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Hopkins is a wear his thoughts on his sleeve type of guy. He's uncharacteristically honest. Marches to the beat of his own drum. He didn't say anything everyone else hasn't already thought or is thinking after watching Burks the past couple seasons. Just wild to hear him say it. Maybe he's trying to light a fire under the kid? Either way, this is the exact reason I see close to a zero chance Hopkins is moved. They Drafted Burks to be AJ Brown's replacement. Year 1, he puts up 444 yards and 1 TD as a starter. They realized he wasn't ready, so they went out and got Hopkins - hoping he'd grow with someone else taking coverage away. And Year 2 for Burks with Hopkins? He puts up 221 yards and 0 TD's. Yikes! Realizing they're absolutely nowhere with him and he absolutely cannot be a Starter again this year, they sign Calvin Ridley to a big contract to replace him. They sign Tyler Boyd to be their Slot. Now they have a Top 5-10 WR core in the league for Levis with Hopkins and Ridley Outside and Boyd Inside. Burks is busting harder than any WR in recent memory to the point that he's being publicly called out by teammates. And people think they're going to trade away Hopkins and put him back in the Starting Lineup? No way. Either they keep Burks and hope he develops as a late bloomer in a reserve role or they get rid of him. Hopkins isn't going anywhere.

This is the disconnect for me. It's one thing to say "I think he should make a trade". Or have hope that he does. It's the definitive expectation that he will and claiming that a trade is "Beane's plan all along", that I disagree. You condemn other posters for thinking they know how Beane operates (based on historical evidence, no less)... and then claim to know how Beane is going to operate. I think the plan was to specifically NOT have a high priced, big star WR with a "just give me the damn ball" attitide that Josh feels he needs to force it to or they're going to get upset. To not have 1 WR specifically that the Defense wants to take away. He spoke of wanting to create a room where week to week, the #1 could be interchangable. These are things, some of which, he said directly on the Chris Long Podcast: I believe this year, he looks at the guys that the Offense was run through down stretch (Dalton Kincaid, Khalil Shakir, James Cook) as potentially still the top guys. It's about evaluating their progressions in Years 2 and 3 and seeing if they take a step forwards. He wants to see what Keon Coleman looks like as a Rookie and what Curtis Samuel brings - both long term investments. If any of those guys (Kincaid, Coleman, Shakir, Samuel) step up to be a #1 Guy, than there's no need for a big name guy next year and wouldn't have been a need for one this year. So I don't see them investing in one before then, the earliest being mid season if it isn't working out or there's injuries. To do so now would be to limit reps on guys that he's evaluating as possibly being "the guy". And ultimately, it boils down to what we lost and what he's done already. We lost 4 guys this offseason. We brought in 5 guys this offseason. And that doesn't even count 2023 Draft Pick Justin Shorter coming off his redshirt Rookie year, Futures, and UDFA additions. We lost Deonte Harty. He was replaced (greatly) by Curtis Samuel. We lost Trent Sherfield. He was replaced by Mack Hollins. Going into the Draft, we needed replacements for Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. They spent their first pick on Keon Coleman to replace one. Post Draft, the question I had was "does Keon Coleman replace Stef or Gabe?". If he replaces Gabe, we'd probably do something bigger. If he replaces Stefon, we'll probably sign a FA like MVS or Michael Thomas. Then we signed MVS and Beane called Coleman "The X" on the Podcast. Question answered, WR core finalized. To bring in a 6th roster worthy WR this offseason just seems unrealistic. There's 5 guys who are locked in already and we only carried 5 last season. As it is, guys like Claypool and Shorter are on the outside looking in. He's not Would I be opposed? No. But to say you expect it and it's "the plan"? I think you're definitely setting yourself up for disappointment.

