Starkey & Mueller

PM Team FULL Show 2-19-26

Is Aaron Rodgers done? Aditi told the guys yesterday that she is hearing something different than what everyone else is assuming – that Rodgers is done. And not just done with the Steelers, but done entirely. If Aditi is right, where does that leave the Steelers? If that is the case, it will be 6 different starting QBs in 6 seasons. Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo from the PG joined the show. Ray said the Steelers don’t have 100% assurance that Aaron Rodgers will be back. Ray doubts we will know this time next week, but he expects there to be an answer by free agency. Ray believes the Steelers absolutely have a backup plan if Rodgers retires or chooses to play elsewhere in 2026, but isn’t sure what it is. Ray confidently said Will Howard will not be the Steelers Week 1 starting QB. If Ray was in charge he would want to retool a little bit, but not completely tear things down. Total Request Thursday.

Paul Skenes said he can’t wait to represent the United States in the World Baseball Classic. Does that sit with us any different after seeing Sidney Crosby get hurt in the Olympics? An update on Sid – he is ‘unlikely’ to play in the semifinal game against Finland. Steve Palazzolo from the 33rd Team joined the show. Steve has no idea what is going on with Brandon Aiyuk, but he’s become the biggest mystery man in the NFL. Steve likes the other 49ers free agent WR, Jauan Jennings because he’s simply the more dependable player. Could the Steelers make AJ Brown work in their offense? Steve thinks the Steelers should be open to trading a late-round pick for Anthony Richardson because it’s another shot at franchise quarterback. Steve wanted to set the record straight that he didn’t trash Will Howard last week. Steve said there are bad elements of college football that are not preparing QBs for the pros. Donny Football Debrief – The Browns could be losing their entire offensive line due to free agency. We’re not

Mike Wagner passed away last night. Is he on the Steelers all-time team? The guys debated. A few positions were tough to decide. KDKA TV’s Bob Pompeani joined the show. Bob sounded down in the dumps because was very close to losing a bet to Tyler Kennedy on the Olympics. Bob admitted to the guys that he doesn’t care for gravy. Bob remembered Mike Wagner, the former 70s Steelers safety that passed away last night. Bob gave some financial advice when it comes to young couples. Pomp told the guys he does not like doing projects around the house because he’s afraid he will mess things up. During the chat, Bob’s bet is back to life. Power Rankings – Pittsburgh sports ‘glue’ guys.

Is Sidney Crosby going to play tomorrow for Canada? Are you OK with that if it’s further risking injury and he possibly misses the rest of the Penguins season? The guys think it would be Sid trying to have his cake and eat it too after stating recently that winning a Stanley Cup means more than winning a gold medal. If that’s the case, he should not play in the remainder of the Olympics. Are fans cool with Sidney Crosby playing in the rest of the Olympics if it means he could hamper the rest of the Penguins season? Pirates insider Jason Mackey from the PG joined the show. Jason doesn’t have Konnor Griffin on his Opening Day roster projection, but said Griffin’s spring performance could easily change that. Jason doesn’t think the Pirates would be mad or upset if they had the easy call to play Griffin in Triple A to begin the season. More discussion as to what it will take for Griffin to break into the bigs immediately. Jason said Konnor isn’t boring like some athletes can be – Mike Trout, for example. Poni

Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo from the PG joined the show. Ray said the Steelers don’t have 100% assurance that Aaron Rodgers will be back. Ray doubts we will know this time next week, but he expects there to be an answer by free agency. Ray believes the Steelers absolutely have a backup plan if Rodgers retires or chooses to play elsewhere in 2026, but isn’t sure what it is. Ray confidently said Will Howard will not be the Steelers Week 1 starting QB. If Ray was in charge he would want to retool a little bit, but not completely tear things down.

Steve Palazzolo from the 33rd Team joined the show. Steve has no idea what is going on with Brandon Aiyuk, but he’s become the biggest mystery man in the NFL. Steve likes the other 49ers free agent WR, Jauan Jennings because he’s simply the more dependable player. Could the Steelers make AJ Brown work in their offense? Steve thinks the Steelers should be open to trading a late-round pick for Anthony Richardson because it’s another shot at franchise quarterback. Steve wanted to set the record straight that he didn’t trash Will Howard last week. Steve said there are bad elements of college football that are not preparing QBs for the pros.

KDKA TV’s Bob Pompeani joined the show. Bob sounded down in the dumps because was very close to losing a bet to Tyler Kennedy on the Olympics. Bob admitted to the guys that he doesn’t care for gravy. Bob remembered Mike Wagner, the former 70s Steelers safety that passed away last night. Bob gave some financial advice when it comes to young couples. Pomp told the guys he does not like doing projects around the house because he’s afraid he will mess things up. During the chat, Bob’s bet is back to life.

Mike Wagner passed away last night. Is he on the Steelers all-time team? The guys debated. A few positions were tough to decide.

Pirates insider Jason Mackey from the PG joined the show. Jason doesn’t have Konnor Griffin on his Opening Day roster projection, but said Griffin’s spring performance could easily change that. Jason doesn’t think the Pirates would be mad or upset if they had the easy call to play Griffin in Triple A to begin the season. More discussion as to what it will take for Griffin to break into the bigs immediately. Jason said Konnor isn’t boring like some athletes can be – Mike Trout, for example. Poni was stunned to hear that Bryan Reynolds will be the starter in left field despite his defensive lapses. Jason said it feels like they are shoehorning Ryan O’Hearn into the outfield when he’s more of a first baseman. Jason thinks Jared Triolo (3B) and Nick Gonzales (SS) will be the left side of their infield when the season begins.

