2010 draft needs

[Dwinsgames]

1st and second round DB's can be impact guys year 1 and challenge and win starting jobs in this league , if the current Steelers trend of losing continues there is no reason whey we could not get a quality DB out of the first and second rounds if that is the direction they decide to go in ...

looking back the last few years the first DBs off the board are not always real high selections , its a dart board actually ... in 2006 4 DBs off the board in the first 20 players selected 2 of those top 10 ...........

in 2007 5 went top 20 in the draft however only 1 of those was a top 10 pick and guys like Hall , Griffin and Ross went 17-20 with Revis going at 14

2008 none went top 10 and just 3 in the top 20 and all 3 where starters as rookies .........

2009 just 1 DB in the top 20 players selected Malcolm Jenkins of the saints ....... and just 2 in the entire first round .......... several where taken in round 2 that where instant starters ...

dependent upon how the draft falls out some pretty talented DBs could be on the board in both rounds 1 and 2 with day 1 impact ability to start on a team that has some real issues in its secondary to fix

[DSH_97]

I'd agree with you, but in the Steelers case, they have two talented rookie CBs on their roster right now that haven't played yet. Burnett and Lewis aren't chop liver or fried baloney. We know Burnett can be an asset to that roster, and Lewis should probably be starting at this point. Tomlin wants to see both of them play. I think we see something promising out of both of them.

The one guy I worry about most is Clark, this time for health reasons. Is it good for him to continue playing this game, knowing he does have the sickle cell trait? Also, there's the ever growing concussion problem, that he's no stranger to. On more than one occasion, we've seen him take a blow to the head while tackling. In fact, he's sort of a mirror image to Troy in that regard. And the only other person backing him up is Carter...

[BigCurt]

Corners are going to get easier to find as more and more college teams run 4 and 5 wide sets, CB's get pushed into duty early and often. That's why they are able to play well sooner.

[Dwinsgames]

I'd agree with you, but in the Steelers case, they have two talented rookie CBs on their roster right now that haven't played yet. Burnett and Lewis aren't chop liver or fried baloney. We know Burnett can be an asset to that roster, and Lewis should probably be starting at this point. Tomlin wants to see both of them play. I think we see something promising out of both of them.

We thought we had a good one in Gay too didn't we ?

there is a very big difference in thinking you have some good ones coming up the depth chart and knowing you have them ....

Burnett is a small school kid who has a ton of upside but lets be honest he has not yet proved he is worthy of starting nor has he proved to be a playmaker at this level yet ...he very well may be both but at this point we just do not know for sure

Lewis has yet to get any real chances for one reason after another , injury , then ST needs to be dressed etc , now he will get some playing time ( so they say ) and just how well he plays is anyone's guess ... even if he looks great ( gay did last year ) it is still not proof that he is a long term answer until he has a full year starting under his belt ......

so really we are dealing with 2 unknown quantities here , but what we do know should scare us some anyways .... Ike has looked really bad in some situations , yes impart due to Carter failing in his over the top responsibilities by biting on play action but even without those gaffs by Carter Ike has not been nearly as solid as last season ......

Townsend ( I really like him ) BUT he is done IMO ...........

so what sure fire players do we have at CB ?

You have a point about the Safety Pos as well other than Troy its a train wreck and that includes Clark at this point , he has not been close to the same player ..... Mundy is a mess IMO , Carter is ok at best in a backup role to Clark but by no means not your every day starter .........

the entire secondary needs an overhaul , but we also need Linemen ... can not do it all with top round guys so this is the time to find those late round gems that come in and open eyes and win jobs .........

I would love to see 3 secondary players selected the first 3 rounds but that can only happen if we somehow find a way to get big Snack to sign a 2 or 3 year deal and I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen ...........

In a perfect world Lewis and Burnett prove to be the players we hope they can be , Gay finds his niche again as the nickle backer , Ike returns to form allowing Lewis to play S at a very high level and Troy returns to his normal self after 2 knee injuries in one season ........... and we somehow fall into a s#%t house and come out smelling like a rose and get Suh gifted to us in the draft

[Master Blaster]

I hope Mundy plays better on Thursday because if he doesn't Friday will be unbearable.