If they weren't going to give him another legitimate shot or had visions of him starting the year lower than DE3 - they would have a.) just outright cut him with a Post 6/1 designation and b.) Would have gotten a bigger chess piece at DE in Free Agency or the Draft by now. Beane believes that like Tre White before him - he needs a full year removed from the injury and a full offseason of Training Camp and Pre-Season and we'll see some improvement. He also spoke of thinking he may have rushed him back too soon. Will Von return to pre-injury form? That's a big if. But can he be at least a decent DE3? They're banking on it, both figuratively and literally.

Lawson's been replaced with Dawuane Smoot, who through production and experience is an upgrade from him. As such, he cost us more. We gave Shaq about a million. Smoot is being paid 2.5 with just about 2 guaranteed. He's someone I see etched in pen as the 4th or 5th DE. He's also who I expect Beane to have decided is the DE addition everyone expected. I think he evaluated what's left and decided that was his guy from that (gross) group, for what he was looking for and what he was looking to pay. As I said, we're going to keep 5. Groot, Von, and AJ are clearly the top 3 guys. He's not paying Von or AJ what he's paying them for either to be the 4th DE in the rotation. If he didn't feel AJ could step up and be the guy to replace Von in the event he can't go - he wouldn't have brought him back and paid him what he paid him. Solomon was a steal in the 5th. We don't outright cut players we Drafted before Round 6. He'll be here. And that's your 5 guys right there - Groot, Von, Epenesa, Smoot, Solomon. If he wanted someone from your list, he wouldn't have signed Smoot or given him anything guaranteed. As it is, we'll be cutting Toohill and Jonathan. I don't see a 5th DE move this offseason that would see him moving on from 2 of the 5 guys he'd have acquired - especially when one has some guaranteed money (we've moved on from a guaranteed money FA only once in OJ Howard), the other is a Draft Pick above Round 6 or 7, and the list of guys left aren't much of an upgrade, if any at all, beside having a more known name.

When it comes to Defensive End, it feels a lot like WR for me. People don't like the choices he made and want more, but that doesn't change the fact that he made the moves he made and those guys aren't going anywhere. They aren't paying what they're paying Von and AJ what they are for either to be anything less than DE3. If they felt AJ couldn't be DE3 or possibly start in the event Von doesn't bounce back, they wouldn't have brought him back and at the number they did. They'd have picked someone else. They've re-signed Epenesa, signed Dawuane Smoot (to a couple mil guaranteed) and Casey Toohill, and Drafted Javon Solomon. Groot, Von, and Epenesa are obviously safe and I don't see Javon Solomon (being a 5th Round Pick and a steal there, honestly) and Dawuane Smoot going anywhere either. We'll only keep 5 and there's 5 right there. As it is, Casey Toohill and Kingsley Jonathan are going to be cut. I don't see us making a 5th Defensive End move this offseason, post 6/1, and honestly - the market is pretty much bare at this point anyways. Emmanuel Ogbah, Yannick Ngakoue, or Carl Lawson? Pass.

I've said it a couple times, but the only move I'm expecting is another perimeter Cornerback. We lost Tre White, Dane Jackson, and Siran Neal. We replaced White with Douglas last year. We replaced Neal with Daequan Hardy. But we never replaced Dane Jackson. And with how often Christian Benford is hurt and Elam still being a relative unknown to count on - I don't see us rolling with Ja'Marcus Ingram or a UDFA to replace Jackson on the 53. There is still a pretty deep pool of FA CB's left. I wouldn't expect a Xavien Howard, J.C. Jackson, Adoree Jackson, or Stephon Gilmore type would sign on for that role on the team - nor would I expect we'd tell Douglas or Benford to take a seat for one of them. But something like a Steven Nelson is something I could see.

