I like the Tank, but I don’t see the necessity to have 4 RB’s plus a FB on the game day roster.
Even though I think we got away with it last year, I don’t see us only having 4 WR’s available either. This is a contested position, and I think having one more guy available is one way to keep these guys working hard. They shouldn’t need motivation, but a little extra doesn’t hurt.
I don’t see Urbick as a starter right away, but wouldn’t rule it out.
I agree with the Kirtchke analysis, I think he’ll get cut myself, saves on the cap and like you said Eason played well, and Ziggy should see a little playing time situationally I would think.
Everything else looks good to me, although I find it hard to believe Gay is as smart as a 12 year vet, but thats small potatos.

We just signed Shaun McDonald today as well. There’s a good slot type guy, if he’s still got it.

Also Dirk Johnson, 7 year vet punter, and a kicker who’s name I cant pronounce and won’t even try to write.

I just read it on Steelers.com, went back to get a link and it’s gone. Am I halucinating?

3 QBs – Ben, Batch, Dixon

4 RB’s – FWP, Moore, Mendenhall, the Tank Summers,

3 TEs – Heath, Spaeth, McHugh (also your FB)

5 WR’s – Hines, Holmes, Sweed, Wallace, Martin Nance (or Ashley Lelie)

9 OL – Starks, Chris K., Hartwig, Essex, Colon, Urbik, Capizzi, Stapleton, Hills

7 DL – A. Smith, Big Snack, Kiesel, Woods, Kirschke, Eason

9 LBs – Harrison, Farrior, Timmons, Woodley, P. Bailey, B. Davis, K. Fox, D. Woods, A. Frazier

10 DBs – Ike, Gay, Palomula, Clark, Townsend, K. Ratliffe, Burnett, K. Lewis, Mundy, Carter (or Roy Lewis)

3 Specialists – Sepulvada, Reed, Warren

Practice Squad: C Shipley, DT Harris, TE Johnson, WR Baker, DT Reffert, RB Vincent, OT R. Foster, S D. Richardson

Sorry guys, I left out Hoke’s name in my count and I meant to say Ziggy Hood, instead of Woods.

Thoughts?

…nfldraftscout had him ranked about 100 picks ahead of Frank Summers. Another site had him as the 5th ranked fullback with Summers as the 10th. He was invited to the Combine and Shrine Game, Summers wasn’t. Johnson is the youngest player they drafted, and is a natural for the hybrid FB/HB/TE role.

That is pretty significant. He had like 80 catches with the Lions when he was healthy, and kept all those overpaid top 5 draft pick WR in Detroit nailed to the bench for a couple of years.

Guys, I left CB A. Madison off of this team by mistake. I don’t think the Steelers will cut their best special teams player, but something will have to give because this team has a lot of capable corners and Madison isn’t one of them.

Who goes and who stays in the secondary?

I like the way he and Troy play together. Seem to have good intuition and trust for one another, great chemistry.

1)RB: davis won’t make it. he was already replaced by mchugh on the depth chart last year as the FB. wouldn’t surprise me if they have summers, mchugh or the new TE(who will be fighting w/ mchugh & spaeth to fill 2 spots) fill that role and maybe save the spot for someone else

2)WR: i’d replace baker with shaun mcdonald since we just signed him

3)LB: add woods to LB with the spot from cutting davis. he shows a lot of potential and would contribute to special teams.

4)DB: i think the steelers will cut the worst out of Burnett, Mundy, or Carter

5) PR/KR: i see the extra spot from cutting one more dback going to the best kickoff/punt returner we got…or second best, if the best is already slated to make the team at another postion. i think the steelers are seriously trying to address. this issue.

so:
3 QB
4 RB
3 TE (one will probably also fill the role as FB)
5 WR
8 OL
7 DL
9 LB
10 DB
4 K/P/LS/KR
and its too hard to predict practice squad

Shaun McDonald takes Dallas Baker’s roster spot. But NYSteelersFan makes a good point, so I’m leaving 5 WR’s on the active roster.

I’m making Ziggy Hood inactive on game days. I know it’s been discussed using him in obvious passing situations as a rusher while he learns base defenses, but that’s still relatively few snaps for a roster spot. Maybe if he’s a wedge-buster on special teams he comes back in and someone like Carey Davis is inactive (Davis is too good of a STer for me to decide yet that he should be cut).

But if Ziggy’s not ripping it up on teams, then having chronologically-old-but-football-young players like Eason and Kirshke to rotate out to keep fresh is more important. And we did fine on 3rd downs last year.

