B, I pretty much agree with your post. This was a great need draft for the Steelers. They didn’t spend a lot of picks on players that have no shot of making this team. One thing that has been overlooked is how the team has rebuilt its linebacking corps over the past two years as well as its secondary. Players like LBs Patrick Bailey, Keyaron Fox, Donovan Woods and Ss Roy Lewis and Patrick Mundy offer good depth and special teams potential for next to nothing in cost. Bruce Davis, R. Mendenhall and Limas Sweed are in the prove it stage this year. The Steelers have a lot of young players whose arrow is pointing up and that doesn’t include this draft.

As far as the draft, I’m quite impressed. I didn’t like when they traded the second round pick, but Tomlin said they couldn’t pass on the chance to get 4 of the top 96 players in this draft. I absolutely love Wallace and the Tank because they both offer different dimensions to our offense. I haven’t seen K. Lewis play, but I can’t remember the last time the Steelers had a 6’1, 208 lbs. corner with 4.49 speed and 33-inch arms (the second longest at the combine next to Sean Smith from Utah). If Joe Burnett can really play special teams well as a gunner and overall tackler, he might be able to knock off Anthony Madison for a CB spot (who is a good special team player but will never be a player in this team’s base defense). Our secondary corps is loaded as well as our LB corps.

I think Tomlin will have this team ready when it counts. Again, great write-up.

If I had to hear Trent Dilfer and the rest of the ESPN slapdicks slobbering all over Bill Belichick’s knob for one more second I was going to pitch a brick through my TV.

I think the Steelers had a solid, unremarkable draft. They filled every hole they have with the exception of OT. But, as a realist, I know you can’t expect miracles from one draft. I can see Ziggy, Urbik (I am going to go ahead and give him the nickname Meat, pending approval), and Tank scoring roster spots for sure, along with one of the CBs. I don’t think they scored exceptional value at any position though. I would have liked to see a trade in the second round for Britton or Unger, but I guess we didn’t feel that those guys were worth it. I’ll trust their assessment.

A grade? I’ll say solid B- or C+, being fully aware that draft grades are retarded.

I have a bad feeling about Hood. I want to like this pick but he basically disappeared his senior year. Maybe he was hiding an injury or something but I watched 4-5 Mizzou games and in just about every one of those the announcers were puzzled about why he had slipped so much. I don’t know if he is going to be a good fit. At least he has 2 years or so to develop.
Wallace feels like another fast but thats it WRs.
I really like the Burnett and Shipley picks. Burnett is an instant upgrade at returner.

B, I always though Ziggy was more of a one-gap or 3-technique rather than a 5. But I think he’ll be able to play in our nickle and dime D from day one as an inside pass rusher. I think it’ll take him a couple of years to get the 2-gap down (as it does all of our lineman not named Big Snack) but he’ll be able to do it. I liked what Coach Mitchell said about Ziggy and Harris. He said people have mentioned that they sometimes play a little high, but he said that is what he gets paid for — to teach them technique. Coach Mitchell has me sold.

As far as roster spots, I could see the first 6 picks making the final roster, with the last 3 on the practice squad. And that’s with us not counting the one or two rookie free agent gems our scouts normally find us every year. There is going to be some great competition in our LB corps and secondary in training camp. The Steelers top 4 CBs have all started games in the NFL.

Tomlin sounded like he was excited about this draft yesterday and is ready to roll right now. You can tell he REALLY loves the Tank.

Blitz,

Excellent article. Also love the optimism. This is our best draft in years – addressed almost every position of need with very worthy picks. We may have actually addressed them all if Urbick can play ROT and Colon slides to RG.

Some observations about your comments, other posts here, and my thoughts on our draft:

Hood – There were three possibly NFL-ready 3-4 DEs (Jackson, Hood and Brace). We needed one and got one. The A grade is well deserved.

Urbick – We tried to trade up for Unger and Levitre but could not get it done. The trade to fall back and scoop up better picks was simply awesome given that Urbick was still available and who we got next. Agree with the grade.

Wallace – Heyward-Bey on a budget. (Don’t tell Al Davis.) Could be the best pick of our draft. Exactly what we needed in the WR3/WR4 hole and return game. I score this pick an A+ due to how we acquired the slot and who we turned it into.

