Steelers Insider Gerry Dulac Talks Aaron Rodgers, NFL Draft & More with Rich

Steelers Radio Network host and longtime Pittsburgh insider Gerry Dulac joined Rich for the full tour. Aaron Rodgers' grinding non-arrival. The draft-room disappointment over Mekhi Becton. Drew Allar's project. Jennings Dunker as the perfect Pittsburgh draft. Eli Heidenreich's local moment. And a Paris reunion already on the books.

The Rodgers update came first, and Dulac's read on the patience meter has not shifted much.

"What I had said then was that if he was not there by May 18th, which is Monday, the start of OTAs, then some people who matter were going to start losing their patience," Dulac said.

What that means, exactly, Dulac would not say.

"I don't know what it means, because I just don't see them walking away from this situation," Dulac said. "Aaron Rodgers has all the leverage. And not that this is about leverage."

The Pittsburgh tradition with veteran holdouts is friendly to long timelines. Dulac invoked Dan Rooney's policy.

"Dan would tell them, look, wait till a week before the end of camp, and then we'll sign the deal," Dulac said. "Because they were older players, and he'd say, just keep, stay away because we don't need you, we don't want you to get hurt."

The reason Dulac believes it gets done is Mike McCarthy.

"Mike McCarthy is coming back to his hometown to coach the team that he grew up watching and cheering for," Dulac said. "Mike McCarthy doesn't want anything less than that in his first year with the Steelers, and he feels the person who can at least replicate that and maybe take another step is Aaron Rodgers more so than what he has."

Rich asked how high the patience meter goes.

"If the elevator goes six floors, I'd say it gets stuck between five and six," Dulac said.

The Rodgers visit to Pittsburgh last week, Dulac confirmed, did not include the facility.

"He was in town, and they were just talking with his agent," Dulac said. "I know in those instances, you cross some tees and dot some eyes."

Money, in Dulac's reporting, is not the holdup.

"The Steelers don't believe there's any big holdup with money," Dulac said. "That was not an issue with them, and from what they understood, for him. I don't know if that suddenly changed. I don't think so, but I don't know."

Rich asked Dulac why this has dragged. Dulac shrugged into the answer.

"Part of it is because, let's face it, it's Aaron Rodgers, and he does things differently," Dulac said. "And I'm not going to lay it off simply as that, but it's kind of been his history."

The evidence Dulac kept coming back to was real estate.

"He never sold his house here, Rich, and he hasn't cleaned out his locker," Dulac said. "Now, does that mean he's definitely coming back? Well, it's probably a good indication that he is."

The optics, in Dulac's framing, are getting harder to defend.

"When the owner comes out and says, told me at the owner's meetings that he expects him to be here by the start of the NFL Draft, and he doesn't sign by the start of the NFL Draft when the owner says he expects him, it just doesn't look good," Dulac said. "Am I going to sit here and say it's embarrassing? No. But the optics aren't great."

The fan-base patience is gone, in Dulac's read.

"Rich, if you polled the fan base here, I bet you 80 percent want to just move on and let's let the young kids play," Dulac said.

He acknowledged immediately that this is not how the NFL works.

"This isn't a college program," Dulac said. "That's not going to happen. But if it happened, I don't think there would be a large percentage of the fan base that would be upset with it."

The McCarthy-Rodgers relationship, per Dulac's reporting, looks healthy.

"When he talks about Aaron, he does so with a big smile," Dulac said. "He claims he talks to him several times a week. He says he's in constant communication."

The part of the Rodgers narrative Dulac can verify firsthand is the locker room.

"Everybody read some not-so-great things about Aaron Rodgers and how he is internally," Dulac said. "And I can tell you that locker room in Pittsburgh absolutely loved having Aaron Rodgers around. All the things they heard, how standoffish he can be, that he's a different duck. He was anything but. The players really embraced him."

Dulac gave the specifics.

"He encouraged the players, hey, at training camp, you want to come down, my door's open, come down and talk," Dulac said. "I'd see him in the cafeteria, not only talking to the players, but talking with groups of people who weren't players, who weren't coaches. He was trying to be very accessible and very approachable."

Rich pivoted to the draft. The Mekhi Becton miss is what defines it.

"There were three guys they were willing to trade up to get, and two of them were going to be unreachable," Dulac said. "And those were the two highest-rated players, Caleb Downs and Carnell Tate. But the third guy they were willing to trade up to get was Mekhi Becton."

Pittsburgh thought they could move up with Tampa Bay at 15. Reuben Bain was on the board, the Bucs loved him, and the deal never materialized.

