There used to be very few trades in the NFL. But teams have become more willing to do so in recent years, acquiring veteran players either in training camp or once the season starts.
They happen more often, obviously, in the other major sports leagues, but are something more of a new phenomena in football.
The Steelers have been active on that market, making several moves in recent years to acquire veteran players, most recently doing so with to pick up linebacker Joe Schobert and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon in training camp in the past month.
There's little doubt acquiring a player either late in training camp or once the season has begun puts a strain on the player to come in and learn a new scheme, teammates and city. But for players with families, the strain is even greater.
Unlike the other sports, where players can quickly incorporate themselves into their new teams, learning an NFL playbook can be difficult. Even if the plays are largely the same as they were in a previous stop, the verbiage is typically different.
"You have to come in and learn a new defense. That can be challenging. Me coming to a team with a huge veteran presence, you can lean on the guys when you’re out on the field to make sure you’re in the right spots," Schobert told me this week.
According to her husband, Megan Schobert, who broke the news that her husband was being traded to the Steelers for what eventually was announced as a 2022 sixth-round draft pick, was told they were on the move after just one season in Jacksonville, which had signed Schobert to a 5-year, $53.75-million contract in 2020.
Joe Schobert thought he was going to be in Jacksonville perhaps for the remainder of his career. He and his wife had bought a house. They have a young son, Simon. Oh, and like many families, they also have a dog.
The trade wasn't exactly expected.
"As a family, that’s the hard one. You get traded. You get flown out the next day. It’s training camp, so you’re in camp," Schobert said. "My wife was back in Florida. She organized everything with the dog and a young baby, the whole house packed up and ready to be moved and shown to be sold and all of that stuff. It’s a little bit of a logistical nightmare, but I think my wife did a really good job. They’re all up here now along with most of our stuff. It’s been a challenge, but it’s something that, hopefully, we won’t have to do again."
That remains to be seen. Schobert, 27, has four years remaining on the deal he signed with the Jaguars, who essentially paid him $19 million for one season. It was a lesson in how quickly things can change in the NFL.
And one on how players have to stay light on their feet, regardless of their contract status -- especially if they're married with children.
"For sure. If you’re single and you’re just renting an apartment, the team flies you out the next day," Schobert said. "They pay for moving and stuff. It would be a lot easier doing that. If it was just me and my wife, it wouldn’t have been bad. But we have a kid, a dog, a house, that makes it a lot more challenging."
MORE STEELERS
• There seems to be some revisionist history when it comes to the Steelers' use of a fullback. Roosevelt Nix, the fullback on the team's roster before Derek Watt, played 575 offensive snaps with the team in five years. Will Johnson, the converted tight end who played some fullback, played 806 snaps in four seasons before that, with a high of 365 in 2012 -- a season in which the Steelers averaged 3.7 yards per carry. But he also lined up at tight end. Watt has gotten just four offensive snaps thus far this season, but that doesn't mean he won't get more moving forward. The Steelers don't want to take a featured pass catcher such as Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson or JuJu Smith-Schuster off the field to play with a fullback. The two teams that do use the fullback a lot in the NFL -- the Ravens and 49ers -- are primarily running teams who lack pass catchers. The Steelers are not one of those teams. Watt's 38 special teams snaps lead the Steelers. And he will see more time moving forward on offense, perhaps as soon as this week, but don't look at him simply as a fullback. After all, he's essentially making the same money as the Bills paid Tyler Matakevich to do the same job -- only the Bills never want Matakevich on the field. -- Lolley
• Taunting is something the NFL wanted to do away with this season, so even though it's been on the books as a penalty for years, it's being called much more often this season. There have already been 10 instances of taunting called through two weeks. That's the same number of taunting penalties called in all of 2020 and two more than were called in the 2019 season. "I hadn't looked at it globally. I've been focused on the stadiums that we’re in, but all of us, to a man, acknowledged that that's something that needed to be addressed," Mike Tomlin said. "That's why it's a point of emphasis and that's why none of us are surprised by the number being increased. The players will adjust. They always do. They’d better adjust quickly, and specifically speaking of mine." The Steelers have not been called for a taunting penalty -- yet. Given some of the plays that have been penalized already across the league, it might only be a matter of time. Once again, the league is asking officials to make judgment calls on what is taunting vs. what is just a simple celebration. -- Lolley
• Schobert shared play-calling duties with Devin Bush in the Steelers' Week 1 victory over the Bills, with the inside linebacker duo swapping those duties depending who was on the field in the dime defense. Against the Raiders last week, with Bush out with a groin injury suffered Friday in practice, Schobert made all of the defensive calls. "The first week we switched off, depending on who was in the dime. That was kind of nuts," Schobert said. "Last week, I had the green dot. Once Devin went down, I knew I was going to have it the whole time." Communication wasn't an issue for the Steelers in that game, a 26-17 loss. But attrition because of injuries became an issue. By the time Bush and cornerback Joe Haden were injured Friday, the game plan was in place. Then, Tyson Alualu and T.J. Watt were lost in game. "If (the coaches) know who is not going to be available on a Monday or Tuesday, they’ll address the game plan accordingly," Schobert said. "Good coaches will try to get their players in the best position to be successful on game day. Once injuries happen later in the week or in the game, you can’t change that. You can maybe not call specific things as much. But that makes you much more one-dimensional. You adjust, but you can’t wholesale make a change." -- Lolley
• There was a video circulating on Twitter of Ben Roethlisberger having to get up off the ground after he was hit in the loss to the Raiders that drew outrage from both fans and even former players. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada said it should not happen again. "It’s been addressed," Canada said. "Those guys understand. The first and most important thing is I’ve got to do a better job of keeping him from getting hit. I know they take responsibility for getting him hit. We want to keep him from getting hit so we don’t have to pick him up off the ground." -- Lolley
