Draft Needs and Opinions

The NFL may be in chaos right now but one thing is certain, the draft will go on as scheduled. The draft has always been the key to success and failure in the NFL and the teams with a history of championships and playoff appearances hae a history of drafting well. Those poor teams who don’t draft well, those are the same teams that rarely make the post season, let alone win titles.  Fortunatley for us Steeler fans our beloved black and gold have traditionally done rather well in the draft and we expect nothing less from them again this year.

So what is it that the Steelers need?  Well, it’s well documented that they need offensive line help, they have needed this for some time as a matter of fact. A good shut down corner back would be a nice addition as well as adding some help on the D line and they may even need to consider some depth at safety.  The team is still very much in tact but they are aging and the best way to replace age is by an influx of good, young players.  We would absolutely love to see the Steelers land Mike Pouncey, the Center/Guard out of Florida and  the twin brother of last year’s Steeler rookie pro bowler Maurkice. From what we are hearing though, it’s unlikely they will see him with pick 31.  Would they consider moving up to get him?  Possibly.  We think for the right deal, it would make sense to get him.  He can play guard and backup his brother at center as well, if need be. A flexible player like that, with talent like that is hard to  obtain, which is why we fear we won’t get him.  So, let’s say they stay at pick 31.  Our thought is they need to take the very best O lineman available at that spot unless there is a true shut down corner available. Our thought process there is there will be at least 5 top O lineman gone by this point, so is the 6th best O lineman better than a true shut down corner? Not in our opinion. 

That takes care of the first round, but they must land either a good O lineman or a top corner in round two, depending on what they end up doing in round one. They need to fill those two positions first.  After that we think they can fill in the gaps, D line may be the next spot to look at, specifically defensive tackle with “Big Snack” aging, but a Defensive End isn’t going to be a bad pick either.  We’d also like to see a safety picked somewhere as much as we love Troy he’s starting to show his age a bit, yes defensive player of the year and all, and he is a free agent after this next season and you just never know what the Steelers will do. They don’t typically sign players to a third contract, which this would be for Troy, so they better get some help. Plus Ryan Clark is not as good as he used to be.  Other than that, the linebackers, receivers, tigh end, running backs and QB are pretty solid. You may see a RB picked, possibly a receiver and a linebacker but we highly, highly doubt that you’ll see a tight end or quarterback drafted. 

So with that, it’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little football talk that doesn’t focus on the lock out, collective bargaining or any other un interesting and frustrating items that have dominated the news surrounding the league lately.