McCoy? It should be all about building as much around Ben Roethlisberger while he's on the roster and more options in the running game can't hurt. Especially with so much uncertainty still surrounding that throwing elbow, the Steelers may be relying on the run more than they think in 2020.
4. A Shake Up To Steelers Draft Talk
I'm still amazed by this. Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN, one of, if not THE most recognizable figures in NFL Draft coverage said this week that the Steelers could take QB Jalen Hurts with the 2nd round pick. Kiper cited that the Steelers are looking for that heir apparent behind Ben, that Hurts could be similar to Lamar Jackson in Baltimore or Taysom Hill in New Orleans in both running the football and just needed a chance to play to show off his athleticism.
I just can't get on board with this logic. If you already have a limited number of picks this year and there are still holes to be filled, like say an offensive playmaker...or an offensive lineman to protect Ben in his older age...or an edge rusher as a possible Bud Dupree replacement...then why waste your highest pick on a quarterback? One that might not even have a future as a franchise guy in the NFL? To me it makes very little sense and it makes me wonder how much the national analysts and "experts" really think about things beyond their 8 versions of the 1st round mock drafts. I'd say there's about a 0.0001% chance of this actually happening. Aren't mock drafts supposed to predict what's going to take place? We've officially hit the "draft just needs to happen and end this nonsense" portion of the NFL offseason.
3. Heather Lyke Says Pitt Is Financially Safe
Lyke joined The Fan Morning Show Thursday amid all the uncertainty and really unfortunate things going on in college athletics recently. The attention has now turned to whether the college football season is going to start on time or at all with this country-wide shutdown. Lyke said, "I would categorize my expectation as optimistic. I'm relatively an optimistic person. I'm fairly optimistic but I'm not confident. We're taking it day by day."
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She also expressed confidence in the financial state of Pitt's athletic program, saying she doesn't see any significant changes to sports sponsorship on the horizon. These are all calming words from Lyke, as we've seen other schools have to cut funding to some sports and not be able to guarantee scholarships particularly to those spring sports seniors allowed to come back for another year. Lyke said they will honor that extra eligibility because there aren't too many seniors looking to return although she was not favor of that decision made by the NCAA to do so.
It goes to show that everyone is in the dark about the future of sports and seemingly no sport or league is safe from having its season severely altered.
2. Ben Isn't Concerned About Drafting A QB
Roethlisberger joined his old friend and backup Bruce Gradkowski on Sirius XM NFL radio on Thursday and basically said "it is what it is" to the rumors that the Steelers are going to take a QB in the 2nd round this year. Ben took the route that he has in the past, of them being the front office and the decision makers and him being just a guy who plays on the field. He said it doesn't impact him in his ability or desire to return in a big way in 2020.
This is a stark difference in how he reacted just a couple of years ago when the Steelers used a 3rd round pick to select Mason Rudolph, just a round after they took James Washington to help give him some more targets to throw to. He publicly and openly wondered if the Steelers screwed up the pick and said there are plenty of quality players they could drafted in the 3rd round.
I have a hard time believing that two years later, when the pressure is really on to make a run at a Super Bowl before he hangs it up, that he would be just fine with seeing the organization trying to back-fill behind him instead of doing all they could to maximize his final years. But, good on Ben for keeping that all in if that's how he feels. No need to take a stand and create the negative headlines that he did the first time around.
I wonder if Jalen's family has bought their Hurts Steelers jerseys yet...
1. Feed the Need Radiothon A Great Success
This isn't about sports directly of course, but during these times there is a lot more we can do with this platform other than sports. Pittsburgh came through in a humongous way on Tuesday when Entercom Pittsburgh's Feed The Need Radiothon completely obliterated its goal of donating 100,000 meals of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
100,000? Pssh. Try 1,583,295. That's what the city did. That's what you...the listener...the reader...did on Tuesday.
I know it's cliche and can sound corny, but it never ceases to amaze me how Pittsburgh comes together and how it responds to help in times of need. That's something we can all be proud of. That's our identity. It shined on Tuesday.
We truly thank you.