- Having the draft on a Thursday night royally sucked in my opinion. It wasn't just that the Pens were also on and that my attention was diverted. It was that I had to deal with rush hour traffic. And I got to bed late. And I had to wake up and go to work today. Now, I have to wait all day for the draft to start up again. After tonight -- another late night, probably, but I don't have to go to work the next morning -- the draft is less than half over and there's no draft to look forward to on Sunday. I still went out, I still had a great time with Weidman and Dunder, but everything surrounding that time kinda sucked and I can't help but think that the suckage would have been severely lessened had the draft happened on Saturday this year instead of prime time on a Thursday. The ratings for ESPN were up by 30 percent... so this probably isn't going to change, which is even more suckage. But, the upside is that I had all day to think about the first round and only the first round, it's easier for me to break everything down and manage it, both as a fan and the purveyor of this blog, and it's easier for the professionals to cover it and dissect it.
- I love the Pouncey pick, obviously, because I finally correctly predicted a Steelers first round pick. The more I hear about him, the more I like him. He lives at the gym, he loves football, he played for a major college program, he's had success everywhere he's been, and he has a nasty attitude on the field but no character concerns off of it. Here's hoping we draft more like him. But... there was that awkward mouth kiss with his brother after he got drafted... and that kind of concerned me. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It was just weird.
- We still need a quality outside linebacker, a good cornerback, probably a wide receiver, at least one defensive end, probably a defensive tackle, and at least one offensive tackle.
- That's at most six players. We have nine picks left. If we come out of this draft with ten players selected, I am going to be very put out. We're basically in a rebuilding phase right now, but there's a bunch of guys on the roster that can still play, so it's not like we can cut everyone and start fresh. We also can't draft a bunch of guys, then grab some undrafted guys, and assume that they're all going to get a roster spot. There's too much talent on the roster for all those guys to get jobs. I would rather get six quality players than just taking ten guys because we can.
That means we trade up today. Golden Tate is still available. In most of the mock drafts I've seen -- adjusted for who was taken yesterday and who's still available versus what was predicted before the actual draft happened -- Tate is still being taken in the 42-45 range. We have a ton of picks and should use them to move up in the second round so we can grab some Tate.
I think he'd be a great addition. He's probably the most polished receiver in the draft, he's also a kick returner, and he's one of those guys that seems to play faster than his timed speed and always be able to come back to the ball and catch it at its highest point (like Larry Fitzgerald). I've liked him since the beginning of last season, but I didn't think we'd have a shot at him in the second round. Now that we have a shot at him, I'm saying we should go for it.
A lot of people are saying that we should go after Sean Lee, the linebacker from Penn State. I think Lee's a great player and he'll be a solid linebacker in the NFL, but I don't think he fits the Steelers scheme, I don't think he's worth trading up for, and I think he'll be gone by the time we pick. If we sit still and he falls to us, I think we need to take him because we have him rated so high, but I don't think he falls in our lap.
I've also heard a lot about Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, a cornerback and kick returner that has tremendous athletic ability, is a very effective return specialist, and dominated in college. The issue with him is that he hasn't been playing the position very long and he played at IUP, so he didn't face the highest level of competition when he was in college. Basically, he was a man among boys. If the Steelers can coach him up, he has a lot of potential and could actually be a steal. My problem with him is that his scouting report reads just like Ike Taylor's -- great athlete, still learning the position, played against a lower level of competition -- but the major difference here is that we drafted Ike in the fourth round when we didn't have a pressing need for a cornerback. The coaches were allowed to bring him along slowly, there wasn't a ton of pressure on him... and he still wasn't all that great. Owusu-Ansah is a bigger risk because he'd be a higher pick, so we'd want to get him involved faster, he might not be ready, and there will be more pressure on him because our secondary sucks and he might be our savior. Notice that I haven't piled on the fact that he's also a local kid that grew up in Columbus and went to IUP.
Obviously, the Steelers make their own decisions and don't usually put the opinions and desires of their fans first, but they might take Lee or Owusu-Ansah to appeal to people that would prefer them to have a hometown kid.
They could also take guard Jon Asamoah from Illinois and decide that they finally need to take the interior of their offensive line seriously.
With the 52nd Pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Steelers Select: Golden Tate, Wide Receiver, Notre Dame.
That's more of a best case scenario/dream pick, but I really think they trade up -- maybe even using the fifth round pick they got for Santonio -- and grab some Tate. Dunder already has the marketing plan together for Black and Golden Tate, so it seems a shame to waste a good idea.
Third Round Preview:
I have no inside sources and nothing to back this up, but I have this weird feeling that Terrence Cody of Alabama is still going to be there. Cody a pretty standard NFL story. Coming into the season, everyone considered him to be one of the three best defensive tackles in the country. Heading into the draft, he seemed to solidify that position.
At the Combine, everyone finally saw him in just a pair of shorts and realized that he's got some serious man-boobs and no real shape to his torso. Well, round is a shape, but that's not really what NFL teams are looking for.
It's true that Casey Hampton's nickname is Big Snack. It's true that he's been a great player in the league for about ten years. It's true that he's short and he's super fat. But, it's also true that he's a powerfully built, stocky man with a low center of gravity that carries a lot more weight and muscle in his thighs and calves than most people realize. Terrence Cody is just fat. That has turned off a lot of teams.
Someone will draft him eventually because there will always be jobs for big, fat guys in the NFL, but, at some point, you also have to be strong, have a low center of gravity so that you can use that mass to effectively drop anchor, and have fast hands. Hampton has all those things and had all those things when he was drafted.
Cody needs some work, but who better to tutor and guide Terrence on what not to do than Big Snack? With the contract Hampton signed in the offseason, that gives Cody enough time to hit the weight room, get in better shape, and learn how to use his body more effectively. By the time Hampton's contract is up -- or he gets cut, whichever -- Cody will be able to take over.
Again, this is just a feeling, but I think there are enough teams that stay away from him because his ass looks like about 150 pounds of chewed bubble gum, then there will be just enough teams that stay away from him because everyone else is staying away from him. The Steelers could end up winning out in that scenario and might just get their heir apparent at nose tackle.
With the 82nd Pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers Select: Terrence Cody, Defensive Tackle, Alabama.
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