Chris Mack's Eye Opener: Cornerback Shuffle, More Malkin Disrespect, Can't Spell Bail Without AB
Cornerback Shuffle
While the nonsensical ideas of trading for Kirk Cousins and moving on from Najee Harris attempted to grab all the oxygen in Steelers Nation just two weeks out from the Trade Deadline, Omar Khan was making real, actual moves on Tuesday.
The reshuffling of the cornerback deck happening now, ahead of the Rams game, is interesting, if only because L.A. has a trio of wide receivers who could be problematic and the Steelers still haven't committed to actually utilizing their rookie Joey Porter, Jr. the way they should.
It would make sense that this would be a week where Porter is elevated to see a significant number of snaps alongside Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace, given the receiving corps of Cooper Kupp, Puka Necua, and Tutu Atwell could be difficult to contain. Desmond King had potential as a return threat, but also the ability to work all over the secondary.
And therein may lie the attraction to Darius Rush.
Rush is a poor man's Porter. Long, lean, and less "bursty," as NFL Network's Cynthia Frelund pointed out on draft weekend, but with the ability to close on routes late, he's a future outside corner in a Steelers' system that prefers off coverage from their corners. Perhaps that means if he shows something, we're seeing Pat Pete and/or Levi Wallace start to move inside more later in the season as Porter -and maybe Rush, as well- assume outside responsibilities.
Don't sleep on the Rush acquisition, though. He was earmarked as a second day pick by many and slid to the 5th Round. He could be a diamond in the rough.
More Malkin Disrespect
What is ESPN even doing any more?
There are a litany of reasons Disney's previous peak in the world of hockey was a fictional youth hockey team.
Primary among them is they choose to amplify opinions that, for lack of a more eloquent way to put it, suck.
That includes this list of the Top 100 Players in the NHL going into the 2023-24 season that didn't include Evgeni Malkin.
Now, according to the criteria for this list, ESPN "asked a panel of more than 50 broadcasters, analysts, reporters and editors to rate players based on how good they will be in the 2023-24 season."
Who the hell were these 50 people? Did they just go to a Milbury family reunion and call it a day? Did they simply ask Don Cherry on 50 separate occasions?
ESPN has some great hockey people on staff, John Buccigross and Ray Ferraro chief amongst them. Yet they routinely act as if they don't care about the game, up to and including placing games like last Friday's Washington Capitals home opener against the Penguins -possibly one of the last handful of times we may get Crosby/Malkin vs. Ovechkin- on ESPN+ only.
So whether they actually came up with the list themselves or not, they curated it. And there was nothing stopping Greg Wyshinski or anyone else at ESPN.com from including Malkin on the somewhere because they realized the ridiculousness of him not being on the list would rub off on their credibility, or lack thereof.
Keep in mind, this isn't just some rando, washed-up 37-year old dude.
This is one of ten humans in the history of the NHL who's accumulated at least 83 points in a single season after the age of 36. And the other names on that list aren't flukes: Gordie Howe, Teemu Selanne, Jean Ratelle (twice), Johnny Bucyk (three times), Mario Lemieux, Alex Ovechkin, Wayne Gretzky, Joe Sakic, and Alex Delvecchio are Hall of Famers, or in the case of Malkin's countryman Ovechkin, will be.
On the other hand, if they ESPN wants to simply throw up their hands and say "Welp, sorry, but that's just what people around the league think of Malkin!" then I think I'm going to take this for what it is: The kind of continued disrespect for Malkin that should drive him to shove it right back up the league's rear end this season.
Can't Spell Bail Without AB
For the past 24 hours, I debated whether this was even worth including or not, but since it's already made it up on our website, I figure it can't hurt to point out that the downward spiral of Antonio Brown continues.
It's really easy to make fun of Brown and his many missteps and brushes with the law until you stop to realize that some of these things – especially something as selfish as refusing to pay child support – blow back on to innocent kids.