Lewis – You said “Then I’d imagine he’ll get a chance to work with a guy like Ike Taylor, who’s famous for his offseason workout routines.” Lewis actually knows Ike and has already worked with him at Shaw’s camp in FLA. Lewis is exactly the kind of CB we need and worse case scenario, he ultimately replaces Clark (UFA next year) or Carter (possibly cut this year).

Burnett – He and Lewis are fighting with Ratliff and Bryant for one remaining open DB roster spot, two if we keep 10, two if Lewis can displace Carter. If Coach Mike drafts a DB, he must be good. I’ll never question Coach Mike on DBs.

Summers – Stiller Nation demanded we take this guy in this slot and the FO obliged. Stiller Nation deserves an A+ as well.

Harris – Unless we are willing to part with both Kirschke and Eason this season, Harris will NOT get a uni. I’m betting against it as I think this was our weakest pick. Disagree with you on the B grade here – C- at best in my book. Just a guy.

Shipley – You missed the boat here. Two Centers were taken in the 7th (AQ and the TCU guy) that have a REAL chance to START in the NFL. It’s RARE when that can be said about any 7th Round pick. Study the current roster – AQ WILL make the 53-man squad based strictly on the OL numbers game. Add in that he is an AWESOME football player that has defied the odds already and we may be looking at the second coming of Webbie. The symmetry of using the Sean Mahan pick for AQ is mind-numbing to me. This pick moved my overall grade of our draft from an A- to an A.

Johnson – I know nothing about him. Hard to imagine that McHugh’s 2-year deal will be shredded but I guess there’s a chance according to what everybody out there is saying about this guy’s game and fit for our scheme.

Again, if you study our current roster, you’ll find that

Hood, Urbick, Wallace, and Lewis or Burnett (pick one) are locks.
Summers and Shipley are virtual locks.
Loser of Lewis/Burnett battle may still make the 53.
Johnson could replace McHugh.
Harris will hopefully make the practice squad.

That’s quite a haul FROM a mediocre talent NFL draft class and FOR a team that had very few REAL holes to fill.

Again, thanks for your optimistic article and all that you do on BTSC. Your site wins my award as BEST STILLERS NATION SITE. Hands down.

Fats

Taking an athletic college DT with the intent of converting him to a pro 3-4 DE brings back uncomfortable memories of Ryan McBean and Orien Harris. Both of those players were pretty highly rated in their draft class, even though the Steelers managed to get them in the fourth round.

Urbik seems like a what you see is what you get player. Which is a good thing. His size, personality, and playing style seem ideally suited for the Steeler O line.

Wallace is more boom or bust, but he has an aura about him similar to Willie Parker, who was one of a very few naturally gifted college underachievers who exceeded expectations. as a pro.

Lewis and Burnett may be smart off the field, but their respective scores in a set of Wonderlic tests were 10 and 14 for Keenan, and 9 and 12 for Joe. That is Ike Taylor territory, and neither has Ike’s superior compensating speed.

Summers seems more of a sideshow pick. Versatility is one thing, but not doing anything very well (at a low level of competition, no less) is quite another.

For Ra’Shon Harris (no relation to Orien:), I refer you back to the opening comments.

I could understand the Shipley pick if they didn’t already have Doug Legursky as a short, overachieving gym rat with flippers for arms. I really can’t see much difference between the two, other than Legursky being a little bigger (and younger as well).

Johnson makes sense to me, since I don’t take Summers seriously. I think that D.J. is a more likely candidate to win a fullback spot because his size and skill set is better suited to the position the way the Steeler’s run their offense. You get a kid who is 260 pounds, reputedly a fine blocker, and averaged something like 17 yards per catch as a receiver over his career. That is a rare combination.

great article blitz only thing i can’t understand stapleton to me did a pretty good jopb considering he was undrafted and hadn’t really plated before while on the other hand colon basically sucked big time yet again so why we are even talking about replacing darnell with coln or urbik is beyond me get colon out of there put urbik there and keep the rest the same i guess just my thoughts not really sure but colon is terrible that much i am positive about

Seriously, these are my impressions of the draft. I don’t see Hood as a “safe” pick due to the fact that he has to make a position change if nothing else. McBean and Harris are the most recent examples, and they both crashed completely. I think both are back to being mediocre traditional 4-3 tackles with other teams.