His track record of moves and the fact that he's never done that (restructuring someone more than once in the same off season) in the 8 years and countless deals he's done as GM isn't "just because". It goes to how he operates and this isn't his normal operating procedure. As for the Metcalf contract, here's an in depth look. The cap room we would need to make it happen Post 6/1 is 13m. We would not have enough after doing the two moves left we could theoretically do (Oliver and Milano restructures), factoring in our other expenses: https://steelersdepot.com/2024/05/evaluating-dk-metcalfs-contract-situation-with-seahawks/ Overtures on Draft Day were rebuffed. I don't believe he's available. It'd be great to have him. But why would they move him at this point? They aren't tanking. Why would they now, Post Draft, and Post the WR FA market being picked through - choose to trade away one of their best players with no way of replacing him? I fall in with the poster above me. Would it be great? Yes. But the stance of expecting it like you seem to or even thinking it's even so much as a 50/50 shot - I just don't see it.

Diggs' cap hit is a case in point to you saying "we don't take on cap in a trade". And it's just the Base salary. If that's the case, why would Diggs have a cap hit for the Texans at all? And yes, they were able to get it down to 6m - after a massive restructure. But they had to take it as is first BEFORE they could get it down to 6m. Initially, when they did the trade, even after everything we took on - the hit for the Texans was still 19m at the time of the trade. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/houston-texans/news/texans-salary-cap-stefon-diggs-trade/27b6c055d87953adfa5c01cb And therein lies the problem. We have to be able to take on one of these WR's cap hit and the full terms of their current contract from the team we're trading with AS IS for the trade to be approved by the league. We can't say "well, we don't have it now but once the deal goes through, we'll make it work". We either have the money to take on the cap hit as is and the trade goes through or we don't and the trade doesn't go through. Before the Offseason started, there was a long list of measures we could do as far as releases, extensions, and restructures to get out from under the massive hole we were in. Since then, we have done every single one on the list, save for two - a restructure of Oliver and a restructure of Milano. So let's do some accounting.... After the signings of MVS and Dee Delaney and the release of Quintez Cephus, we're at about, we'll say, 1.75m under. Add in the 10.25 from Tre - that brings us to roughly 12. A restructure of Oliver can save us 3.9m and a restructure of Milano can bring us another 2.4m. That gives us around 18.3. That's the highest amount I see us possibly reaching. BUT! Even if we do those two moves and don't spend a dime on anyone else - which I don't see happening as we never replaced Dane Jackson and we're currently going into the season with just Elam (still a massive question mark) and UDFA/PS players underneath the oft-injured Benford and Douglas - there's still a number of things we have no choice but to account for.... We haven't signed our Draft Picks. We have to be able to pay for the Practice Squad. And we need some money for the In Season Spending Pool. So from that possible 18.3 or so, you need to subtract around 8. And this is something that there's no way around. That leaves us with roughly around 10-10.5, give or take - if we were to restructure Milano and Oliver and sign no one else. Now - let's look at the cap hits for the guys : Deebo Samuel - 28.83m DK Metcalf - 24.5m Davante Adams - 24.35m Tee Higgins - 21.816m Brandon Aiyuk - 14.124m You see the problem here, right? Even if the cap number comes down a little bit on most of these guys through a trade - it's not coming down to 10. The money simply isn't there and the means to come up with it has all been done already. It would take radical moves like re-structuring Josh again - which I don't see happening, he's never restructured someone twice in the same offseason and if he felt comfortable taking more from Josh, he would have done it then. He'd also have to restructure moves he just did, which he's also never done, and I just don't see him doing. *Maybe* Aiyuk could be done. Maybe there's a way that through the trade, his cap number would come down to around the 10 number we'd have. But, again, it would take re-structuring both Oliver and Milano - which he chose not to do when he was doing ALL the things he could to scrape up money and not signing anyone else at other positions. There is never a literally 0% chance of anything. But it not being a 0% chance doesn't make it likely or logically feasible. And people pointing out the flaws in the likelihood of it happening doesn't mean these same people think we're in amazing shape or that these WR's you're mentioning wouldn't help or wouldn't be great to have. I would be thrilled to land one of these guys. I wish we were in a scenario where I could say "yeah, I see that happening". It's just when you really look at the scenarios of what it would take, what we could feasibly/realistically do, and what we've done already - it adds up to an *incredibly* unlikely scenario at this point. And that's where the disconnect is between you and the majority of posters on this thread. After Drafting Keon Coleman and signing Curtis Samuel, MVS, Mack Hollins, and Chase Claypool already - it seems even more unlikely that they'd add yet *another* WR, at this point. This one the most expensive of them all, after everything he's done already. Had we not acquired one or two of these WR's and not signed some of the people we had before, it'd be a more manageable situation right now. But those deals are done and they aren't just going to be ignored or thrown away. We only kept 5 WR's total last season. And we've got 5 guys already that aren't going anywhere. There's a reason they signed MVS, after Drafting Coleman and signing Samuel and Hollins. And to me, it's because he recognizes he just can't feasibly or responsibly pull something like what you're suggesting off - comfortable enough to his management of the team.

