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Brian Batko's Steelers chat: 01.26.26
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Rich
1:47
Why Mr Rooney didn’t have in person interviews with more candidates tells me he had McCarthy pegged from the beginning only going thru the process of the Rooney rule.  What QB is there to develop?  Howard?  Not drafting high enough for a legit QB.  Probably be around 500 again.  What positive is there in this hiring?  No other teams were interested.  Buffalo probably made the most sense.  Thanks.
Brian Batko
1:48
I'll specifically address the timing aspect of Rich's question, because he's not the only one in the chat queue bringing that up. You're right that I don't think there was any rush to hire McCarthy to keep him away from other teams. But I can see the logic in that the sooner you get a coach in place, the sooner you start having high-level discussions about constructing the roster, draft strategy and, maybe the biggest part, building the staff. Assistants are already moving around the league in droves.
Socal jeff
1:49
Now that AR2 has all but said McCarthy was hired to develop the qb of the future, do you think the Steelers should draft Ty Simpson this year to get the hour glass started, or just hope that the next year draft is better? I mean, 2026 was supposed to be loaded with QBs and isn’t. I feel like Steelers should be drafting QBs every year AND starting them to see what they have. Old veterans just delay AR2/Mccarthy mission of developing QB of the future!
Brian Batko
1:50
This might be a hot take, but I'm not convinced Ty Simpson is a better prospect than Will Howard. I'm just not. That's partially my bearish outlook on Simpson and partially a relatively bullish outlook on Howard coming out. Now, the main caveat there is that the Steelers shouldn't care what I think. They should be trusting McCarthy's eye on that talent evaluation for sure. That's a huge reason why they brought him on in the first place.
Jeff M
1:50
Do you really think McCarthy is the QB guru they are making him out to be? Favre and Dak were good before him and Rodgers was good after him. I think having a franchise QB has made his career other than he made franchise QBs. His winning % without on of those 3 is .449.
Brian Batko
1:52
Yeah, that's sort of an unanswerable question, Jeff. To be fair, though, Aaron Rodgers hadn't started a game until 2008, McCarthy's third season. So, technically, he inherited Rodgers but he didn't inherit his NFL success. He was a huge part of that. Dak Prescott had some prolific seasons under McCarthy. But also, the only time Cooper Rush has ever looked like a serviceable NFL QB was when McCarthy was starting him in Dallas. So, that's something.
Farmtastic
1:53
Well that was anticlimactic to say the least. With that being said can we at least wait until we see who the coordinators are before we light the torches?
Brian Batko
1:54
McCarthy made some excellent coordinator hires in both Green Bay and Dallas, for sure. That's a plus.
The Ghost of Noll
1:54
McCarthy is gonna be fine... it's the OC and DC choices that interest me. Scheelhaas? Shula?
Brian Batko
1:55
As I wrote, we have no indication that McCarthy and Scheelhaase have any relationship. That tends to matter in these situations. But to answer your Shula part, he's the DC of the Rams. He's almost certainly not going to make a lateral move somewhere. Coaches generally don't do that in the NFL unless there's some friction between coordinator and HC/front office.
Ben
1:56
hey brian - I really hope that connection to western pa doesn’t become the prevailing criteria to be hired by the Steelers. That’s a Pitt AD move, as they live in fear of anyone successful jumping to a major market. I found your article on McCarthy’s potential staffers of yinzer mediocrity to be as depressing as shoveling for four hours yesterday. Thanks for feeding the beast though!
Brian Batko
1:56
Ben, invest in a snowblower. That's what I used ... until it ran out of gas.
1:57
OK folks, I gotta run. Thanks for stopping by for the first Steelers chat of the Mike McCarthy Era. Talk to you again soon.
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