Draft 2008 has come and gone for the Steelers (barring any strange 7th round trades as we technically have no picks left). Overall I like what we did this year although, as usual, it was not scripted exactly how I thought it would be.
In general, I think we gained momentum as the draft went and were in high gear through our first 4 picks. Then, with the 5th pick we kind of went sideways but were able to pull it back together to have a pretty good set of picks. But I get ahead of myself: first the picks and then some analysis.
RD PK(OVR) NAME POS SCHOOL
1 23(23) Rashard Mendenhall RB ILLINOIS
2 22(53) Limas Sweed WR TEXAS
3 25(88) Bruce Davis OLB UCLA
4 31(130) Tony Hills OT TEXAS
5 21(156) Dennis Dixon QB OREGON
6 22(188) Mike Humpal OLB IOWA
6 28(194) Ryan Mundy S WEST VIRGINIA
Even though some of my “draft needs” weren’t met, my premonition of us taking a running back in the first round came true. Upon reflection I’m okay with that. I said I wouldn’t be upset if we did I won’t be. When you think about it, even though we picked him as the 4th running back with the 23rd pick, he is probably the 2nd or 3rd best running back in the draft. How can you possibly argue that taking the 2nd best RB at pick 23 of the first round is a bad idea?
In keeping with their strategy to go with the best player they took Limas Sweed in the 2nd round. Even though I wanted Hardy he was long gone by this time. Actually I’m pretty surprised Sweed was still here and again, you can’t argue with going with him considering we’re down to 2 reliable WRs (Ward and Holmes) and a couple questionable ones (Washington and Reid). So even though I was still hoping for O Line or D Line with this pick it’s really hard to argue with what happened.
Same deal with pick #3. Sure, I would have preferred O/D Line. But if Linebacker Bruce Davis was really the best on the board compared to the O/D Line talent why not pick him? We are pretty thin at Outside Line Backer so we need one of those as well. NOTE: I guess he’s really a Defensive End but we’ll convert him to OLB.
After this point in the draft I started thinking, okay, we’re hitting the groove. Not only are we taking the best players available when we pick (like we promised we’d do) they are now also starting to line up with our needs. Then came the 4th pick and I was ECSTATIC that we picked on Offensive Tackle. YEAH we finally got an O Line guy!!! Maybe he won’t start (and maybe he won’t even make the squad), but at least we have a warm body in there that can challenge a roster spot.
Now I was really thinking that this could be the best draft of all time (well, maybe the best draft since the 70s anyway). Until the 5th pick. A quarterback. Better yet, a quarterback who blew out his knee already (or something like that). Do I like this pick? No. Am I mad for them making it? No. Listen, I know we need another QB on the roster at the very least to put on the practice squad. We only have 2 QBs with our back up getting older every year. So we inevitably have to pick up a young practice squad eligible QB at some point this offseason but you hate to use a 5th round pick on him. This is where I dreamt some guy walks off the street at training camp and the club goes, “wow, this guy looks promising, let’s sign him”. But, I’m sure he was the best on the board at the time so we took him. I really do wish we’d have ignored that strategy, though, for this round and picked a D Lineman.
In the 6th round we picked another linebacker. Again, no problem here. I’ve seen him listed as an inside and outside linebacker so I don’t know which he really is. But no matter, you will NEVER see me complain about picking a LB up in the 6th round. NEVER.
Finally we rounded it out buy using our 2nd 6th round pick which we aquired when we traded down in the 4th round. We used him on a safety (WVU represent!). I also have no problem with that. Ryan Clark may never come back from that spleen surgery. While I was WAY big on Anthony Smith at the beginning of last season he has shown us nothing that would now instill me with any confidence after his abysmal play in the 2nd half of the year when he took over as the starter. So how can you argue with taking a safety (especially one that apparently can play cornerback as well)? I can’t.
