Thursday’s “First Call” tells us about the prospect of the quarterback who drew the senior Pittsburgh Steelers to his professional day. We found out which team might be preparing to bid on the Steelers’ tackle for Chuks Okorafor. One report indicates that the Steelers monitor the safety market in the free agency.
And we find out when Marc-Andre Fleury is supposed to make his debut with his new team.
Priority track
Mike Tomlin was the Steelers coach at the University of Mississippi Pro Day on Wednesday. He was joined by General Manager Kevin Colbert, Professional Scouting Coordinator Brandon Hunt, Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada and Players Coordinator Dan Rooney Jr.
That’s because Ole Miss quarterback Matt Coral was working for professional scouts. He is one of several midfield candidates who could participate in the first round of the draft. Coral was injured in the Sugar Bowl against Baylor this year, resulting in an ankle injury. That was limiting his unofficial participation in the NFL Combine. The 6-foot-1, 212-pound debutante also did not participate in Senior Powell. As a result, his exercise attracted a lot of attention.
Matt Coral (6’1 1/2, 215 pounds) will be throwing a professional day in an hour.
Panthers (Scott Fetterer, Matt Reyle), Falcons (Terry Fontenot, Arthur Smith) Steelers (Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert) are among the teams in need in QB here. Titans OC Todd Downing and Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy are here too. https://t.co/kJW63bmmR7
– Cameron Wolfe March 23, 2022
Attending the rehearsal in Oxford meant the Steelers’ brass senior members were not in Columbus on Ohio State Pro Day. It is usually a goal-rich environment for decision makers.
mentioned 100 NFL representatives There were 11 viewing opportunities to participate. Two of them were receivers Garrett Wilson and Chris Olaf. They might be of interest to any Steelers scout.
Colbert and Tomlin have been staples at the event in years past.
Alcohol market?
Many wondered if the Steelers were primarily competing for the Chox Okuravour.
The organization decided to keep the right kickoff for three years and the amount of $29.25 million. That price seemed surprisingly high since there were not many names associated with Okorafor in the bidding process.
Now one has appeared. According to Jeremy Fowler, ESPN.comOkorafor Chicago Bears, wanted. But not at this price.
“Overall, Chicago took a prudent approach to Ryan Bowles’ first free agency as director of Bears,” Fowler said Wednesday. “The team identified several players as well-suited but not worthy of the bidding war. One example of this is Chukwuma Okorafor’s right tackle. He would have been a bear, but not at three years old and $29.25 million, which Pittsburgh was willing to pay to re-sign it.
Okorafor’s $4.33 million cap figure is the largest of any attacking lineman on the team.
Hurt
As Fowler pointed out, Steelers are in the market for safety.
Many have associated the franchise with former Pro Bowler Tyrann “Honey Badger” Mathieu. But Fowler downplayed this angle. Instead, he cited the possibility of a return to free agency Terrell Edmonds this season after four years starting with the team.
Another name to consider is Damontae Kazee from Dallas. “He is known as a ball hawk who can play several positions. The Steelers have been on their radar,” Fowler said.
Having another potential starting safety alongside Minkah Fitzpatrick would be great so the Steelers can pay attention to other areas of need in the draft such as wide receiver, handling, defensive line, linebacker and linebacker.
That is if they decide to wait a year on their quarterback and see how Mitch Trubesky recently positioned themselves in the position.
first flower game
The Minnesota Wild plays Thursday night against the Vancouver Canucks. But former Penguin goalkeeper Marc-Andre Fleury wasn’t supposed to start.
Fleury recently earned Wild from the Chicago Blackhawks, and Fleury is not expected to make his debut for his new team until Saturday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
This is according to coach Dean Evason via Star-Tribune’s Sarah McClellan.
# my Lord Coach Dean Evason said Florey came home and was told by the team to settle down and be back for Thursday’s game against Vancouver. Talbot will start against # kanksAnd Evason said Fleury will likely play on Saturday.
— Sarah McClellan (@sarah__mclellan) March 23, 2022
Cam Talbot will start against the Canucks. He just threw a 3-0 closeout against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.
Tim Benz is a Tribune Review writer. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets can be reposted. All emails are subject to posting unless otherwise stated.
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