Paul Skenes spoke at Pirates City today as we quickly approach the 2026 season. The feeling from fans seems to be ‘cautious optimism.’ We revisited a poll question from yesterday and over 50% think the Pirates will win 90 games instead of losing 90. We shared our current gut feel for the 2026 Buccos.

Open Phone Friday.

TGIF.

Steelers correspondent Mark Kaboly from The Pat McAfee Show joined the show. The discussion began around food and what Mark would eat every day for the rest of his life. He decided on pizza, agreeing with Donny. This all stemmed from Sidney Crosby saying he would eat pasta every day. Mark talked about the debate that has been ongoing this week after Joey Porter slammed Ben Roethlisberger for being a bad teammate. Kaboom said from 2004-2010, ‘you couldn’t find a bigger jerk,’ but he does believe Ben changed as he matured. Mark shared a story that involved Jason Bay, who won Rookie of the Year in baseball the same year as Ben in football. Did Porter throw more shade at James Harrison than he did at Big Ben? The guys wondered if there would be retribution from Deebo or Ben back at Peezy.

More w/ Mark – We are starting to see more and more mock drafts with the Steelers taking Ty Simpson. How extensive will the homework be on QBs? How much money is Mark willing to pay Malik Willis?

More w/ Mark – Mark thinks there is a better chance Patrick Queen gets an extension than him getting released. Mark said everyone feels up in the air with the new coaching staff. The guys ran through some pending free agents and if Mark believes they will be back in Pittsburgh. Mark would rather bring back Asante Samuel than James Pierre. Mark expects Joey Porter Jr. to get an ‘easy’ $20M/year deal. Is the football future of Broderick Jones in question? Mark laughed at the idea of Nick Herbig being traded for a backup QB. Mark questioned how enamored the Steelers are with Will Howard because he hasn’t played a snap. Mark can’t believe people still read books.

Is $40M/year too much for Malik Willis? What happens if he’s not THE guy with that much on his docket? Chris said he’d be willing to take that shot, but Donny and Poni can’t get there. Would you rather just have Aaron Rodgers back for the same he made last season ($13M)?

Does anyone else want to pay Malik Willis $40M/year? This segment went very off the rails.

Donny Football Debrief – No more grading owners in the NFL.

We had some fun with the way Sidney Crosby says ‘pasta’ as Canada gets set for its second game later today. The guys reviewed some answers Crosby gave in an interview about playing in the Olympic games. The guys thought ‘persistent’ was the perfect way for Sid to describe himself. One answer they debated was Crosby saying winning the Stanley Cup was bigger than winning a gold medal.

Stanley Cup or gold medal?

Fair Game w/ Steelers reporter Nick Farabaugh from Penn Live dot com joined the show. Nick thinks there are legitimate concerns with Ty Simpson being a 1st round pick and thinks the Steelers have more pressing needs than to take a flier on him. Nick can see the Steelers trading up to draft a WR instead of just staying put because he believes there is a drop off between the top 2-3 at that position and the rest of the 1st round names. He thinks Jordyn Tyson could be the one to fall out of that group. Is Simpson a better prospect than Will Howard? Nick thinks it’s more likely that the Steelers take a QB on the second night or third day of the draft, and that could be Drew Allar. Nick said there were some interesting prospects that went back to school. Nick said Garrett Nussmeier, who has clear connections to Mike McCarthy has ‘tanked’ his stock going into the draft process. The Steelers have 5 picks in the top 100 right now and Nick expects them to draft a pair of receivers with that at their disposal.

Paul Skenes spoke at Pirates City today as we quickly approach the 2026 season. The feeling from fans seems to be ‘cautious optimism.’ We revisited a poll question from yesterday and over 50% think the Pirates will win 90 games instead of losing 90. We shared our current gut feel for the 2026 Buccos.

Is $40M/year too much for Malik Willis? What happens if he’s not THE guy with that much on his docket? Chris said he’d be willing to take that shot, but Donny and Poni can’t get there. Would you rather just have Aaron Rodgers back for the same he made last season ($13M)?

Fair Game w/ Steelers reporter Nick Farabaugh from Penn Live dot com joined the show. Nick thinks there are legitimate concerns with Ty Simpson being a 1st round pick and thinks the Steelers have more pressing needs than to take a flier on him. Nick can see the Steelers trading up to draft a WR instead of just staying put because he believes there is a drop off between the top 2-3 at that position and the rest of the 1st round names. He thinks Jordyn Tyson could be the one to fall out of that group. Is Simpson a better prospect than Will Howard? Nick thinks it’s more likely that the Steelers take a QB on the second night or third day of the draft, and that could be Drew Allar. Nick said there were some interesting prospects that went back to school. Nick said Garrett Nussmeier, who has clear connections to Mike McCarthy has ‘tanked’ his stock going into the draft process. The Steelers have 5 picks in the top 100 right now and Nick expects them to draft a pair of receivers with that at their disposal.

We had some fun with the way Sidney Crosby says ‘pasta’ as Canada gets set for its second game later today. The guys reviewed some answers Crosby gave in an interview about playing in the Olympic games. The guys thought ‘persistent’ was the perfect way for Sid to describe himself. One answer they debated was Crosby saying winning the Stanley Cup was bigger than winning a gold medal.

PM Team FULL Show 2-12-26

30+ years beyond the fact, a former Steelers OL that never played in a regular season game called out Neil O’Donnell for ‘throwing’ Super Bowl XXX. Emerson Martin believes O’Donnell ‘took a dive’ in the biggest game. Chris said he’s never heard someone suggest that. The guys think it’s a tinfoil hat theory.

Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo from the PG joined the show. Ray has released his first Steelers mock draft and has them trading up to select Jordyn Tyson to add a WR to the room early. Ray thinks the Steelers could double-down at WR on the first two nights of the draft. Ray went through his middle rounds of the draft and how the Steelers could utilize their abundance of picks. Ray has the Steelers using their final pick on a QB, so not one to threaten the future. Ray said Mason Rudolph would be the odd-man-out if the Steelers do take a QB in late April. Ray shared his thoughts on the finalized coaching staff under Mike McCarthy, which is a bigger staff than anything we ever saw under Mike Tomlin. How many guys due for second contracts will get one? Ray still doesn’t think the TJ Watt contract was a mistake because the salary cap continues to go up. Ray doesn’t think Isaac Seumalo is back unless the Steelers give him a raise. Is Dylan Cook going to get a real shot to start at left tackle next season?

Total Request Thursday.