In Wednesday’s “First Call,” the Pittsburgh Steelers are interviewing another quarterback while scouting some Tennessee cornerbacks.

Two former Steelers are in the mix to join the Detroit Lions. Get ready for some Thanksgiving Eve Football. And the Penguins have perfect night in the playoff race.

QB comin’

The Steelers are in line to host a quarterback draft prospect. It’s Arkansas’ Taylen Green.

That’s according to Bo Marchionte of College2Pro.com. He also reports that the former Razorback will visit Dallas, Miami and Baltimore.

As Marchionte points out, Green’s NFL Scouting Combine numbers were impressive. They included a 4.36 40-yard dash, a 43.5 vertical jump and a broad jump of 11-feet-2 inches.

The fifth-year senior is the fifth-rated quarterback on the board at ESPN.com, No. 99 overall. He completed 60.7% of his passes last year, tossing 19 touchdowns against 11 interceptions, taking 27 sacks along the way. Green also ran for 777 yards and eight more scores.

Green was at Boise State for three years before transferring to Arkansas in 2024. Two other QBs have reportedly been in for top 30 visits with Pittsburgh. They are Miami’s Carson Beck and Cole Payton of North Dakota State.

Lovin’ the Lions

The Steelers’ efforts to bolster the defensive backfield have resulted in new veterans coming in and other veterans going out the door.

Cornerback Jamel Dean joined the franchise from Tampa Bay. Safeties Jaquan Brisker (Chicago) and Darnell Savage (Washington/Buffalo) signed via free agency. Meanwhile, the likes of James Pierre, Kyle Dugger, Darius Slay, Jabrill Peppers, Miles Killebrew and Juan Thornhill are all members of last year’s secondary who won’t be back in 2026.

Now you can add Chuck Clark to that list. The safety signed with Detroit on Tuesday.

The ninth-year veteran spent his first six seasons in Baltimore heading to the New York Jets in 2023 and the Steelers in 2025. In Pittsburgh last year, Clark recorded 51 tackles, a forced fumble and three pass breakups.

MLive is also reporting that the Lions hosted former Steelers defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk for a visit Tuesday.

Loudermilk spent his first five seasons in Pittsburgh. He played in 60 games, posting 63 tackles and a sack. The 28-year-old from Wisconsin only played in two games last year before being lost to a high ankle sprain.

 

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Adding on?

Just because the Steelers have reshaped their secondary, that doesn’t mean they feel content at that position heading into next month’s NFL draft.

As noted at Steelers Depot, both Ike Taylor and Jason Simmons were spotted in a video from Tennessee’s pro day. Both men are former Steelers defensive backs currently on the staff. Taylor is a scout. Simmons is the new defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach.

They were seen speaking with Colton Hood after his workout. At 6-foot, 193 pounds, he is ESPN’s fourth-rated cornerback.

The website’s third-rated corner, Jermod McCoy, is also a Volunteer. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that he posted a 4.38 40-yard dash at the event after sitting out last year to recover from an ACL injury.

An extra helping

The NFL wants more football over Thanksgiving. And it sure looks like they are going to get it.

Via ProFootballTalk.com, the league is attempting to shoehorn in a Wednesday night game on Thanksgiving Eve.

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“We’re actively looking at that window,” said NFL executive vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder. “We think when we look at the calendar and look at other natural nights that we could aggregate and serve our fans, and deliver a unique-size audience, that’s a night that jumps out to us. Thanksgiving is all about football, family and friends increasingly, and we think we’re a big part of that. You saw that last year with some of the numbers on (Thanksgiving Day) and really throughout with great numbers on Black Friday too. So we think this is a natural way we can continue to grow Thanksgiving.”

After loading up Thanksgiving with a third game on top of the traditional kickoffs in Dallas and Detroit in 2006, the NFL also put a game on Black Friday in 2023. Both teams for that Wednesday night would likely have to be coming off a bye the week before.

As part of that maneuvering, the NFL has also decided to the scrap the occasional Monday nights that have featured two games on the same evening.

Successful scoreboard watching

Not only did the Penguins take care of their own business Tuesday night by thumping Detroit, 5-1, the rest of the Eastern Conference results helped them out as well.

The New York Islanders lost 4-3 in regulation at Buffalo. Ottawa dropped a 6-3 decision in Florida. The Capitals dumped the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-4, in Washington. And Carolina won at Columbus, 5-2.

In terms of the proximity of all those teams to the Penguins in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference wild card standings, all of those finals scores ended up benefiting the Penguins.

Once the dust settled Tuesday night, the Pens (92 points) found themselves ensconced in second place of the Metro with a three-point cushion on the third-place Islanders (89) and four points better than fourth-place Columbus.

Pittsburgh is also six points clear of falling into ninth place out of the wild card picture. Ottawa, Philadelphia and Detroit are all tied for that spot with 86 points apiece, and none of them picked up any points Tuesday courtesy of regulation losses.

On top of the Metro, that victory by Carolina gives the Hurricanes 100 points. That’s eight better than second-place Pittsburgh with eight games left. The Pens have seven games remaining, beginning with a road game at Tampa Bay (98 points) on Thursday.

Listen: Tim Benz and Penguins Radio Network host Brian Metzer host their weekly hockey podcast