Steelers Daily Links: Improvement from Dan Moore; Following Eagles’ Path

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been connected to a number of offensive tackles in 2023 NFL Draft, and that stems from the lack of development of left tackle Dan Moore over the last two seasons, but no everyone is so down on his potential.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Max Starks saw improvement from Dan Moore Jr. this past season. “He had his worrisome moments early on, got a little overwhelmed at different points. I think he’s growing. I think he’s getting a lot better,” Starks said. “Getting more comfortable in his skin, trying to figure out the different style his quarterback will play. Now it’s Kenny Pickett. He will be more adept and ready to go. He’s also cleaning up his footwork. His footwork was really sloppy his rookie year, he cleaned it up a little bit. Now he understands how to study. How to prepare for his opponents. How to have more tricks in the bag to be able to combat a lot of the things elite edge rushers like to bring. He learned. I watched him learn on the fly and watched him get better.”

The Athletic: Former Steelers general manger and Eagles senior advisor Tom Donahoe thinks Weidl can build the Steelers into a juggernaut, similar to how the Eagles are now. “He and Howie Roseman did a great job of collaborating on the drafts. I have total confidence in Andy that if the Steelers let him do his thing, they’ll have a chance to get similar results,” Donahoe said.

Steelers left guard Kevin Dotson came to his teammates defense over the erroneous rumor from Gregg Giannotti that Diontae Johnson punched Mitch Trubisky in the face before the Steelers’ Week 4 game against the Jets over a lack of targets. “Bro how the hell do they get away with just blatant lying. That s*** should be illegal,” Dotson tweeted.

NBC Sports: Jerome Bettis told Peter King that he was nearly traded to the Chicago Bears in 2004. “It was the latter part of my career. It was actually a year before I retired. It was the season going into my 12th year and it was the Chicago Bears. Coach (Bill Cowher) came to me in camp and said ‘Bears want to trade for you.'” Bettis listened to Chicago’s offers but ultimately turned it down. “I told them basically it’s thoughtful. I appreciate it. It’s great to be wanted, but I know if I went to Chicago, they wanted the 1998 Bus. They didn’t want the 2003 Jerome Bettis. So, I knew going in that I wouldn’t be able to give them what they wanted.”

The Athletic: While he was in the Philadelphia Eagles front office at the time, Andy Weidl was a big fan of Kenny Pickett coming out of the draft.

Steelers.com: T.J. Watt talked about his emotions after thinking that his 2022 season came to an end in Week 1. “It was a lot of calls with Derek. I was talking with him a lot. He’s gone through that exact (pectoral) injury before and I was like, what did it feel like? Did it feel like this? Could you do this, could you do that?” Watt said. “And same with J.J. because he had the same injury as well. From what they were telling me it almost felt like it was the same injury to be honest and I was thinking the worst. It didn’t give me any comfort in talking to them and seeing how their injury felt because it felt like I could do the same stuff they could and couldn’t do the same stuff when they required surgery. It didn’t really provide me any comfort.”

Ex-Steelers tight end Vance McDonald’s Ligonier-area retreat lists for $5.5 million. McDonald and his wife Kendi purchased the property in the summer of 2019. They lived there with their three children for 3½ years before family considerations took them back to Kendi’s native Oklahoma.

Friday marked the 41st anniversary of Joe Greene’s retirement. “He set the standard for us. Physically, he had quickness, speed, agility, strength, and the ability to find the ball. But he also set the standard for attitude. There will never be another Joe Greene.” Chuck Noll said on the day Greene retired.

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AROUND THE NETWORK

Pittsburgh Sports Now: Damar Hamlin was a surprise guest at the 2022 NFL Honors show in Phoenix on Thursday. Pitt and Aliquippa great Darrell Revis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Tristan Jarry returned to practice for the Penguins on Thursday.

West Virginia Sports Now: Former WVU quarterback Geno Smith won the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

Nittany Sports Now: Micah Shrewsberry is the right guy, but this Penn State basketball slide has been ugly.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: David Bednar and Roansy Contreras will represent the Pirates in the World Baseball Classic.