Summers averaged 4 YPC in the MWC, or whatever. He was a RB there as far as I could tell, no background as a blocking fullback. Seems pretty unlikely he could play as a pro RB with those numbers, and he has no experience as a blocker. He won’t last until the end of August.

I’m not looking at Johnson to replace Heath Miller, only as an occasional blocker who could catch a checkoff pass if necessary. It’s not a big role, but to me the guy seems better suited to fill it than anyone else they drafted.

“Was anybody overwhelmed by Sean McHugh last year? Anybody out there?”

(guy who has never posted here before raises hand)

Yes, some of us were. Football is a game of blocking and tackling, and as you know there are a lot of us Steelers fans who appreciate these things and look for them on game day. For some of us it was a big deal to see McHugh putting in some solid blocking.

Despite his hands and ability as a receiver, Spaeth is a major liability for our offense any time he is asked to block. If you have a copy of the Super Bowl you can see some prime examples of him holding, diving on a defender’s legs from behind, and getting thrown aside. He simply has no strength and gets no leverage whatsoever. At times Chike Okeafor just ignores Spaeth as he flows to the ball, the ultimate insult for a blocking player.

McHugh was a breath of fresh air and it seems he has been re-signed because people started to notice inside the team. Honestly, I have rooted for Spaeth like I rooted for Kranchick and all the other TEs with “upside who will work on his blocking”, but Spaeth is perhaps the worst we have ever had. He is awful. And unfortunately our offense calls for a mix. We are Pittsburgh, not Philadelphia.

Personally, I think if we want to rank in the top half of the league again in offense (something we have not done with Arians/Spaeth/Colon), Spaeth has to go—at least to the bench, if not cut. I will take the McHughs of the world any day and I think if we all could have easy access to every play on tape a lot more folks would be aware of this and agree. Heath Miller is a rare talent and his backups should be blockers first if we want to succeed on O again.

I just brought up Lewis’ and Burnett’s scores because Blitz mentioned them as being “smart” (as opposed to being fast and athletic). I did mention Shipley’s score in another thread (and renamed him I.Q. Shipley), but that doesn’t change the fact that he is a virtual twin of Legursky. Thalidomide twins with no arms…:).

Cards had the best draft in the league by virtue of getting Chris Wells with the #31 overall pick, I thought. Wells is going to be huge, and have an immediate impact. In my books he is way ahead of where Mendenhall was a year ago, and he is even younger than Rashard was on draft day.

…me too.

This draft addressed all of the main team needs: power blocking/running; DL talent and depth; OL talent and depth; wide receiver competition and depth; cornerback depth; special teams. I would have preferred Britton over Hood but Hood has all the physical tools and Steeler quality intangibles to be an immediate part-time contributor and long-time starter. Colbert has not missed on a first-rounder and he most likely didn’t with this pick either. Kudos to badmaafala for picking him a long time ago and a big thank you to Indianapolis for passing on a guy who could have helped them immediately, probably to a much greater degree than he will help the Steelers right off the bat.

I think six of the nine guys will end up on the 53-man roster: Hood (for Eason), Urbik (for Parquet), Wallace (over Baker/Nance/Brandon Williams), Lewis and Burnett (over Bryant, Madison, Roy Lewis and Ratliff, although Burnett might have to make it as a returner) and Summers (over Davis). Johnson has a chance to beat out either McHugh or Spaeth because of his blocking ability on the line, or battle with Summers to beat out Davis for the FB spot. Harris has to be hoping he does enough to make it to the practice roster (basically replacing Orpheus Roye). The d-line active backups have to be good enough to play a few downs right off the bat and that’s expecting too much of a sixth-rounder. Stapleton as the likely backup guard/center will probably keep Shipley on the practice roster this year. Long term, Shipley could be the next starter. The Cardinals had undrafted free agent Lyle Sendlein as their starting center in the Super Bowl and Quigley might end up doing the same. You never know what can happen. Hartwig was beaten up by the end of last season and has had injuries in the past.