That said, we made it through a draft where I wanted 3 linemen (2 O and 1 D) and we only picked 1 Offensive Lineman. So how am I okay with this? I guess because I can’t argue with any of the selections as I go back and look at them. That and I guess that I missed one point this offseason that I didn’t think about until today. When Hartwig was signed to play center, we didn’t get rid of Mahan (who sucked as our center last season). Then I recalled that he also plays Guard (I think). That being the case, maybe we plan on using Mahan as a starting guard? Or maybe Stapleton or Caprizzi, our two young, developmental O-lineman are ready to take the next step this year? Who knows, maybe the Steelers front office see something that I can’t. Either way, with Mahan at guard and drafting a Tackle in the 4th round we might be okay. At least I sure hope so!!!
But what about the D line? We didn’t draft anybody? Who is going to step up if Smith, Hampton, or Kiesel goes down? Not Kirtchske or Eason (at least they didn’t last year). Is the young McBean ready to go this year? Who the hell else is there? I really think we are gambling with our D line this season and that makes me REALLY nervous. Winning starts with the defense as far as I’m concerned.
In summary, I do really like our draft this year. For sure our offense should be better because even if the line still sucks wind we can always line up 5 wide (Sweed, Parker, Mendehall/Miller, Ward, Holmes) and just 3 step drop everything!! Or maybe line up with 2 running backs (Parker/Mendenhall) in the old standard I formation and just keep ‘em guessing with some trick plays. But I tell you, I don’t see us being a run first team without someone stepping up on that O-Line and playing. And if we’re not a run first team I really don’t see us making it deep into the playoffs.
Just as the thought of being a pass first team scares me I’ll restate that our depth on D Line is frightening.
So these were my two main concerns going into the draft and still remain my two biggest concerns coming out. But we added some quality players and that can surely only help us. I guess we’ll see how it pans out this fall. Because regardless of how fun the offseason is the whole point of it is to still play the games to see who the best team is!
Do you think it’s too late to find someone willing to give us a D Lineman for Najah Davenport, Gary Russell, or Cary Davis?
-David
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The ghost of Myron Cope
Either today or yesterday I believe that I was visited by the ghost of Myron Cope. Maybe “visit” is the wrong word. Maybe I somehow fused with whatever is left of Myron’s earthly soul. It’s all a little strange to me but the experience left me with two distinct thoughts that I feel I must share with you on the eve of the eve of the eve of the 2008 NFL draft.
Thought #1: I get the distinct vibe that the Steelers really want to draft a running back in the first round. Don’t ask me why; ask Myron’s ghost who now possesses a portion of my mind because he seems to understand this more than I do. What I can comprehend is that I’m a little nervous about this. Surely I won’t be upset if we take a running back in the first round, especially if one of the top couple drops to us. But I don’t think I’ll be overly excited either because we have SO many urgent needs on both lines. So this Saturday, I’ll be watching each pick with bated breath to see if the top 3 (or 4) running backs go off the board before we pick. If they do not, it’ll be real interesting when we step up and hand the commish our card with the 23rd pick.
Thought #2: Steely McBeam pisses me off. It’s bad enough that we have a fucking mascot to begin with but when one of the guys who wears the stupid outfit got busted for DUI (a couple weeks/months back) he got fired. Now I know the Rooney’s don’t put up with that behavior (in fact I read the application to be Steely McBeam when they were searching and it clearly stated that you will be held to the same standards as the rest of the Steelers organization), but come the fuck on. If we were going to have a mascot he should absolutely be drunk. Constantly. He should also not be wearing a stupid costume. He should be walking around with no shirt on and a beer can in each hand. He should be fat. Not 400 pounds fat, but the kind of guy that has a HUGE beer gut and an otherwise just normally overweight rest of the body. And the only time he is not allowed to have a beer in each hand is when he has a kielbasa in one hand. He should also be a Pollock. He should be a big, fat, drunken, Pollock who is engaged in a constant state of devouring food and berating the other teams’ fans. Especially Browns and Bengals fans. And if he’s not that, I do not acknowledge him as the True Steelers Mascot. I renounce you Mr. McBeam! Go back to whence you came, you fucknut!
That said: Good luck to the Steelers personnel department this weekend. I am confident we will have a brilliant draft this year.