[DSH_97]

I'd agree with you, but in the Steelers case, they have two talented rookie CBs on their roster right now that haven't played yet. Burnett and Lewis aren't chop liver or fried baloney. We know Burnett can be an asset to that roster, and Lewis should probably be starting at this point. Tomlin wants to see both of them play. I think we see something promising out of both of them.

We thought we had a good one in Gay too didn't we ?

there is a very big difference in thinking you have some good ones coming up the depth chart and knowing you have them ....

Burnett is a small school kid who has a ton of upside but lets be honest he has not yet proved he is worthy of starting nor has he proved to be a playmaker at this level yet ...he very well may be both but at this point we just do not know for sure

Lewis has yet to get any real chances for one reason after another , injury , then ST needs to be dressed etc , now he will get some playing time ( so they say ) and just how well he plays is anyone's guess ... even if he looks great ( gay did last year ) it is still not proof that he is a long term answer until he has a full year starting under his belt ......

so really we are dealing with 2 unknown quantities here , but what we do know should scare us some anyways .... Ike has looked really bad in some situations , yes impart due to Carter failing in his over the top responsibilities by biting on play action but even without those gaffs by Carter Ike has not been nearly as solid as last season ......

Townsend ( I really like him ) BUT he is done IMO ...........

so what sure fire players do we have at CB ?

You have a point about the Safety Pos as well other than Troy its a train wreck and that includes Clark at this point , he has not been close to the same player ..... Mundy is a mess IMO , Carter is ok at best in a backup role to Clark but by no means not your every day starter .........

the entire secondary needs an overhaul , but we also need Linemen ... can not do it all with top round guys so this is the time to find those late round gems that come in and open eyes and win jobs .........

I would love to see 3 secondary players selected the first 3 rounds but that can only happen if we somehow find a way to get big Snack to sign a 2 or 3 year deal and I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen ...........

In a perfect world Lewis and Burnett prove to be the players we hope they can be , Gay finds his niche again as the nickle backer , Ike returns to form allowing Lewis to play S at a very high level and Troy returns to his normal self after 2 knee injuries in one season ........... and we somehow fall into a s#%t house and come out smelling like a rose and get Suh gifted to us in the draft

To be honest, I never really saw Gay as the answer to the departure of McFadden. He was a 1st year guy that flashed some talent, and just about everyone that rooted for the Steelers held high respect for. To me, he came on too soon, and he hasn't shown he could be consistent yet. And I'll say something else here as well, Taylor is not a #1 type CB, but the coaching staff seems steadfast in keeping him as one. I've always thought of Taylor as a nice #2. I think our #1 is Lewis. We shall see what he can do when given the chance to play. But aside from that Taylor is an average #1 at best. I'm still kind of waiting on him to have more than 2 INTs in a season. It hasn't happened yet.

And I don't see them in need of overhauling the entire secondary as well. A corner and a good free safety type would do wonders for this secondary.

I'm starting to lose hope that Suh will be there by the time they pick. A team like the Chiefs or Lions will probably end up with him, which would be unfortunate...But I'm gaining hope that Nate Allen will be there for the Steelers instead. He's the very type of player to help fix this mess in the secondary. The type of player they've avoided picking in the past.

[mojouw]

Corners are going to get easier to find as more and more college teams run 4 and 5 wide sets, CB's get pushed into duty early and often. That's why they are able to play well sooner.

That's a really good point. Do you think that CB's will come into the draft with better man or zone coverage skills as a result of defending the spread at the college level?

[BigCurt]

Corners are going to get easier to find as more and more college teams run 4 and 5 wide sets, CB's get pushed into duty early and often. That's why they are able to play well sooner.

That's a really good point. Do you think that CB's will come into the draft with better man or zone coverage skills as a result of defending the spread at the college level?

Probably more shallow man under and deeper zones. that's what I see. They go man under, for all the crossing routes and flats, and play zone behind that.

