NOTEBOOK BUZZ
Notebook Buzz: Mike Tomlin has all plans of honoring his contract and returning in 2024. What remains to be seen is it Mike Tomlin goes the Bill Cowher route or not. Tomlin is not scared to play out the year with one year left and the Steelers know it. Steelers owner Art Rooney II is widely expected to make every attempt to extend Tomlin this off-season and if Tomlin agrees to an extension, it would be a stunner inside team headquarters if he accepts a short-term extension. Anticipation is if Tomlin extends, it will be 3+ years. Tomlin extending or not is expected to be more on him than ownership not stepping up the table.
— Will Tomlin go all-in on Kenny Pickett today? Tomlin meets with the media today at noon and nothing will be more fascinating than how he handles the quarterback questions and most notably Kenny Pickett. Does Tomlin go all-in on Kenny Pickett or does he leave the door open for all options being on the table and further evaluation of the QB1 spot this off-season? The Steelers have a headache on their hands with players inside that room like Diontae Johnson already calling for Mason Rudolph to be the starting quarterback in 2024. Meanwhile, Josh Allen had to be another wake up call for the organization that if you don’t have a guy at QB, you’re going to be stuck in 9-8, 10-7 purgatory for years to come like the Steelers have been. And the AFC is just a gauntlet with great QB’s now and into the future. Pair Jim Harbaugh with Justin Herbert and the Chargers will be another team destined to do big things in the AFC……
–Justin Fields to Pittsburgh? Kenny Pickett to Denver?
| For the Steelers to move on from Kenny Pickett, Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan are going to have to do a serious sales job on their boss. Selling Art Rooney on taking a quarterback at No. 20 isn’t going to do it, nor is bringing in a Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousin at their age. Chicago’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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Penguins Buzz: Jake Guentzel loves playing in Pittsburgh but one issue at hand for both sides is there’s just no predicting where this franchise will be in a couple of years. And that’s the viewpoint from Kyle Dubas also. Still, some executives around the league who hold Guentzel in very high regard are a bit miffed that Pittsburgh doesn’t feel Guentzel’s a worthwhile gamble to pay the premium to retain him now and deal with the consequences later. Another league source called it interesting Pittsburgh doesn’t see Guentzel as a player they can build around. ‘That’s all his camp [hide] wants to hear,’ a league source said of Guetnzel’s reps not feeling the love from the new regime. As respectful as negotiations have been and will be between the two sides, there is still some surprise inside the Guentzel camp that Pittsburgh is willing to roll the dice of possibly losing a player as productive as Guentzel. You put an 8×9 offer on the table, Guetnzel’s likely taking it even if his market might be slightly higher in free agency and concerns that he could be playing for a bottom-10 team in a few seasons. “We’ll continue to go through the season here. I’ll continue to evaluate where we’re at,” President/General Manager Kyle Dubas said Wednesday on his weekly radio show with Josh Getzoff of the Penguins. “Either after the All-Star break or after the season we’ll do what’s best for everybody, best for the Penguins, best for Jake, and we’ll determine that together. That’s really it………” Dubas added, saying he hasn’t sought any offers for Guentzel. [/hide]
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Things might be lining up where the Penguins become the clearcut third best team in the division, a spot the Penguins internally see themselves projecting. The New Jersey Devils may never figure it out this season which has helped open that door. Even if that’s the case and Pittsburgh strongly weighs keeping Guentzel as their own rental, quietly Dubas isn’t doing his job if he isn’t testing the waters next month on what a return for Guentzel could be. Right now, it’s 100% believable Dubas hasn’t sought offers because why would he at this early conjecture, but a month from now that would be a hard sale………. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