…as long as we don’t take a god damned wide receiver in the first round. And I had a vision of that too. For real. But that one scares me too much to talk about…
-David
Thought #1: I get the distinct vibe that the Steelers really want to draft a running back in the first round. Don’t ask me why; ask Myron’s ghost who now possesses a portion of my mind because he seems to understand this more than I do. What I can comprehend is that I’m a little nervous about this. Surely I won’t be upset if we take a running back in the first round, especially if one of the top couple drops to us. But I don’t think I’ll be overly excited either because we have SO many urgent needs on both lines. So this Saturday, I’ll be watching each pick with bated breath to see if the top 3 (or 4) running backs go off the board before we pick. If they do not, it’ll be real interesting when we step up and hand the commish our card with the 23rd pick.
Thought #2: Steely McBeam pisses me off. It’s bad enough that we have a fucking mascot to begin with but when one of the guys who wears the stupid outfit got busted for DUI (a couple weeks/months back) he got fired. Now I know the Rooney’s don’t put up with that behavior (in fact I read the application to be Steely McBeam when they were searching and it clearly stated that you will be held to the same standards as the rest of the Steelers organization), but come the fuck on. If we were going to have a mascot he should absolutely be drunk. Constantly. He should also not be wearing a stupid costume. He should be walking around with no shirt on and a beer can in each hand. He should be fat. Not 400 pounds fat, but the kind of guy that has a HUGE beer gut and an otherwise just normally overweight rest of the body. And the only time he is not allowed to have a beer in each hand is when he has a kielbasa in one hand. He should also be a Pollock. He should be a big, fat, drunken, Pollock who is engaged in a constant state of devouring food and berating the other teams’ fans. Especially Browns and Bengals fans. And if he’s not that, I do not acknowledge him as the True Steelers Mascot. I renounce you Mr. McBeam! Go back to whence you came, you fucknut!
That said: Good luck to the Steelers personnel department this weekend. I am confident we will have a brilliant draft this year.
…as long as we don’t take a god damned wide receiver in the first round. And I had a vision of that too. For real. But that one scares me too much to talk about…
-David
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Steelers draft needs
With the draft a couple weeks away its time to prognosticate on what I think the Steelers should do. Over the years, I’ve realized that this is probably not what they will do, however, because the organization has proven in the past that they are disciples of the concept of taking the best value on the board when it comes to their pick. So they’ll take a player at a position they don’t technically have an immediate need for if he is in their mind the best player with the best value on the board.
Regardless, in the event Dan Rooney gives me a call at the last minute to join their draft team, I’ll get my needs list ready.
So here is my list of the most urgent needs that I think the Steelers should address in this year’s draft. I’ll list the needs in order from most urgent to least urgent. I’ll put seven needs on the list even though I think the Steelers may only have 6 picks this year.
1. Offensive Tackle / Guard
2. Offensive Guard / Tackle
3. Defensive End
4. Wide Receiver
5. Center
6. Corner Back
7. Defensive End / Linebacker
Going into the off season, my main concern was Center and I would have made that #1 on the list except we did end up signing Justin Hartwig. I’m still not convinced he is the answer (though to repeat a thought from last entry I do think he’ll be better than Mahan) but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt since the Steelers front office did. So I wouldn’t say center is now our most urgent need. BUT, I did still put a center in the 5th position because I’d like to have someone new in the hopper just in case Hartwig does bust out also.
That makes my new #1 concern the rest of our offensive line. I don’t really care if we go with a Tackle or a Guard. In general, it seems to me that tackles can switch to guard easier than guards can switch to tackles so that is why I technically listed a Tackle first even though we probably have a more pressing need at guard. If we can land a good Tackle with our first pick I think we should jump on it and then convert one of our existing Tackles to a Guard if need be. I just don’t want to stretch for a Guard if he his not there when our pick comes up.
That said, my #2 concern is the same thing. We are just too thin on the offensive line as far as depth goes. I fear last year also showed us that our backups are indeed backups (i.e., not ready to step up in a starting role). So similar to my thoughts on Center, we need to have some young, new guys in the hopper at ALL times. They don’t always pan out so we should get a large group of them over a couple years and hope at least one or two shake out as starters.