Agreed. This is the only spot I look at on the roster that I see Beane addressing. As I said before, Douglas replaced White and Hardy replaced Neal - but there was no replacement signed or Drafted that replaces Dane Jackson. Benford ability wise and performance wise *is* a solid oak and gets better each year. The issue is he gets injured fairly often. And beyond Benford and Douglas - it's just Elam and then Practice Squad and UDFA players. There is quite a number of decent CB's still available. I don't see us paying big for a guy like Xavien Howard, J.C. Jackson, or Stephen Gilmore - but a guy like Steven Nelson makes sense.

There's a sliding scale for the cost of Draft Day Trades depending on the talent pool available. The 2022 Draft was not a great Draft. So prices were cheaper. There's also a far cry difference between trading 32, 34, and 66 for 12 and 46 and trading 33, 60, and 95 for 9 - even if that wasn't a great trade to begin with. Which is what the trade would have to be because your idea of giving 28 and giving up Bishop and Carter isn't possible. We were only able to get Carter because we traded down from 28. With 28, the best we could have offered to go along with it was 60 and a 4th. The Bears weren't giving up Odunze, even in this "what if" scenario. They ran that card up to the podium like their shoes were on fire.

I disagree with this. Like you said, if they felt Thomas was much better, they could have easily moved up and gotten him. If Beane is to be believed, he didn't even try to move up. And if guys like Worthy and Legette were people they wanted more than Coleman - they wouldn't have traded out of 28 and 32. Especially to teams they knew were taking a WR. I agree they had a number of guys they liked an equal amount, which is why they moved down twice. But I don't believe for a second that Coleman "was not a guy they really wanted to had to have". I didn't get that feeling watching the interview and I certainly didn't get that feeling with the moves he made. You're projecting your dislike of the pick here.

This is correct. And of those 20-something% of snaps that weren't lined up at Slot, more than half came out of the Backfield. He is NOT a Boundary WR. Which is why we Drafted Keon Coleman, ignored slot WR's in the Draft, and then signed MVS and Claypool.