Is there a chance for either of these guys? Logan was THE stud in the CFL. Lewis has some serious tools to work with.

Guys, I think Ziggy Hood will beat out Eason for snaps on game days. I think Ziggy would bring more pass rush to the table on 3rd downs and have more of an impact giving Keisel and Smith a blow than Eason. Eason’s best game of the season was against the Texans (a game that I attended and where he had 4 tackles). After that, I think his play was kind of spotty at best.

I still think the Steelers keep Eason because Tomlin and LeBeau likes to keep an extra DL on the roster in case someone goes down.

I guess the competition is on between S. Logan and the two rookies, Burnett and Wallace, for KR and PR. What’s working against Logan is that the other two actually have positions where they can play and make an impact on the game as well. Still, all will be told at Latrobe.

As Tomlin says, the more you can do. His best bet to stick is to kick Tyrone Carter to the curb. Someone needs to. The guy will be 34 this year and I still see him missing that tackle on Garrard in the playoffs.

I take it you think Davis is a better ST player than D. Woods?
Or whats your logic to include Davis and no Woods. You already have to potential FB in McHugh and the Tank. And in PS you could have David Jonhson if some one goes down.

Who was the last number one pick no to dress in its first year?
I know most of them don’t play much, but I can remember one that wasn’t active in game day for most of the season.

Blitz,

You’re a VERY bright guy.

I know that you know we ALWAYS keep at least NINE OL, sometimes TEN. I trust you were simply typing too fast, or lost count or something. As well, we RARELY keep 11 DBs.

So, please, let’s have the name of your 9th OL and the DB that doesn’t make it.

HINT: Add AQ (or Parquet if you must) and delete Ratliff. (BTW, who’s “Ratcliffe”?)

Fats

Like your analysis with one question. What are you smoking, saying Hartwig was our best lineman last year? I will confess, being the best on our line is not saying much, but I thought he was pretty bad. Better than Mahan by a mile, but he still spent too much time on the ground, and just got beat too often.
I was praying for a round one center, but alas, we will have the same line this year.

QB (3): Ben, Dixon, Batch
RB (4): Parker, Mendenhall, Moore, Summers
FB (1): McHugh
WR (5): Ward, Holmes, Sweed, McDonald, Wallace
TE (3): Miller, Spaeth, Johnson
OL (8): Starks, Kemo, Hartwig, Urbik, Colon, Stapleton, Essex, Hills
DL (6): Smith, Hampton, Kiesel, Kirschke, Hoke, Hood
LB (9): Woodley, Farrior, Timmons, Harrison, Fox, B. Davis, Frazier, Bailey, Woods
CB (7): Taylor, Gay, Ratliff, K. Lewis, Burnett, R. Lewis, Madison
S (4): Troy, Clark, Townsend, Mundy
ST (3): Reed, Sepulveda, Estermeyer
PR (8): Reilly, Nance, Logan, Foster, Shipley, McLendon, Harris, Korte

I realize I’ll look like a fool, but here it is…

In the first place, I suspect that Mike Tomlin is really getting into personnel aspects of building ‘his’ team. He also seemed less that satisfied with the performance of certain backups last year, nonwithstanding their relative newcomer status. For these reasons, I’m guessing he may be far more prone to keep new faces around – and be more readily impressed if a rookie stands out – than one would normally see when a team is successful and loaded with veterans. With this in mind, I think that within reason he might be patient with newcomer mental mistakes if their performance in practice or preseason games reveals exceptional talent.

Having made a long-winded preamble, I suggest that several rookies, if their performance matches their billing, will make the 52 man roster and practice squad. In no paticular order, here’s some possibilities.

1. R. Foster to the practice squad:

In reading the UT fansites, I gather that Foster had some problems with offsides and other mental infractions. Otherwise, he was considered a physical specimen who could pave the way for runners. In reading further, it appears that UT had multiple offensive coordinators during his time in Knoxville. Most recently, the coordinator installed a “strong side/weak side” system that required Foster to switch sides in the line from play to play and constantly reorient himself. In other words, rather than playing football, he may have been spending half his time puzzling over geography and jumping offsides.

2. F Summers makes the gameday team.

If the Tank truly rumbles, he definitely makes the active roster. All you have to do is watch the NFL sidelines video of the super bowl and her Tomlin acerbic tone when he wonders outloud whether we can punch it in from short and goal.