At #3 I go for a Defensive End. When Aaron Smith went down with an injury last year our Defensive Line fell apart completely. This is another example of our backups being backups because no one could get in there and do what Smith was doing. I really hope the rookie we drafted last year (McBean) is ready to step up and be our primary back up this year but citing another point from above just in case he’s not I think we need to get someone else in the hopper. In this case, I must say I wouldn’t be too upset if these Steelers drafted a Defensive End in the second round or MAYBE even in the first round as long as they use one to two of their other first three picks on the O-Line. Most people seem to think the Steelers will go with O-line with their first pick but I’ve read a number of things that could indicate that they will indeed go D-Line instead. Remember: they will draft for value with that first pick so if they think a D-Line is the best value for the talent on the board they will absolutely take him over an O-Line. So we’ll see.
Let’s give Big Ben his tall wide receiver with #4. I think Ben was a bit out of line with his off season comment that he wanted the Steelers to add a tall wide receiver and I think Hines Ward was right to be offended as it suggested he wasn’t good enough because he is short. That said, I see Ben’s point (I just wish he would have kept it between him and Kevin Colbert). As you may remember, I am NEVER in favor of drafting a WR in the first round, but by the 4th round I’m okay with taking one as long as we get a tall one. I love Hines and I really like Santonio but neither of them will ever create a height mismatch with a DB. Nate Washington is a little taller and yet again he showed flashes of coming into his own last season but I’m all but giving up on him. Every year he shows us a little bit of what he can be and then he always fades back into mediocrity. So let’s take a shot at a tall WR and see what we get.
Per my initial comment I go with a Center at #5. Until one of these guys we have shows us he can actually exist in the same room as Mike Webster’s, Dermonti Dawson’s, and Jeff Harting’s jocks, I’m going to call for drafting Centers. I don’t even need them to hold their jocks… just exist in the same room as them for Christ’s sake. They can grow into greatness if they can just find the right starting point.
At #6 I’d go with a Corner Back. It’s been a long time since the Steelers have had a really dominant Corner Back and since we don’t chase shut down free agents it will probably be a long time until we have another. That said, it’s always good to keep a stable of Corner Backs around. This is another position where we just have to keep putting guys in the hopper and hope one of them shakes out.
Finally, I think our #7 need is someone in the front 7 on defense. Whether that is another Defensive End or a Linebacker I’ll leave that up to the best value on the board at the time. But I do think we need to make sure we have enough development depth in our front 7 at all times. With Haggans gone it looks like Woodley will step up into the starting role but we may want to plug someone in to replace Woodley on the up and coming list.
That’s my assessment anyway. I’m not going to get too bent out of shape this year at the order the Steelers draft in as long as they address most of these needs. My one request is that they MUST draft at least one Offensive Lineman with the ability to start next season. I don’t think we should assume our O-Line is ready to go with the people we already have on the roster. Therefore I would ASSUME they would want to take an O-Line guy very early in the draft.
But we shall see. And at the risk of sounding redundant year to year, let me leave you with my annual pre-draft prayer:
Dear Lord, please do not let us draft a WR in the first round.
-David
Regardless, in the event Dan Rooney gives me a call at the last minute to join their draft team, I’ll get my needs list ready.
So here is my list of the most urgent needs that I think the Steelers should address in this year’s draft. I’ll list the needs in order from most urgent to least urgent. I’ll put seven needs on the list even though I think the Steelers may only have 6 picks this year.
1. Offensive Tackle / Guard
2. Offensive Guard / Tackle
3. Defensive End
4. Wide Receiver
5. Center
6. Corner Back
7. Defensive End / Linebacker
Going into the off season, my main concern was Center and I would have made that #1 on the list except we did end up signing Justin Hartwig. I’m still not convinced he is the answer (though to repeat a thought from last entry I do think he’ll be better than Mahan) but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt since the Steelers front office did. So I wouldn’t say center is now our most urgent need. BUT, I did still put a center in the 5th position because I’d like to have someone new in the hopper just in case Hartwig does bust out also.