Is Sidney Crosby going to play tomorrow for Canada? Are you OK with that if it’s further risking injury and he possibly misses the rest of the Penguins season? The guys think it would be Sid trying to have his cake and eat it too after stating recently that winning a Stanley Cup means more than winning a gold medal. If that’s the case, he should not play in the remainder of the Olympics.

PM Team FULL Show 2-18-26

A source told Poni that there is a Steelers player everyone expects to be back that won’t be. Who could it be? This comes on the heels of Aditi telling us that the chances of Aaron Rodgers coming back is ‘miniscule.’ We wondered who the player could be. Which one would truly be a ‘surprise’ if they didn’t return? Judge Donny – Does Ben Roethlisberger deserve credit for not firing back at Joey Porter Sr.? USA is in OT against Sweden. Do we have an update on Sidney Crosby?

A few NFL insiders believe CJ Stroud is available via trade. What will that cost? The Steelers have a dozen picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, which should have them open for business. Stroud is sour on people’s minds because he was horrible in the playoffs this year, even in the blowout win over the Steelers. He hasn’t gotten better since his rookie season, but it’s hard to not have any interest with a 24-year-old QB that has won a playoff game in all 3 seasons. One longtime Texans writer said he would stand naked at a busy intersection in Houston if the Texans trade Stroud. Things went very off the rails after that. ALL ACCESS w/ Aditi – Aditi said any NFL GM is going to look into any player that may be available in any given offseason, so the CJ Stroud story doesn’t have a ton of legs right now. Did Minnesota decide on Sam Darnold due to 2 bad games to end his season before signing in Seattle and winning a Super Bowl? Aditi said sometimes rookies catch the league by surprise, the way Stroud did in 2023. What i

Did we get an indication on what the Pirates are going to do with Konnor Griffin? It felt like Don Kelly gave a hint, in a recent interview with Shelby Cassessee, that Griffin could be looking at the first month of the season in Triple A. Do we all want him on the Opening Day roster? Griffin is 1 of their 9 best players, which should give him a role. If they had added another bat from someone on the left side of the infield, would that change your mind? Paul Skenes spent some time in Triple A, so would it be the worst thing if Griffin did the same? Kelly said it would be a ‘tough ask’ for Griffin to be here on Opening Day. The Tony Clark situation is… something. Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk joined the show. Mike had a quick reaction to the Tony Clark situation, even though that is baseball related. After Joey Porter spoke out about Ben Roethlisberger, the guys asked Mike if that would impact his Hall of Fame candidacy. Mike doesn’t think $40M for Malik Willis is outrageous at all because it’s only 6

Sidney Crosby was injured today in the latest matchup for Canada, a 4-3 OT win over Czechia. Is it time for NHL players to sit out of the games again? If Crosby’s season is over, is any of this worth it? The players aren’t forced to participate in the Olympics. If Crosby ever decided to not play in the games, it wouldn’t alter his legacy whatsoever. What if Paul Skenes didn’t want to pitch in the World Baseball Classic? Chris thinks a plus-sized exhibition shouldn’t be the reason Crosby loses his season, and possibly his final Olympic games. Do people care about the Olympics? Caller thinks the Miracle on Ice wouldn’t be a big deal if a movie wasn’t made. Former Penguin Tyler Kennedy joined the show. TK reacted to the Sidney Crosby injury that took place in the Canada-Czechia game earlier. Tyler said a pep talk from Sid would not mean the injury isn’t serious. Tyler’s initial thought is that it will keep him out of the Olympics, but hopefully not a ton of Penguins games in the back half of the season. Tyle

A source told Poni that there is a Steelers player everyone expects to be back that won’t be. Who could it be? This comes on the heels of Aditi telling us that the chances of Aaron Rodgers coming back is ‘miniscule.’ We wondered who the player could be. Which one would truly be a ‘surprise’ if they didn’t return?

ALL ACCESS w/ Aditi – Aditi said any NFL GM is going to look into any player that may be available in any given offseason, so the CJ Stroud story doesn’t have a ton of legs right now. Did Minnesota decide on Sam Darnold due to 2 bad games to end his season before signing in Seattle and winning a Super Bowl? Aditi said sometimes rookies catch the league by surprise, the way Stroud did in 2023. What is the Steelers’ ceiling if they decide to run it back with Aaron Rodgers in 2026? Aditi doesn’t buy into all of the belief that Rodgers will be back in Pittsburgh next season – going as far to say the chances are ‘miniscule.’ Aditi thinks there is a roughly equal chance that Malik Willis is the Steelers QB in comparison to Rodgers.

A few NFL insiders believe CJ Stroud is available via trade. What will that cost? The Steelers have a dozen picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, which should have them open for business. Stroud is sour on people’s minds because he was horrible in the playoffs this year, even in the blowout win over the Steelers. He hasn’t gotten better since his rookie season, but it’s hard to not have any interest with a 24-year-old QB that has won a playoff game in all 3 seasons. One longtime Texans writer said he would stand naked at a busy intersection in Houston if the Texans trade Stroud.

Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk joined the show. Mike had a quick reaction to the Tony Clark situation, even though that is baseball related. After Joey Porter spoke out about Ben Roethlisberger, the guys asked Mike if that would impact his Hall of Fame candidacy. Mike doesn’t think $40M for Malik Willis is outrageous at all because it’s only 66.6% of what the quarterback market is. Does anyone out there want Tyreek Hill? Mike thinks there are enough teams that can use him and enough that want him that would look passed the off-the-field issues and his injury. Mike said the Steelers drafting Ty Simpson would be the clearest sign that the team isn’t as giddy on Will Howard as they made it sound. He said their open love for Howard could be a way to move teams off the scent. After Sam Darnold won the Super Bowl, is it a requirement to have a superstar QB? Mike has never met Snoop Dogg despite being at several big events.