PIRATES
• The Pirates are going to wait until the end of the regular season to find a new major league hitting coach, but Rick Eckstein’s dismissal was part of a bigger plan for how they will develop and coach hitting. One of those moves appears to be in place. In a conversation with director of coaching and player development John Baker this week, he referred to Jonny Tucker, who entered the year as low Class A Bradenton’s hitting coach, as the coordinator of hitting development. Tucker traveled with the major-league team this road trip, helping to fill in as the Pirates operate without a formal hitting coach for the final month of the season. -- Alex Stumpf in Philadelphia
• Speaking of Bradenton, the Marauders' leading hitter this year was Endy Rodriguez, who posted an impressive .294/.380/.512 slash line, 111 hits, 15 homers, 25 doubles, six triples and 73 RBIs. He led the team in every single one of those listed categories. Coming into this year, the Pirates desperately needed a catching prospect like the 21-year-old Rodriguez to emerge, but since then, they’ve added a ton of catching prospects. Carter Bins and Abrahan Guttierez were acquired at the trade deadline, and the Pirates want Henry Davis, their first overall pick, to stick behind the plate. All four of those players are expected to start next year in either Class AA Altoona or high Class A Greensboro, with Bins probably being the only player in Altoona. So how will the Pirates manage three catchers potentially at Greensboro? Expect Rodriguez to be the one to become a utility player. He has experience in the outfield and first base, and Baker told me he’s athletic enough to get reps at second base in the future, too. The Pirates obviously value defensive versatility, and if Rodriguez can add middle infield to his repertoire, he would be able to play just about every position. And hey, he even convinced Marauders manager Jonathan Johnstown to let him pitch earlier this year. -- Stumpf in Philadelphia
• Since being recalled from the minors again, Hoy Park has only seen time in the infield after getting the majority of his reps in the outfield in his first stint with the Pirates. He could be a true super-utility guy, but teams weren’t afraid to run on him and the Pirates wanted to make sure his throwing motion was the same as when he was in the infield. The outfield is still relatively new to him -- he was first broached about playing there in 2019 and then missed out on any chance to develop in 2020 -- so he’s still getting his bearings out there. “I recognize the distance and how hard and far I have to throw,” Park told me in Miami. “I have to learn how long a throw it is there [to a cutoff], how long it is to third base or home plate. I need to learn exactly where I should want to throw.” Park’s ability to play the outfield or not could end up being a key factor come next spring on whether he starts in the majors or the minors. -- Stumpf in Philadelphia
PENGUINS
• There probably were some prospects -- and maybe even a few fans -- who were disappointed when Ron Hextall decided against participating in the recent prospects tournament in Buffalo, opting to give Penguins prospects more time to work with coaches. Competing in prospects tournaments had been a staple of the Penguins' pre-training camp routine for years, dating to the days when it was held in Kitchener, Ontario. (It also was contested in Oshawa and London before relocating to Buffalo after the Sabres' HarborCenter practice facility was built.) But while there still are similar events held across North America, Hextall might prove to be on the leading edge of a movement away from those tournaments. Other clubs, including the Wild, Capitals and Rangers, declined to take part in them this fall, at least in part because of concerns that playing three or four games against other organizations actually drains energy from young players, rather than preparing them for the regular training camp that followed. Perhaps lending credence to such concerns, several teams that played in the prospects event in Traverse City, Mich. declined to play a fourth game, which led to Columbus and Toronto facing each other twice. It will be interesting to see if those tournaments continue to lose favor with NHL clubs in coming years, or if there is a resurgence of interest among those not currently involved in one. -- Dave Molinari
• Although the Penguins and/or officials at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex went to great lengths to try to keep Sidney Crosby's on-ice workouts this week out of the public eye -- the blinds used to prevent people from watching playoff practices at ice level have been drawn and Monday, security forced a reporter who had arrived to cover development camp leave the rink -- having him on skates and trying to prepare for the season ahead while recovering from wrist surgery surely was a good-news story for all concerned. There would, however, seem to be at least a slight element of risk involved in having a guy skate just days after he had a wrist surgically repaired. Not because of any inadvertent contact -- Crosby is the only player on the ice for his workouts -- but because of damage that could be done if he would fall and land awkwardly on his left hand. Is that likely? Hardly. But the possibility of having a skate catch a rut in the ice, or having his blade hit some other flaw on the surface, cannot be ruled out entirely. Obviously, though, that threat would have been considered by the medical professionals, and a determination made that the benefits of Crosby being on the ice outweighed whatever tiny chance there might be of him hurting his wrist. -- Molinari
• The career trajectories of one of the biggest disappointments in franchise history nearly intersected with one of a potentially promising piece of their future last season. Robert Dome, who flopped after being the Penguins' first-round draft choice in 1997, was named coach of HC Slovan Bratislava in Slovakia Jan. 17. Cam Lee, one of the Penguins' top defense prospects, had started the 2020-21 season with that team when the beginning of play in the American Hockey League was delayed by the pandemic, but returned to North America shortly before Dome took over behind the bench. -- Molinari
• News of longtime Devils center Travis Zajac's retirement a few days ago didn't cause the balance of power in the Metropolitan Division to shift -- it didn't really seem to get much attention outside of New Jersey and Long Island, where he spent the final few months of his career with the Islanders -- but the Penguins had to be happy to see him leave the game. Zajac not only scored more goals (19) against the Penguins than any other opponent, but also generally did a better job of damage control against Crosby than almost any player Crosby faced on a regular basis. -- Molinari