Samuel, Coleman, Kincaid, Shakir, Cook, MVS Is there a Top 10 veteran WR in there? No. But 22 teams in the NFL don't have one of those. And while we don't have a Top 10 guy, we have a wide spread of talented players in the Offensive firepower core that spreads larger than most teams. If you take the production (or lackthereof) from Diggs and Davis into account from mid season until the end - it's quite possible, if not likely, we're going to get more out of the additions of Coleman, Samuel, and MVS than we did them, even if they don't have the name Star power. You also shouldn't forget about Kincaid. He's a Tight End almost as much as Von Miller is a LB. He lines up standing off the line 90% of the time as a WR. True, it's inside. And on the Outside, we're hoping we nailed the Coleman pick and he's that guy. But many teams #1 options come from Inside. And in Kincaid and Shakir, they want to give them more than they did last year and see if they grow more. Add in Samuel, also on the Inside, out of the Backfield, in motion, and occasionally Outside - and you've got as deep of an Inside WR talent roster as anyone. Ultimately, do I wish we had more on the Outside than Coleman, MVS, and Hollins? Yes. But we simply don't have the means to do it. The cost is too great. You DO take on the Cap Hit of a traded player (case in point, even after restructuring and massaging Diggs' deal, he still accounts for a 6m cap hit in Houston), you just don't take on the bonus money or dead cap - which lowers it a bit. But of the guys you want (that actually may be available), the cap hit's are SO massive. We have to take on the full hit before we can restructure it. And we simply can't after everything we've already done and the limited amount of moves we have left. Which is why we did what we did. We lost 4 WR's. We brought in 5. We drafted Keon Coleman and signed Curtis Samuel, MVS, Mack Hollins, and Chase Claypool. Coleman, Shakir, Samuel, MVS, and Hollins are locked in. As it is, Shorter, Claypool, Hamler, and the rest of the field are all going to be cut - save for one. This year is about evaluating Coleman, Shakir, and Kincaid in their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years and seeing what our long term investment into Samuel yields with Josh. Adding someone else to this field pushes some of these guys down to where reps are extremely limited. And you could be burying a Superstar. Next year's crop of FA WR's is strong and we have even more Draft Capital than we did last year. They'll see where they're at with these guys now. If they're all truly HIM, we won't do much else next year. And if they aren't who Beane thinks they are, they'll get a stud next year. Denial is a good way to put your posts past the MVS signing. Would it be great to have one of those guys? Of course. But that ship sailed long before the MVS signing - which is why the MVS signing happened.

I've said this a few times already, but Hamler is an extreme long shot. I see him as a guy who either shows a little something and his ceiling is the Practice Squad or he shows poorly and is outright cut. He's this year's Andy Isabella. A 2nd Round bust who failed to impress in his 2nd chance in Indianapolis. He's on his 3rd team in less than a year. Regardless of how he looks playing with Trubisky and Buechele in the 3rd and 4th Quarters of Pre-Season games, it's not going to matter - as it didn't for Isabella. Because we know if we release him, the 3rd team to do so in a year, he's not going to be put immediately on someone elses 53 to start the season. Every year, fans play the "there's no way we can get (so and so) back" and every year we do. As for who sticks - Keon Coleman Curtis Samuel Khalil Shakir Marquez Valdes-Scantling Mack Hollins Justin Shorter or Chase Claypool

It won't be Toohill, it will be Smoot. I feel like most people on this board didn't notice his signing, as it came at the same time as Chase Claypool and Deion Jones. He's a much more productive and solid player than Toohill and signed for more money, including some guaranteed money (as opposed to Toohill) and a void year added.

Drafting Javon Solomon and signing Dawuane Smoot to some guaranteed money Post Draft, after re-signing AJ Epenesa and signing Casey Toohill - I don't see it. We lost two guys and brought in 3 already, after retaining Epenesa. I don't see us keeping more than 5 DE's. Groot, Miller, and Epenesa (who got a pay raise, denoting a larger role) are 100% safe. Floyd was only brought in bc of Von being in the shape he was last season. With Miller having a full year and a full offseason away from the injury and Epenesa having taken a step forward (and being paid for it) - they feel they've got the side opposite Groot covered. I don't see Solomon getting cut where he was Drafted (and he was underdrafted where we took him). And I don't see Smoot being cut either, as his 2.5m contract with 1.75m guaranteed (with a void year added) is more than we usually pay for the 4th or 5th DE - so there's your 5. Smoot and Solomon will replace Epenesa and Shaq's roles last year. As it is, guys like Toohill and Jonathan are on the outside looking in. The one spot I see us adding to is Cornerback. Douglas replaced White and Hardy replaces Neal. But we've done nothing to replace Dane Jackson on the Outside. And with Benford being hurt a lot and Elam still a massive question mark, I don't see us rolling with just Ja'Marcus Ingram or a UDFA beyond them to replace Dane's spot on the 53.

