Chuck Noll. 

You see the name and you immediately think four time Super Bowl winning coach. Noll was one of the best to ever coach the game and fortunately for the Steelers, he spent his entire 22 year head coaching career with the black and gold.

After being a defensive assistant with the Chargers for six seasons and then three more years under Don Shula in Baltimore, Noll was hired as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969 at the age of 37. 

Noll struggled out of the gates only winning 12 games in his first 42 tries and not making the playoffs until his fourth year with the Steelers.  By year six, the team that would form the eventual dynasty of the 70’s was born and Noll led his Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles in a span of six seasons.

In 22 seasons, Noll compiled a record of 209-156-1, won nine division championships, four conference titles and four super bowl championships as well.  Two years after his retirement, Noll was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993.

If you’re a fan of the legendary coach then make sure you get something signed by him on June 12^th at Total Sports Enterprises’ private signing. Coach Noll will be signing pre-determined items such as helmets, footballs and end zone pylons (which are fantastic by the way).

Fans may also send in their own items to sign by June 6^th so hurry and do so now. All mail in item will receive a free HOF 93 inscription. To learn more visit http://www.tseshop.com/Chuck-Noll_c_270.html

Many draft experts, including the renowned Mel Kiper, give the Steelers a very high grade for what they just accomplished in the NFL rookie draft this past weekend. I’ve seen grades ranging from B to A-.  While the Steelers picked up some very good young players, some of their selections were a bit curious and didn’t seem to fit the team’s most important needs.

In the first round the Steelers selected OLB Ryan Shazier out of Ohio State. While Shazier may be an ‘A’ player, the team truly needed to grab a shutdown cornerback here. Ike Taylor is heading into the last year of his contract and odds are he won’t be back in 2015. Even if he were to return, he’s not the same guy he once was. The teams’ biggest weakness is its secondary and they should have addressed this here.  With Darqueze Dennard still sitting there, he would have been the guy to take. Or, since Dennard actually fell nine more spots, to division foe Cincinnati, the team should have looked to trade back to take him had they felt he would fall past 15.

First round Grade, B-.  Shazier has great potential but the grade is simply brought down due to the biggest team need not being met.

The second round saw the team select 304 pound defensive end Stephon Tuitt out of Notre Dame.  Defensive End was most certainly a team need and Tuitt’s size will come in handy when defending the run. This pick also signals Brett Keisel will not be brought back for an additional year. The black and gold clearly like Tuitt’s upside and he may even see starting reps this upcoming season. 

Second round Grade, A-.

In the third round, Pittsburgh elected to select running back Dri Archer out of Kent State.  Archer runs a 4.26 40 and can fly. He may have some immediate use as a special teams returner and a third down back but this pick makes little to no sense here.  Archer will never be the starting running back with LeVeon Bell in front of him and it’s hard to imagine he’ll line up out wide often enough to validate this high of a selection. The team needed to draft a third down back but that could have been accomplished far later in the draft. 

Third round Grade, D+.  This pick would have been far better served on a corner or a safety. 

The fourth round saw the Steelers finally draft a big wide out for Big Ben. Martavis Bryant out of Clemson is 6’4 and 211 pounds. He can be a big target in the red zone and on third downs and he might even compete for the number two wide receiver position immediately. The team desperately needed a guy like this and with a very deep wide receiver corps in this draft; they knew they could wait until the mid-rounds to grab a guy like Bryant.

Fourth round grade, A.

The fifth round saw the Steelers make two selections. The first of which was cornerback Shaquille Richardson out of Arizona.  In my mind, Richardson should have been the second corner taken by this point in the draft for the Steelers and not the first. He’s a fifth round corner for a reason. He’s not going to be a shutdown guy and may be nothing more than a nickel package player. While the team needed this, and he was certainly the right pick for the round, it’s curious as to why they waited this long to take a player for their secondary.

First fifth round pick grade, B-.  The pick grade is lowered a little bit since Richardson is the first corner taken and not what should have been the second.

The second selection the team made was Wesley Johnson, offensive tackle out of Vanderbilt. Johnson weighs in just under 300 pounds and is six and half feet tall.  This is a good value pick here as you can never have too many offensive lineman, the Steelers have proven that season after season with the way that unit sustains injuries. Johnson could range from a solid backup player to a practice squad guy but at the very least he’ll provide the much needed depth this unit will need over training camp and pre-season.

Second fifth round pick grade, A.

The black and gold had two selections in the sixth round as well.  The first of which was used on outside linebacker Jordan Zumwalt out of UCLA.  This pick is mind boggling. The team certainly would like to have depth at the linebacker position but they didn’t need to draft two guys at outside linebacker.  After they elected to go with Shazier in round one; that should have been it.  This pick should have gone to another corner or this where the team should have eventually taken that third down back.