Wallace has great potential but he has to show he can catch the ball on offense and hold onto the ball on returns. That’s never a sure thing and he was not known for having great hands in college. Pure speed by itself is over-rated and there is plenty of competition for the return spot with Burnett, Stefan Logan and Brandon Williams. That’s all you can do, create competition and see who survives. He won’t replace Washington as the No. 3 receiver and zone stretcher unless he beats out Sweed, but again it creates competition and depth. As for Summers, no team scouted him more than the Steelers did and they may have drafted him higher than they needed to just to be sure they got him. He’ll get every chance to show he can convert 3rd and 1 and contribute on at least a couple special teams. He won’t have to block much if he’s the short-yardage specialist, which is all he will probably ever be except in blowouts when Dixon or Batch are handing off. If he can get a yard consistently, then he makes the roster.

Lewis is a bit under the radar but could turn out to be a gem. I think they got a potential future starter at CB or free safety. He’s got size, nearly 6-1 and 195 (he bulked up for the combine to get to 208 but lost that weight for his pro day) and just enough speed to hang with receivers. He’s good in run support and a smart player. In a couple years he could be a legitimate 205-pounder with great range to play safety. You have to like his chances with Tomlin, Lebeau and Ray Horton tutoring him every day, along with Townsend and New Orleans workout buddy Ike Taylor. One of the best footnotes about the draft is that Lewis and Wallace were teammates in Pop Warner and high school and even planned to go to Oregon State together, then ended up being drafted by the same NFL team in the same round. You know they’ll be pushing and supporting each other at camp.

The most important guy in the draft at least in the short term is Urbik because he has the best chance to start and immediately contribute to a better running game. There’s still very little depth at the guard position even with his addition so his progress is crucial to how this draft is eventually evaluated. He’s tough, smart and huge but Trai Essex was a third-rounder, too. It took third-rounder Max Starks a year before he started. Still, the door is wide open for him to start, especially if the Steelers decide to man up more on the O-line more often. The team will try to develop his versatility but he’s pretty much just a guard at this point. I expect Hood to play in dime packages almost immediately because of his pass-rush skills. His progress will determine what the team does with Keisel next year.

I love the toughness and blue collar character of this group. It’s missing a tackle, but maybe that is a sign of confidence in Hills and/or Capizzi. It was a draft driven by need, not the best player available but at the same time none of them (with the possible exception of Summers) was much of a reach in terms of value. All of the draftees have at least a decent chance to be in Pittsburgh for a while, including the undrafted free agent long-snapper they just signed. Great job Colbert and Co!

College awards mean less than nothing … to anyone who tries to evaluate players like F Summers based on YPC, etc. Players are often not properly utilized and coaches/systems change regularly … players switch positions.

Anyone who doesn’t KNOW that the Steelers had a very good draft is probably just wrong. Who cares?! Per the write up, most of our picks were A’s and B’s. Nice.

Guys, this is what Mike Lombardi had to say about the Steelers draft:

“What about Pittsburgh’s draft?

Monday, I mentioned how much I love coach Mike Tomlin and how he understands player development. I wasn’t saying he could coach anyone and make them a player, but on paper, this draft fills many of the Steelers’ needs — and player development will be a key component. I liked both corners they selected in the middle rounds, and Mike Wallace might have been the fastest player I watched on tape all year. He can fill the Nate Washington role perfectly as a field stretcher. Third-round pick Kraig Urbik is a traditional Steelers lineman — tough, hard-nosed, loves football and has some inside positional flexibility. Evander "Ziggy" Hood, their first-round pick, will be fun to watch as he transitions into the Steelers’ 3-4 scheme. He’s very athletic and can run, something that’s required in the Steelers’ defense."

Hey Steeler.lifer, great points. I agree with a great deal of what you said. I do have a few questionst hat will only be answered in camp and here they are:

— Can Tony Hill or Jason Capizzi make that big step this year?

I think this is a big question going into this year because if this OL will ever get back to being a top-knotch OL unit, Willie Colon cannot continue to start at RT. Call me crazy, but I believe Capizzi has the feet, size and ability to start there and solve a lot of this team’s ills in pass protection. I don’t know how he’ll do in the run game, but he has had 3 offseasons including this one to work on his strength. He and Starks could end up being those young bookends that many of us hope the Steelers will someday acquire in the draft.

— How will the 9 to 10 roster spots in the secondary shake out?