Another thread about Troy Franklin and bemoaning us only taking Coleman in the Draft. Yay! If their talent were "undeniable" - Mitchell wouldn't have lasted until 52 and Troy Franklin all the way until Round 4. Character flaws or not. And the league has been littered with incredibly talented college prospects that flamed out because their head wasn't screwed on straight. Troy Franklin had as bad of a Pre-Draft process as I've ever seen. I don't think we need to get into the abysmal Combine - that he strangely decided to stick to at his Pro Day. But then he absolutely BOMBED when it came to meeting with teams as well. Reportedly leading them to believe he only played Football as a means to get money and didn't really seem to care for the game. Beyond that, although you seem to deny it, I saw a lot of flaws in his game tapes beyond the highlights. EVERY team in the league passed on him multiple times. Some teams 4 times or more. He simply was NOT the prospect you thought he was. AD Mitchell bombed the interviews even worse. Reportedly he seemed downright annoyed by the whole interview process and like he didn't even want to be there. Combined with his tape of taking off plays where the ball wasn't going his way and the reports of how he treats (or doesn't treat) his diabetes, how he acts when his blood sugar is low, and that you'd pretty much have to babysit him, against his wishes - I'd say the character concerns were extremely valid and explains his falling. College game tape isn't the be all, end all. Talent means nothing if you don't have your head screwed on straight. And there was a lot of things that led teams to think both had big time bust potential. In which case, you've given Josh nothing - as opposed to the idea around here that these guys were "can't miss" talents that immediately help him.

Yeah, there's definitely no difference between an Olympic Gold Medal Winning, 2 Time NCAA Heavyweight National Champion Wrestler, to literally any Bills fan 🙄

I don't see him as an Edge. His natural gifts are more suited for Defensive Tackle. Which is why 265 is a little light. But it wouldn't take much to put a little on for 3 Tech.

It's incredibly intriguing. He'd have to dedicate himself to the game and the nuances of the position and would undoubtedly be a multi-year project. But as you said, Wrestling translates well into Football, especially Defensive Tackle. And this isn't just *some* wrestler - this is THE Heavyweight Wrestler in the United States - maybe the world. The NFL, UFC, and WWE all came calling for him with no experience in any form of either. That speaks to the kind of athlete he is. These kind of projects rarely yield success. But if we're going to try one, Steveson is the kind of Premier athlete I'd take a chance on. He wasn't signed by us. It was just a Rookie Minicamp tryout. LB Joe Andreeseen from UB was the only player from the tryouts to get a contract.

I'd think Defensive Tackle. He looks to have the body for it. Probably put on a few more pounds. Obviously, being a Gold Medalist Heavyweight, he's incredibly athletic. He's also SURPRISINGLY agile.

They didn't sign him. They just brought him in for a look and a tryout in Rookie Minicamp.

Yeah, I think he just didn't have the charisma and showmanship to translate like they wanted. And when you have the same credentials and took the same route as Kurt Angle, you're always going to be compared to that. And he just couldn't hold a candle to Angle, who was INCREDIBLY entertaining.

McDermott: You know Gable, I wrestled in High School and College. Steveson: Oh yeah? That's cool. I was a 2-Time Heavyweight Champion of the entire NCAA and transferred that into a Gold Medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. How'd you do? McDermott: I, uh..... I like Wrestling. Steveson: Yeah, I hear you like your Football players with a Wrestling background and try them out on the mat. Want to roll around a bit? McDermott: You know... I would. But my back is really acting up today. Steveson: Some other time then? McDermott: Yeah...

The Eagles were able to turn one of these type of guys into a high end Left Tackle for them. Personally, I think it's progressive and smart to look at pure athletes from other sports transitioning to Football. There's no risk and you never know what you'll find. Smart teams leave no stone unturned.