"I think the Steelers thought, okay, from what they see in front of them, it looks pretty good to be able to get Mekhi Becton," Dulac said.

Then Philadelphia jumped in front. The reaction in the room when Pittsburgh pivoted to Maxi Ehanachor was muted.

"There wasn't exactly a big cheer when they drafted Maxi Ehanachor, you know, another offensive lineman," Dulac said. "Three of the last four years they've done that in the first round. I think they were kind of hoping for more of a splash guy, and Mekhi Becton would have definitely been that."

Dulac flagged the second-round pick as the actual hinge of the draft.

"Jeremy Bernard is that he's going to be the key," Dulac said. "If Jeremy Bernard can be the player that they thought Mekhi Becton could be, then all of a sudden Maxi Ehanachor looks even better at number one."

The Drew Allar pick was Mike McCarthy's call. Dulac confirmed it.

"That was a guy Mike McCarthy wanted of the quarterbacks after the first round," Dulac said. "He talked up Carson Beck a lot. Carson Beck was gone, but even if he were there when the Steelers picked in the third round, Mike McCarthy was taking Drew Allar."

The bar the Steelers held themselves to was that Allar had to have more upside than Will Howard. They concluded he does.

"Drew Allar's measurables are off the charts," Dulac said. "He has the size. He can make any throw."

The case against Allar, in Dulac's reporting, has been about the big stage.

"His ability to underperform in big games is the biggest drawback of this guy," Dulac said. "Whereas the opposite was true of Will Howard, who performed his best in the biggest games when they won the national title."

The rookie minicamp evaluation has already started.

"Mike McCarthy was giving him the once-over in rookie minicamp," Dulac said. "He is the only rookie, the only quarterback he had at rookie minicamp, the only one he brought in. And he gave him all the work."

Rich asked if it was true that Penn State's coaching had been thrown out.

"I think what that is, is they're doing that with his footwork," Dulac said. "First of all, putting him under center, which is step number one. And then rolling him out of the pocket, play-action stuff, moving his feet. Mike McCarthy, you've probably heard him say, he's a big footwork guy."

The breakdown is not about throwing motion.

"It's more his footwork and his ability to maybe drift in the pocket, out of the pocket, whatever the case may be," Dulac said.

The fan-favorite pick of the draft was Jennings Dunker. Rich asked if AI would generate Dunker if you typed in "perfect Pittsburgh offensive lineman."

"Rich, they couldn't have drafted a better Pittsburgh-centric player than Jennings Dunker," Dulac said. "And if Dunkin' Donuts doesn't offer this guy some promotional deal, I will be shocked."

The Dunker file is its own thing. Mullet. Mustache. Tattoos. He wants to swim in the Monongahela.

"Most people don't even want a boat in the Monongahela," Dulac said. "He even asked if you're allowed to swim in it."

When Dunker was waiting for his flight to Pittsburgh, Dulac said, he was so tired he slept on the airport floor. The comp Dulac reached for was Justin Strzelczyk. Rough around the edges. Built right.

"You put him on the football field and look out and we're going to see," Dulac said. "I think that has a chance to be a really good pick."

The Eli Heidenreich pick at the end of the draft was a moment. The local kid in his Navy uniform. The Pittsburgh draft hall lost it.

Dulac framed the pick as the splash the Steelers had not made in the first round.

"I could promise you, if Dan Rooney were alive with the NFL Draft in his backyard within walking distance of his house, I know Dan was a showman," Dulac said. "Dan would have done something in that first round to bring the house down. While the Steelers did it there in the last round."

The pick, in his read, was scripted.

"I think everybody knew the Steelers and he knew that was going to happen," Dulac said. "I think that's why they kept 10 draft picks."

The football reality on Heidenreich is harder.

"They have three running backs," Dulac said. "They have a fullback, Riley Niakowski. So are they going to keep five? I doubt it."

The crowded receiver room is the other piece.

"You're already down to Roman Wilson, you're at four," Dulac said. "I think he has a chance to be a practice squad guy for sure. Obviously very popular pick being from Pittsburgh as well."

Rich closed by promoting Dulac to "of the Lake" for the Paris game in Week 7.

"That was Sir Lancelot's last name," Rich said. "Sir Lancelot Du Lac."

Dulac took the demotion in stride. He revealed he was going back to Paris anyway.

"After the Steelers played in Ireland last year, which was just an unbelievably incredible scene, I left after Ireland, my daughter came, and I went over to Paris for four days," Dulac said. "And now I'm going back again."

Steelers in Paris, Dulac said, sounds great.