[bigbob67]

My initial thoughts on the draft.

we could really use help anywhere.
-Ol and Dl have issues
-secondary.... couldnt cover a high school jv receiving corp. any help here would be great. even a strong safety, ours seems incapable of staying on the field. no fault of his own though, just a sad truth.
-linebackers I'm worried about.....
-Harrison-aging, and a no show tonight. looked like he didnt want to play.
-Farrrior-see 4th down vs the baltimore ravens. i know a linebacker probably wont cover ray rice... but we may as well have put casey hampton on rice on the play.
-Timmons- i think he still struggles against the run, but we can live with him.
-Woodley-he started off the year slow,but he may be the only person on this roster playing better down the stretch.
-Fox-until I see him prove otherwise im not comfortable handing him a starting job. he could well prove to be william gay 2.0 if we play him based on a few flashes of talent.
-every other lb on our roster=scrubs.
-I loath matt spaeth every bit as much as i do Bruce Arians. he is to tight end what bruce davis was to outside linbacker...incompetent.
-assuming fast willie leaves for greener pastures which im fairly certain will happen.... who spells mendenhall?....please dont tell me mewelde moore... hes a nice asset in passing situations but thats about it.
-receiver- i think we're fine, it'd be great if sweed could catch.... but whatever
-qb-time for charlie to retire.

anyway.... just my thoughts after the latest debacle.

[DSH_97]

Yeah, at this point, all bets are off. I wonder how long this streak will go? Losing the rest of the month is not out of the question now. Not when you struggle against the Browns, as if they were the '89 Giants

[Jball]

Believe it or not, if the season ended today, we would have the 12th overall pick. I wonder(if things stay as they are) if that puts us in Mt. Cody territory? If so, there's no way they can pass him up.

[mojouw]

Believe it or not, if the season ended today, we would have the 12th overall pick. I wonder(if things stay as they are) if that puts us in Mt. Cody territory? If so, there's no way they can pass him up.

Or if you pick at 12 (the way things are going it might be higher) do you hold an auction for it and accumulate a bunch of other picks?

Personally, if I felt I had solved the NT situation prior to the draft, I would trade down and take my chances with multiple picks on the oline and the secondary.

[mojouw]

Know what else hurts about recent Steelers drafts...besides Brandon Marshall? Cliff Avril. 4.5 sacks as a DE on a crappy team. Think he would help as a situation pass rusher on this team? I know that I have defended Colbert here in the past, and will likely do so in the future. But those two picks, more than any others in the past decade or so...sting the most for me.

[DSH_97]

This upcoming draft... the more I think about what occurred over the last couple of drafts and heading into the adjoining seasons, the more this is looking like a draft strictly for defense.

I mean, I'm not impressed with the play of the O-line, not one bit. But they stacked up on OLs the last few seasons and they seem to think they have something in a couple of Latrobe campers. So they may not see the need to think about drafting another OL, which would be unfortunate, IMO. I've normally felt that they need to draft an OL every 3-4 years, whether they think they need to or not, due to health concerns, and, to keep them on their toes, knowing they could be replaced tomorrow.

But this defense is clearly on the downside of it's former self. I can see them picking up a FS, 2 CBs, a NT and a DE, come April. Townsend and Carter might not be with them next season, which is fine because they can't do much worse than they are now. Hampton isn't over the hill and Hoke has barely seen the field this year (what the hell is going on with that, I wonder?), so maybe they bring in some youth that will eventually replace Hampton later on. Also to be mentioned with them is Smith. He may be starting to get long in the tooth as well. It wasn't that long ago I suggested trading him while the getting was good. But now, I don't see anyone trading for Smith at the moment. So they might want to think about drafting or signing another DE in the next couple of seasons.

And the LBs aren't exactly set either. They need to think about replacing Farrior, who is well on his way out the door. It sucks seeing the good ones go, but you can't risk not replacing them for hurt feelings. The man was good before he got to the Burgh, and he was good for them during the latter part of his career....

Tossing darts at some names....

FS: Nate Allen

CB: Brandon Ghee, Myron Lewis

NT: Dan Williams

DE: Brandon Deaderick

ILB: Daryl Washington

[Dwinsgames]

actually the list would have more on it than draft picks we have ... we need to get younger FAST on def at multiple pos's ....... D-Line, D-back and Linebacker the team is aging fast on that side of the ball ....

and don't even get me started on the O-Line ......

and we already know Colbert is going to spend at least 1 pick in the first 4 rounds on a TE ..... so how do we address all the needs ???

we cant and probably wont bother to attempt to address some areas , but he will still take a TE

[DarthSpartans20]

Immediate areas of need as I see it(in no particular order):

CB opposite Ike Taylor: Taylor is as solid cornerback as there is in the league. He doesnt make alot of interceptions but he breaks up a ton of passes. I would like to see him work on his hands and be more a of a plamaker but it is what it is with Ike.