First sixth round pick grade, F.

The second selection went to 352 pound defensive tackle Dan McCullers out of Tennessee. This was a position the team certainly needed to ‘beef’ up and they did so with this McCullers. McCullers could challenge to be a starter this season and will certainly provide some much needed help on the run defense.

Second sixth round pick grade, A.

Finally, the Steelers wrapped up the draft with their seventh round selection of tight end Rob Blanchflower out of UMASS.  Blanchflower most likely won’t make the team. It’s a seventh round pick so it’s hard to rip anybody here but it really just doesn’t make sense to pick a tight end at all, one of the most stable positions on the team.  I would have been happier had the team taken a flyer on another offensive lineman, defensive lineman or even another player in the secondary (recurring theme anyone?).

Seventh round pick grade, C-.

Overall the team drafted a mix of good players in the right spots, good players in the wrong spots, players that fit needs and players that don’t. While they grabbed some ‘A’ grades, they also collected some F’s.

Time is the true measure of how this draft will ultimately be graded but initially speaking, I can’t give the Steelers more than a C+ for their efforts this draft. They seemed to miss the mark in some key areas and it’s hard to overlook the fact that they ignored the secondary position as if they had Richard Sherman back there already.

Normally, by the end of April the NFL draft has taken place and we are discussing the additions the Steelers have made and how they’ll fit in.  Not this year. Starting this year, the NFL has elected to place the NFL draft in early May, leaving all draft experts and football pundits the opportunity to pontificate for another few weeks on what they expect will happen, who will get drafted early, late and who won’t get drafted at all. 

This year the Steelers have nine draft picks across the seven rounds and they have plenty of holes to fill. They’ll need to make the right picks if they want to continue to form a foundation of success that will lead to their 7^th Lombardi trophy anytime soon. The draft clock is starting to tick, it’s time for the team to ramp up and get moving. 

Taking a look at what the team needs, it seems that they will fill the roster somewhat like what I have broken down below.

Round 1, pick 15:  The Steelers are in desperate need of a young, playmaking cornerback.  They would be crazy not to go and grab this position here. With the 15^th pick overall there should still be three or four of these playmakers available for the team to choose from.   There is an outside chance they could go wide receiver or defensive line here but that would mean that all the top corners were drafted earlier than expected. 

Round 2, pick 46:  In the 2^nd round the Steelers will still most likely address the defensive side of the ball as they have a lot of rebuilding to do there. My expectation is for them to draft another linebacker somewhere during this draft and I believe it will happen in round two.  They can find a hard hitting, tough as nails guy here who can be an impact playmaker to go along with Jason Worilds and Jarvis Jones. Once again, they could go wide receiver or defensive line but I don’t expect it.

Round 3, pick 92:  The team is in dire need of a big wide receiver. This is the round to do it. While they could take a guy earlier, a wide receiver that can make plays can be found in this round or later and I fully expect the black and gold to take advantage of this pick by picking up a guy they think can make big catches in the red zone and on third down. The point of this pick would be for this receiver to ultimately be their number two guy.  Outside chance they draft a defensive lineman.

Round 4, pick 118:  This team no doubt will draft a defensive lineman here, assuming they haven’t done that already.  They clearly need to beef up in the nose tackle spot and a 4^th round pick is a prime area to do so.  There is a chance they could draft a second linebacker in this spot as well.

Round 5, pick 157 and pick 173: There are any number of directions the team could go in the fifth round with these two picks.  I anticipate they will be drafting a running back somewhere in the late rounds and having two picks in the fifth, it makes sense to use one of them on a backup running back who can be a third down guy and a guy who can play special teams as well.  Additionally, they may elect to use the other pick on another cornerback as the team needs more than just one and you can still find decent nickel backs later in the draft.

Round 6, pick 192 and pick 215:  The two picks in the sixth round will go to whomever the team feels is the best left on their draft board. However, I would expect a second linebacker to be taken somewhere in here as the team will want to bolster the depth they have at that position if they haven’t addressed this already.  I won’t be shocked if the team also selects another young quarterback in this round. This may be a guy who won’t make the team but he could be a good guy during pre-season, a practice squad guy or he may have the potential to be the third string quarterback of this storied franchise.

Round 7, pick 230:  This will truly be the best player left on the teams’ board. Whoever is picked here will be a long shot to make the squad in 2014 but could again be a practice squad player. I look for this final pick to be an offensive lineman to add depth at the position during the pre-season to ensure their main guys are uninjured heading into regular play.

This draft will be heavily centered around the defensive side of the ball. It’s time to re build and re shuffle that unit and there is no better way and no faster way to do so than in the draft. The key now is for the Steelers grades on these players to be accurate, their projections to hold true and the character of all of these guys to be what it needs to in order to make a successful NFL player both on and off the field.

The clock is ticking…