That makes my new #1 concern the rest of our offensive line. I don’t really care if we go with a Tackle or a Guard. In general, it seems to me that tackles can switch to guard easier than guards can switch to tackles so that is why I technically listed a Tackle first even though we probably have a more pressing need at guard. If we can land a good Tackle with our first pick I think we should jump on it and then convert one of our existing Tackles to a Guard if need be. I just don’t want to stretch for a Guard if he his not there when our pick comes up.
That said, my #2 concern is the same thing. We are just too thin on the offensive line as far as depth goes. I fear last year also showed us that our backups are indeed backups (i.e., not ready to step up in a starting role). So similar to my thoughts on Center, we need to have some young, new guys in the hopper at ALL times. They don’t always pan out so we should get a large group of them over a couple years and hope at least one or two shake out as starters.
At #3 I go for a Defensive End. When Aaron Smith went down with an injury last year our Defensive Line fell apart completely. This is another example of our backups being backups because no one could get in there and do what Smith was doing. I really hope the rookie we drafted last year (McBean) is ready to step up and be our primary back up this year but citing another point from above just in case he’s not I think we need to get someone else in the hopper. In this case, I must say I wouldn’t be too upset if these Steelers drafted a Defensive End in the second round or MAYBE even in the first round as long as they use one to two of their other first three picks on the O-Line. Most people seem to think the Steelers will go with O-line with their first pick but I’ve read a number of things that could indicate that they will indeed go D-Line instead. Remember: they will draft for value with that first pick so if they think a D-Line is the best value for the talent on the board they will absolutely take him over an O-Line. So we’ll see.
Let’s give Big Ben his tall wide receiver with #4. I think Ben was a bit out of line with his off season comment that he wanted the Steelers to add a tall wide receiver and I think Hines Ward was right to be offended as it suggested he wasn’t good enough because he is short. That said, I see Ben’s point (I just wish he would have kept it between him and Kevin Colbert). As you may remember, I am NEVER in favor of drafting a WR in the first round, but by the 4th round I’m okay with taking one as long as we get a tall one. I love Hines and I really like Santonio but neither of them will ever create a height mismatch with a DB. Nate Washington is a little taller and yet again he showed flashes of coming into his own last season but I’m all but giving up on him. Every year he shows us a little bit of what he can be and then he always fades back into mediocrity. So let’s take a shot at a tall WR and see what we get.
Per my initial comment I go with a Center at #5. Until one of these guys we have shows us he can actually exist in the same room as Mike Webster’s, Dermonti Dawson’s, and Jeff Harting’s jocks, I’m going to call for drafting Centers. I don’t even need them to hold their jocks… just exist in the same room as them for Christ’s sake. They can grow into greatness if they can just find the right starting point.
At #6 I’d go with a Corner Back. It’s been a long time since the Steelers have had a really dominant Corner Back and since we don’t chase shut down free agents it will probably be a long time until we have another. That said, it’s always good to keep a stable of Corner Backs around. This is another position where we just have to keep putting guys in the hopper and hope one of them shakes out.
Finally, I think our #7 need is someone in the front 7 on defense. Whether that is another Defensive End or a Linebacker I’ll leave that up to the best value on the board at the time. But I do think we need to make sure we have enough development depth in our front 7 at all times. With Haggans gone it looks like Woodley will step up into the starting role but we may want to plug someone in to replace Woodley on the up and coming list.
That’s my assessment anyway. I’m not going to get too bent out of shape this year at the order the Steelers draft in as long as they address most of these needs. My one request is that they MUST draft at least one Offensive Lineman with the ability to start next season. I don’t think we should assume our O-Line is ready to go with the people we already have on the roster. Therefore I would ASSUME they would want to take an O-Line guy very early in the draft.
But we shall see. And at the risk of sounding redundant year to year, let me leave you with my annual pre-draft prayer:
Dear Lord, please do not let us draft a WR in the first round.
-David
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