I think our secondary has gone from a weakness 2 years ago to a potential strength now. The Steelers have quite a few bodies now who have started football games (Ike, Gay, Deshea, Ratliffe, Carter), young draft picks (Burnett, Lewis), special teamers (A. Madison), and young players waiting for their chance (Roy Lewis, Mundy). Tomlin likes both Roy Lewis and Mundy at safety, and it makes me wonder if both have a solid camp would they let go of the underwhelming Tyrone Carter. Fight for roster spots are going to be tough.

— How will the LB corps and DL roster spots shake out? The LB spots are going to be highly contested, especially if the three rookies from this past year (B. Davis, Donovan Woods, Patrick Bailey) take a step fwd. And that doesn’t include the battle between Foote and Timmons. I know people are probably discounting Donovan Woods, but I went to that first game against Buffalo at home this past year and he was the best special teams player on the field that day. He then hurt his hamstring, Patrick Bailey came on and the rest is history. However, if the team smartly moves to try and decrease Deebo’s role on special teams and with Timmons probably moving to a starting position, an extra position on special teams for a LB will open up. Time for Davis to show something or he could be moving out. I don’t think both Eason and Kirschke will be back next year, unless they keep 7 lineman. A guy who I am interested to see with an offseason under his belt is DE Jordan Reffert that they signed last year, brough to camp, cut and then resigned to the practice squad mid-season before releasing him again. He’s 6’4, 295, and flashed a little bit during preseason. I remember even Dale Lolley saying that Reffert looked like a big kid with a good motor. He’s athletic and strong, so if he puts it down, he’ll at least put himself in the conversation. I agree with Steeler.lifer that its probably too much to expect for Harris to win a roster spot as a sixth-round pick. I think if he shows anything he could end up on the practice squad.

— The Steelers WR position looks a lot better now than before the draft, but their is still some interest on who will be the 5 the team keeps (only 4 will be active on game day). Sweed is saying all the right things but he has to make a gigantic leap from this past year, where he looked like a bust. I’m the official starter of the Mike Wallace bandwagon here. From what I’ve seen from his game film as well as at the Senior Bowl, he catches the ball pretty well. I think he is an extremely raw route runner, but the only route he’ll need to know how to run next year is go deep & keep trying to get open when Ben scrambles. Don’t close the door on M. Nance if he shows some chemistry with Ben and makes plays. Sweed hasn’t closed the door on anything for that spot.

— Who will be the 3 TEs and 1 FB?

This isn’t one of the more sexy questions, but the Steelers need to find a TE that they can put on the line of scrimmage who can block. I like Heath Miller’s ability to do that, but I want someone with those type of hands out there running patters. We all know Matt Spaeth can’t block his own shadow. What he did at the goal line in a couple of games this past year still has Gary Russell cursing at him. The Steelers 7th round pick D.J. Johnson is a longshot at best, but if he can block well at the line of scrimmage and catch the ball, who knows? I like having McHugh as a FB/TE. He’ll probably be the lead block for the Tank on goal line or short yardage situations. The Steelers signed R. Powdrell from USC as a FB, so he’ll get an opportunity. He played 3 years as a LB before making the switch to FB, so special teams will be big for him. I believe Carey Davis is history. And to the front office and scouting department, THANKs for the TANK.

— Who could be this year’s rookie free agent gem?

How about OT Ramon Foster from Tennessee? He’s 6’6’’, 325 lbs. and has played 4 years at an SEC school, winning OL rookie of the year in the SEC his freshman year. He didn’t get drafted for a reason, but he wouldn’t be the first OL for that to happen to and carve out a good career for himself in the NFL. I don’t expect him to make the roster, but he could win a spot on the practice squad for a year or two, and then you could have something. I wish we had a better OL coach, but we have what we have.

— How many draft picks will the Steelers have next year?

And I know it’s only a couple of days after the draft, but this team should be looking pretty good for the 2010 draft. The team’s free agent losses this year are B. McFadden, Marvel Smith, Nate Washington, B. Leftwich, Anthony Smith and has only signed one outside free agent, CB Keiwan Ratliffe to a one-year vet minimum contract. I think they will receive at least 3 compensatory picks. Which means the Steelers could have about 10 draft picks next year. But before that, they have to take all of us here on a little trip to 7TH HEAVEN!!!!!!

Thoughts?