Wilson Simons Blog Posts

The Steelers traded Broderick Jones and a fourth-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday for a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported, ending a three-year run that started with a trade up and finishes two days before the roster deadline. It isn’t a heist. It’s something more useful than that: real value for a player who was two days from being cut for nothing. The price Consider what Pittsburgh was actually selling. Jones is in the final year of his rookie deal after the Steelers declined his fifth-year option in the spring. He had spinal fusion surgery eight months ago. He’d bounced between left and right tackle all summer, showed up lighter than his listed playing weight, and allowed five pressures and two sacks against the Jets earlier this month. NFL.com’s Kevin Patra had listed him this week as a candidate to be released outright. You don’t usually get a third-round pick for that player. You get a conditional seventh, or you get nothing and eat...

By Wilson Simons The Steelers have until 6 p.m. ET Sunday to get to 53. Thursday's 28-27 loss in Buffalo was the last live evidence anybody's getting, and it moved the needle on more than one bubble. This is a prediction, not a wish list. There's a difference, and it shows up immediately at the top of the depth chart. Quarterbacks (4) Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, Drew Allar I don't think this is the right call. I think it's the call they make. Will Howard looked good enough this summer to make a practice squad, not a 53-man roster. Against the Jets he looked lost. He was better in Buffalo, minus a miscommunication that turned into an interception, but I think we've already seen his peak. Drew Allar was better in every sense of the word — arm, decision-making, poise in a two-minute situation McCarthy openly said he wanted him in. The problem is that the Steelers don't seem to see it that way, and four quarterbacks is where all the reporting has ...

In a week when Steelers fans were looking for something — anything — to feel good about as trade rumors surrounding star cornerback Joey Porter Jr. gathered steam, Pittsburgh gave them very little. The Steelers were shut out by the New York Jets 17-0 at Acrisure Stadium. Will Howard's roster case might be finished Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy gave Howard the start and the entire first half. Two interceptions, both on bad throws, and both avoidable. This was Howard's night to force the Steelers into an uncomfortable decision — to make them carry four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster. There were even reports the team was considering exactly that. After Friday, it is hard to see how he makes it. Howard stared down Roman Wilson on both throws and was read like a magazine. That is not a mechanical issue or a bad-luck deflection. That is a processing problem, and it is the one thing a developmental quarterback cannot afford to put on tape in August. Drew Allar deserves the bene...