Historically, I have had a tendency to freak out about the Steelers first round draft picks, but not this year. Or last year. I had quite a freak-out run from 2003-2007, though, even if I did actually like the Polamalu pick in 2003 (thought they gave up too much to move up) and the Heath Miller pick in 2005 (because it would be a wasted pick since they never throw to the tight end). That is all behind me. For now.
I would have preferred it if they had drafted Derrek Sherrod -- who was available at 31st overall -- but I'm not sure if that's because I wanted them to take him to help the team, or if I just wanted to be right. Cameron Heyward -- son of former Saints running back Ironhead Heyward -- was not really on my radar, which is why I said I didn't think there were any good 3-4 end prospects in this draft. That was an oversight on my part and I apologize. In return for your pain and suffering, I offer you a full refund.
With Ziggy Hood already in place and Heyward coming in, the average age of the defensive line has been upgraded from "death" to "middle-aged," which is a very, very good thing.
Now that they have two potentially solid defensive ends who are both first round picks, the weight of expectations can be shared equally between Heyward and Hood. That means that Hood doesn't make or break the 2009 draft and Heyward doesn't make or break this one.
I think that Heyward has the tools and the talent to add an extra dimension to the pass rush, especially when paired with Hood. Since 1992, the Steelers have had only one good pass rushing end (Ray Seals) and one decent one (Aaron Smith, but he has declined over the years). You could throw Brett Keisel into the mix, probably between decent and good, but he really doesn't have a broad enough body of work to draw any real conclusions. With those two at end and the linebackers the Steelers have on the roster, they may be able to bring more heat on the quarterback than they have in the past couple of years, which is bad news for the rest of the league. The good news for the Steelers is that I don't think there will be a dropoff in terms of run defense, which is less of a good thing when you realize that means teams will just throw the ball 50 times a game on them. But, go back to the pass rushing boost and the defense might actually be better than it was in 2010, which is extraordinarily good news.
I was in New Orleans during the draft, so I was really just grabbing updates on my phone as the picks came through. I took a closer look when I got back -- then a little more research this morning when I got into work -- and I have to say that my estimation of this year's haul has gone from "solid" to "awesome." The reason for the substantial upgrade in my appraisal is that I took a good look at the guys they landed in rounds 2-7 and I feel they tabbed a bunch of potentially great players.
I say "potentially" because I -- just like everyone else -- have no real idea how these guys are going to do. I blasted the 2007 draft class and that brought us Timmons, Woodly, Vulva, Cameron Stephenson, and Gay. Also, Matt Spaeth, but we'll look past that. It's not exactly the 1974 class, but they've gotten a great deal of tremendous play out of the first three guys and some quality starting time out of the last two. For a seven round draft, that ain't bad.
When I saw that they drafted Marcus Gilbert in the second round, I was like, "Oh, interesting. There might be three Gators on the offensive line next year." Today, I found out the following things:
- He's about the same size as Max Starks.
- He can play any position on the offensive line, but is probably best suited playing right tackle (see #1).
- His father is a secret service agent.
Florida offensive linemen are usually huge and well-trained, but the knock on them is that they don't tend to have mean streaks and their mechanics are usually out of whack. Starks started at right tackle, but he wasn't mean enough and he wasn't strong enough. He's a good fit at left tackle, but Gilbert would be a bad fit because he has short arms and flat fleet.
Basically, I'm hoping that Starks sits Gilbert down and says, "Hey, I've got left tackle set up for a while. I think you're better than Willie Colon and I think Colon will be a better guard than a tackle. When I first came here, I struggled at right tackle for the following reasons. Work your way through those issues and you and I will be playing here with Maurkice for a long time."
If Colon plays right guard and Legursky plays left guard, the Steelers might actually have a good offensive line in 2011. Not bad, not serviceable, not decent, actually good. Provided Gilbert lives up to his potential and Starks helps him out.
I like both cornerbacks. I think they both need to hit the weight room and the buffet line. They'd be normal sized anywhere else in the world, but they're a little scrawny to play cornerback, especially for the Steelers, where they'll be asked to step up in run support pretty frequently. I like Cortez Allen a little more than Curtis Brown because Allen's taller and he comes from a small school (Citadel). I think that will give him extra motivation to succeed and he has the frame to be about as big as Ike Taylor.
They both seem to have about as much catching ability as Taylor, but that's fine. I think the more important thing is that they be able to cover receivers and tackle ball carriers. I also think that the Steelers will re-sign Taylor, so that gives these two prospects a little time to get adjusted -- much like with Gay and McFadden when they first got started in the league.
I love Christopher Carter. He's fast, he played defensive end in college, he's about the right size (maybe too short, but they said that about James Harrison), and he's an aggressive player. The book on him is that he'll probably struggle to learn how to play outside linebacker in the 3-4, particularly in coverage. The same could be said for James Harrison. And LaMarr Woodley. And Chad Brown. And Joey Porter. And Jason Gildon. And Greg Lloyd. I think you get the idea.
I think what struck me about this year's draft -- the first five picks in particular -- was that the Steelers grabbed a bunch of guys that are really good for the team. They didn't get flashy guys or grab a bunch of players that the "experts" had rated higher just because they were looking to draft for value. They saw what they needed and filled the holes in their roster with guys that could either step right in -- like Heyward and Gilbert -- or guys that could wait a couple years to develop before making solid contributions, like Brown, Allen, and Carter. Since Tomlin hates rookies, they should all have a chance to observe and learn, which is an especially important detail given the fact that there will be no rookie mini-camps and that training camp will probably be cut short.
They rounded everything out by taking a couple of guys late that will serve as extra bodies when the players in front of them go down with injuries. There's nothing really special about Keith Williams. He's a guard from Nebraska. He's about the right height and weight to play the position and he comes from a program that likes to run the ball. He should be good enough to step in when Legursky or Colon (or whoever) gets hurt and the Steelers need a warm, satisficing body to plug in for a few plays or a few games (or whatever).
The Baron Batch pick makes sense because it's the seventh round and why not take a shot. He's had some injury issues, he's short, he wasn't invited to the Combine, and he wasn't the featured back in his offense, since Texas Tech preferred to have a rotation. For someone that was damn close to being Mr. Irrelevant, I think it's a great pick. He catches the ball well, he has experience in pass protection, and he's not used to being "the guy" so he's an excellent substitute for Mewelde Moore. Moore has kind of worn out his welcome and I don't think he's as effective as he once was. Batch should be able to run the draw and catch checkdown passes about 20% better than Moore, which makes this an upgrade. No false expectations, no ego to bruise, good for what the Steelers need. I can't say that Batch was my favorite pick, but they could've done a lot worse in Round 7.
Overall, they filled the needs they needed to fill, drafted to make the defensive line younger, helped the offensive line and cornerback depth, potentially picked up the next Harrison/Lloyd/Brown/etc, as well as potentially the next Verron Haynes (I still miss him).
I would have preferred that they took Sherrod in the first round and taken a big receiver. I would have liked for them to have taken a replacement for Casey Hampton in case Big Snack retires. But, I actually wouldn't sacrifice any of the players they took for players I wish they had potentially taken.
Grade: A-
No comments:
Post a Comment