Kansas City, Missouri.
Houston, Texas
Two vastly different NFL cities, but for the purposes of this narrative they share one key commonality.
Kansas City is home to the Super Bowl Champion Chiefs.
A model franchise in today’s modern NFL, the Chiefs appear poised to repeat.
Houston is home to the 4-12 Texans.
A dysfunctional franchise, the Texans appear poised to spend their offseason dealing with a disgruntled star quarterback.
So what’s the commonality?
In 2017 the Chiefs traded up 17(!) spots from pick 27 with the Buffalo Bills acquiring the 10th overall pick in the draft. The Bills also received the Chiefs 3rd round pick and the Chiefs 1st round pick an 2018. A 2017 3rd and 2018 1st got them the best quarterback on the planet, Pat Mahomes.
Also in 2017, the Houston Texans made a trade. They traded up from pick 25 with the Cleveland Browns for pick 12 giving up only their 2018 1st round pick to do so. A 2018 1st round pick got the Texans a top 4 NFL quarterback in DeShaun Watson.
Kansas City and Houston.
Two cities whose NFL teams made the overwhelmingly correct decision to trade up for their young, athletic, star, franchise quarterbacks.
Two cities with two NFL teams trending in opposite directions, but both can take stock in knowing their decision to trade up was the correct one.
Now, a case can be made for there being a Tale of Two Posters.
There’s the poster that believes Ben still has more good years ahead of him.
These posters thrive on the crutch of excuses always exonerating Ben from any wrong doing putting him up on an infallible pedestal.
“Ben is playing hurt, The OC is terrible (ok I buy that one), the OL is weak, the receivers drop too many balls, Covid ruined our bye week”.
The list of excuses is nauseating and endless and is starting to ruin my own previously positive perceptions of Ben and his legacy.
Then there’s the poster who has seen enough of this narrative (namely me).
The all-in for Ben narrative that has gone on for far too long.
“Keep loading up for Ben!” "More Weapons for Ben!" “bring in Matt Canada’s motion offense for Ben”, “one last hooray for Ben!”
Newsflash.
The Tomlin and Ben narrative is stale. It hasn’t worked in over a decade.
The win a 7th Lombardi with Ben narrative hopefully dies this offseason, whether with that 7th Lombardi securely locked in a closet at Heinz Field or more likely through the realization that Tomlin and Ben failed in their decade long quest.
Either way, the end of an era is upon us.
What happens next?
Hell if I know. I’m a teacher not a prognosticator.
I do know what I want to happen.
First and foremost I want the clinging to Ben by both fans and the Steelers’ organization to stop.
Life will go on without him I know it in my heart.
Yes I have hope.
I have a Tale of Two Cities, A Tale of Two Posters, and now I offer you a Tale of Two Trades, specifically two recent Steelers’ trades.
The first trade was a whiff in my book, but I take solace in the fact that at least an attempt to fortify a position of weakness was made.
Trading with the Broncos for pick 10, the Steelers moved up from pick 20 for a 2nd round pick and a 2020 3rd round pick.
Ouch.
Pretty steep to go up ten spots for what so far has been a disappointing investment in Devin Bush.
Despite his tackling woes, the 2019 trade for Minkah Fitzpatrick is clearly a winner.
So long post short, the Chiefs moved up 17 spots, the Texans 13 spots, and the Steelers 10 spots for players they coveted.
Clearly trading for two of the top three young qbs in football is borderline genius, while trading up for a mediocre middle linebacker is at best questionable.
But what it shows me is the Steelers are willing to try.
If you’re willing to trade up for a middle linebacker you sure as shit are willing to trade up for your next franchise quarterback.
I for one can’t wait 25 years for our next franchise quarterback.
I’ll be pissing in diapers by then.
Bradshaw to Ben to ? Must have some urgency to it and a clear plan of action.
1T) Trey Lance 6’4 226 QB North Dakota St- Bradshaw to Ben to Trey? An uber athletic, rocket armed, ankle breaking, tackle breaking, highly marketable big play artist that perfectly fits my successor criteria. If…BIG If… Trey slides into the teens I’m pulling the trade trigger. The previously mentioned Mahomes deal would be my comparable cost. A 3rd round pick this year and next year’s #1. So ok. Assuming the Steelers aren’t picking 32nd, l think it’s doable. Yes losing next year’s #1 will sting, but look how well the Steelers drafted this year without one. Anyway, Successor secured. Ben plays out the last year of his contract while this raw rookie phenom learns the ropes.
2.) Alex Leatherwood 6’6 310 OT Alabama- Ben’s blindside protected next year. Trey’s blindside protected the next ten years after that.
4.) Kenneth Gainwell 5’11 195 RB Memphis- Big play on a stick right here. Versatile weapon in the Miles Sanders/Aaron Jones vain. While teammate Antonio Gibson was the object of SteelerFury draftniks affections, it was Gainwell that was averaging an incredible 27.3 yards for each one of his 13 touchdowns.
4C) Dynami Brown 6’1 195 WR North Carolina- Can Mac Brown turn around a program or can Mac Brown turn around a program? Dude has now done it TWICE at Chapel Hill. Very impressive to me. So Dynami Brown (presumably no relation to Mac) annoyed me as all college kids do when they opt out of bowl games, but I’ve seen enough to know a home run hitter when I see one. Juju can run his mouth and not back it up on some other teams’ field next year.
6.) Tyreke Smith 6’4 267 EDGE Ohio St- Has that big-time Buckeye recruit pedigree that will certainly appeal to Tom-bert this draft season. He and fellow end Jonathan Cooper showed up big time against Clemson causing chaos and mayhem in the backfield. The Steelers could use some good news on the salary cap front. Keeping Bud Dupree and the defense largely intact would be a boon to this team’s chances of competing in the future, without sacrificing the present.
6C) Michal Menet 6’4 306 OC Penn St- One of the few bright spots in a down year over in Happy Valley. Team Captain type that brings that old school, blue collar work ethic to the OL.
7.) Cordell Volson 6’6 315 OT North Dakota St- More than just a day 3 dart throw at a quality RT prospect. I don’t want Trey Lance to get lonely during his year on the bench.
7C) Matt Bushman 6’5 250 TE BYU- Would’ve been a star playing with stud qb Zach Wison, but alas he blew out his achilles instead.
Thanks as always for reading. Please comment on the players you like and those you don’t. With a little help from the salary cap Gods I really do think it’s possible to trade up for the qb of the future while still competing for Super Bowls in the present player wise anyway. Coaching? That’s another thread. it's been a tale of two seasons for our beloved Steelers. Hopefully they play more like they did the first half of the season and find a way past the Browns. Go Steelers.