FS: We need a playmaker here period. Clark is a big hitter but he takes too many bad angles and at least twice a game, seems to be out of position on long pass plays.

LG, LT: No comment needed here

D-line depth: This unit is getting long in the tooth, but I think this area could be addressed via free agency

LB depth: This unit could be addressed both through free agency and the draft and through free agency there are a few decent names out there for a good price.

[Dwinsgames]

LB depth: This unit could be addressed both through free agency and the draft and through free agency there are a few decent names out there for a good price.

how would anyone know what the price will be at this point ? hell we do not even know if they will have a collective bargaining agreement in place or not and that could inflate prices dramaticly

[DarthSpartans20]

LB depth: This unit could be addressed both through free agency and the draft and through free agency there are a few decent names out there for a good price.

how would anyone know what the price will be at this point ? hell we do not even know if they will have a collective bargaining agreement in place or not and that could inflate prices dramaticly

They will get a deal done. Not a matter of if but rather when will it get done. The CBA is what makes the NFL so much better than all the other leagues and both the owners and the players know that.

[DSH_97]

Clark is really just average for his position. He plays hard and hits big, but when it comes time to make a play, I honestly don't ever expect him to. He'd rather hit somebody than make an interception. Yeah, I know, it's more important to make the stop than to foolishly go after the ball and let the guy run by you. Yeah, well, that doesn't stop them from doing so after the catch either.

It's kind of difficult to put this into words, how the Pittsburgh franchise views the safety position. You can't stick just anyone back there and make magical things happen for the secondary.This team hasn't seen a nice secondary since Lake, Johnson, Woodson and Perry were on patrol. It takes a certain kind of mentality to play that position well. You have to be the absolute best on defense (or at least aspire to be....) at reading whats in front of you. Just as a QB reads coverages, you gotta be able to figure out what the offense is trying to do and react to them immediately. I mean, face the fact, that's the last man on defense to stop the play from advancing. If he can't figure out what's going on in front of him, he's going to have to figure out how to catch up to the ball carrier that just ran by him.

When I think back to all the former and current great safeties of the game, and they all had one thing in common, and it had nothing to do with hitting hard. They could all read a QB and figure out what the WR (and the offense in general) is trying to do. Some players have it, others just don't. And while I respect Clark putting forth his best effort every down, every game, he's just not enough for that secondary they have right now. When he was with the Skins, they had Sean Taylor opposite of him. Taylor could cover enough ground for the both of them, allowing Clark to do just enough to maintain his area and what he needs to do to help the team win. With Troy coming up to the line more often than not, Clark is left with the duties that were better suited for a safety like Taylor.

But the Steelers front office seem to view the secondary as if it's not that important, as long as they have enough men on the field when the ball is snapped. Picking up late round picks and career journeymen to fill in the void they have back there. It's akin to hiring a bunch of illegals to do the work, when U.S. citizens are clearly available do themselves....

[BigCurt]

One thing that cannot be ignored in all this discussion of the draft is, this is going to be one of the strongest FA groups in awhile as well. There's always a chance that some of the needs discussed here get filled via FA and the draft can be for something else.

[Dwinsgames]

and the draft can be for something else.

Yea we always need practice squad fodder

not making fun of what you said but how you said it ... and considering Colberts words a few years back ....well you know where i am coming from

[BigCurt]

and the draft can be for something else.

Yea we always need practice squad fodder

not making fun of what you said but how you said it ... and considering Colberts words a few years back ....well you know where i am coming from

I get ya. I was only thinking in terms of the multiple positions of need and where those spots are better in FA and where they are worse in terms of the first two rounds of the draft. For example, S isn't a great FA class so the draft would be a better option. And FA corners cost a fortune so that could be another. Oline on the other hand is really deep in FA this year so far.

[DSH_97]

Something I'm curious about, Ted Ginn Jr might be released from the Phins. Possible KR for the Steelers? It's kind of difficult to judge Ginn at the moment, because he really didn't have a good QB throwing him the ball. But there seems to be some speculation going on about the Phins giving up on him after the season. At least from the view of ESPN...

[Jball]

Looks like we'll probably have the 19th pick. Too bad Denver didn't go ahead and win since we were eliminated anyway but there it is. Still could be the 20th pick. I hate that pick, best of all the non-playoff teams.

[Jball]

We got pick #18. Should be able to get a pretty good player there.