First Call: Steelers 2021 draft pick, more Tom Brady rules debates, smelly Penguin
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Wednesday’s “First Call” is actually “Last Call” for the week. After plowing through the NFL Draft last weekend, “Breakfast With Benz” is closing the kitchen until Monday.
So we go out by making Steelers fans angry over yet another rules debate surrounding Tom Brady. A new Steeler makes his grandmother Twitter-famous. We are already looking at the 2021 draft.
And we answer a very important, pressing question: Which Pittsburgh Penguin smells the worst?
What?! Already?!
Just for giggles, Bleacher Report puts out a mock draft for the next year immediately after draft weekend ends.
The draft ranking is based entirely on Super Bowl odds for the upcoming season, so there is a lot of similarity to the order from the previous year.
In this experiment, the Steelers draft 21st and take Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain II.
Because we didn’t feel old enough hearing the name “Michael Pittman Jr.” this year, right?
Yes, Surtain’s dad — Patrick Sr. — was an 11-year pro with the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs. He was a defensive back and All Pro who had been a second-round pick out of Southern Mississippi.
The notion of the Steelers taking a corner next year isn’t crazy. Mike Hilton will be a free agent. So will Cam Sutton. Steven Nelson will make $14 million against the cap unless his deal is restructured. Joe Haden will be 32 years old and his hit will be more than $15 million.
And Justin Layne has rarely played, so we have no idea what he is going to do.
So, yeah. A 2021 draft may be a silly concept. But a corner is not a silly idea for the Steelers.
Sound familiar?
For Steelers fans who thought that Tom Brady got away with everything when he was with the Patriots, apparently that wasn’t limited to his time in New England.
It turns out the NFL doesn’t think Brady did anything wrong by visiting Byron Leftwich’s home in Florida, even though players and coaches weren’t supposed to have contact until the offseason programs started.
Leftwich is the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady’s new team.
But according to ProFootballTalk.com, the league told them that no violation occurred, since “it was a brief personal visit and Tom picked up the playbook.”
As writer Mike Florio points out, that’s an awfully unconvincing explanation for the rest of the teams to accept.
“The inquiry may not have included meaningful follow-up questions, like this one: ‘Why did you need to go pick up the playbook when the playbook is on an iPad and they could have just sent it to your house?’
“Or this one: ‘Why did you have duffel bags and what was in them?’”
The whole debate got started with a funny situation. Brady entered the wrong house with some duffel bags and put them down on the floor, failing to realize he was not in Leftwich’s house. He had wandered into the wrong home.
TMZ.com got a hold of the story, and it went public.
At first, it was funny. Honestly, it still is.
But as Florio points out, some teams are still understandably ticked off.
Olli Olfactory
The NHL Twitter feed put out this Q&A of players.
The question: “Who has the smelliest equipment on your team?”
Sidney Crosby sold out a former teammate, Olli Maatta.
Who has the smelliest equipment in the League? ?
The players dish on their teammates. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/xby2HCOOK8
— NHL (@NHL) April 28, 2020
Oh, Olli!
That’s a stunner. I’m with Alex Ovechkin on this one. Shouldn’t all the goalies win for every team?!
Oh, what could’ve been
A lot of Pittsburgh folks were hoping that the Steelers would draft Oregon guard Shane Lemieux if they went with an offensive lineman in the middle rounds during last weekend’s draft.
David DeCastro probably wouldn’t have given up #66. But this Lemieux wore #68 with the Ducks anyway.
Eh, close enough, right?
Still, another Lemieux in Pittsburgh? Why not?! The first one worked out pretty well.
Instead, the Steelers opted for Louisiana guard Kevin Dotson. And Lemieux wound up with the New York Giants.
Ironically, he might get moved to center.
As it turns out, the hockey connection wouldn’t have been lost on Lemieux had he come to Pittsburgh.
A football player named Lemieux?
Says Shane: "I had a left tackle in college named Tyrell Crosby. So it was Crosby and Lemieux. People had a fit with that."
He said he's not related to any of the NHL-famous Lemieuxs. "I’ve never met a Lemieux who played hockey," he said.
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RVacchianoSNY) April 28, 2020
Well, maybe he would’ve met Mario here.
Although most of the comments from New York fans about the name “Lemieux” seem to be tied to Claude or Brendan.
Ick!
Well, I guess all sports and politics are local, right?
You go, Granny!
One of the enjoyable aspects of this past weekend’s draft was seeing all the fun reactions of family members when their loved ones were selected.
Add the grandmother of new Steeler Alex Highsmith to the list.
This is her celebration after the linebacker from Charlotte was selected in the third round.
This is how a 92 year old grandma celebrates her grandson @highsmith34 getting drafted by the @steelers #NFLDraft2020 Can you say #ESPNTop10 pic.twitter.com/F2sQUBmuCV
— Sam Highsmith (@UNCSteelersDad) April 27, 2020
I think it’s fair to ask Highsmith to do exactly the same dance if he ever scores a defensive touchdown, don’t you?