3. M. Reilly…makes the gameday team.

Here’s where I really go out on a limb. I thing this guy is going to open some eyes as long as he plays within himself. If he can post an impressive couple quarters in the preseason, and if his performance in camp leads to glowing reports, Tomlin would be over a barrel. 1) Dixon looks like a fantastic athelete…but is he a quarterback? 2) Vharlie Batch is reliability itself, he’s on the downside of his career. 3) Then you have Reilly, a raw (dropback) prospect that may very have “NFL quarterback” stamped in his genetics. Does Tomlin chance him on the wires, or does he 1) cut Batch. or 2) trade Dixon to a team interested in the Wildcat…because to the right team, Dixon could easily be worth a #2 & #5 pick, or a midround pick and a decent player.

4. Both drafted cornerbacks plus Mike Wallace make the 53 man roster. Tomlin made several comments last year that suggested he badly wants an explosive return game. If Wallace and Burnett are as good as advertized, he’ll keep them close.

5. At least one of the undrafted linebacker free agents are going to stick…at least on the practice squad, but probably on the active roster. Ditto for the seventh round tight end or a F/A tight end, and Mundy.

6. For what it’s worth…I throw a name out. Inside Linebacker Cyrus Mulitalo. If this kid can pick up the system – and that’s a big if – if a few years he might be the heir to James Farrier’s spot.

7. Name #2: Isaac Redman: One one hand, if this kid tries to dance in the NFL like he did in Div II, he’ll get clobbered. On the other hand, if he can adjust the speed of his game to the downfield demands of an NFL runner (he already knows how to slash through a congested line of scrimage), he could be a handful. Common sense suggests he splat and get cut early. However, it’s just possible that he adopted a ‘helter-skelter’ sandlot technique in Div II simply because he could get away with it. Perhaps now he’ll focus more on his ‘slash-n-burst’ skills and catch Wilson’s and Tomlin’s notice.

Reilly would have had a number of options as a UDFA and chose Pittsburgh despite knowing the top three group was set and that there was a good chance he would spend some time on the practice roster, so I think they will find a way (maybe via “injury”) to keep him around long enough so that other teams already have their QB group in place. I doubt he shows enough to displace Dixon as the developing No. 2. Dixon will have great trade value down the road but only if he shows something in game situations; I think his pure QB ability will show itself in preseason, allowing him to replace Batch as the game-day backup.

Agree with your thoughts that a lot of new faces will be kept around on the PR. If some of the “veterans” like Paxson, Reffett, Capizzi, Vincent, Sherrod, etc can’t make the 53, then Tomlin will let them go to try to earn a living somewhere else. I’m curious about McLendon as a potential future NT. He is athletic and has the frame to support another 10-15 pounds.

Mulitalo was a productive college linebacker and occasional fullback but my only reservation on him is that he is pretty slow for a guy who isn’t very big to begin with. I’m a little higher on Korte but as you say one of the UDFA linebackers has a shot, especially if Arnold Harrison isn’t fully recovered from his knee injury. Redman has a chance to make the PR; he dominated at his low level of competition and you need extra RBs available. One of the practice roster guys might be a returner just in case the drafted rookies can’t hang onto the ball.

I don’t see any way we only keep 8 OL guys. In fact I think it’s more likely we’ll keep 10. Currently both our starting Tackles and our starting Center are unrestricted free agents next year and I think that has to factor into their thinking. Especially given the last 2 drafts where we essentially picked too late to get the OL guys we were after.

I’m thinking Kemo, Starks, Hartwig, Stapleton, Urbik, Colon, Hills, Essex, Shipley and maybe Ramon Foster make the final roster. Also I’m not sure Capizzi still qualifies for the practice squad this year. As far as I remember you’re limited in the amount of years you can be on practice squads.

My roster makeup:

3 QB
3 RB
1 FB with the 3rd TE serving as backup FB
5 WR
3 TE
10 OL
7 DL
8 or 9 LB depending on ST guys
9 or 10 DB depending on ST guys
3 specialists

Capizzi is a wild card this year. I remember last year, one of the coaches, (don’t remember which one) said of Capizzi, from playing with different teams he has learned different techniques and we are impressed with how he has learned to move his feet. This of course was said before he had developed the micro fracture in his foot. Also, one question. Who do you think is going to take Ryans place when the Steelers travel to Denver this year? His medical condition won’t allow him to play at that altitude. (Sickle Cell Anemia)