Monthly Archives: April 2016

steelers draft

Steelers Select CB Artie Burns With 1st Round Pick

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The Steelers broke their first round cornerback drought tonight, selecting Miami CB Artie Burns with the 25th pick. The selection makes the first time the Steelers have picked a CB in the first round since Chad Scott in 1997.

https://twitter.com/steelers/status/725881306630889472

Burns is 5’11”, 193 lbs, and turns 21 on Sunday. He was a two year starter at Miami, and led the ACC with 6 interceptions last year. Burns has a very high ceiling. Coach Tomlin described him as a “good piece of clay to mold”.

2016-04-15_1817

Steelers Release Cortez Allen

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I can’t imagine there are many that are surprised by this, but Cortez Allen is no longer a Pittsburgh Steeler. The Steelers released the 27 year old corner back this afternoon.

https://twitter.com/EdBouchette/status/721068664552886273

The team reportedly had asked Allen to renegotiate his contract last month (play for less). According to Mark Kaboly of the Tribune, the team is not using the post June 1st designation for Allen, so he will come off the books now, saving the team $1.7 Mil in 2016 salary cap space. Doing so also comes with a hit of $4.05 Mil in dead money.

http://gty.im/457904336

Drafted in the 4th round of the 2011 draft, Allen signed a 4 year extension worth $24.6 Mil in 2014. Since the extension, he appeared in 12 games, made 47 tackles and intercepted the football twice.

Some reporters are speculating that the Steelers had questions about Allen’s health, and must have gotten their answers since Phase I of offseason workouts begins on Monday. Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post says that Allen simply refused to take a pay cut.

 

Steelers sign

Steelers 2016 Preseason Schedule Announced

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The Steelers preseason schedule has been announced. All of the preseason opponents are NFC teams, and the Steelers will open at home against the Detroit Lions. While the exact dates aren’t available yet, here are the opponents for each week.

Week 1 vs. Detroit Lions
Week 2 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Week 3 at New Orleans Saints
Week 4 at Carolina Panthers

None of the games are scheduled to be nationally televised.

2016-04-07_1613

Steelers Host 5 Draft Prospects For Visits Thursday

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It would seem that the Pittsburgh Steelers might be interested in a defensive back or two in the 2016 draft. Just maybe. The team is showing off Lombardi trophies to five more prospects today, 4 of which are defensive backs. By my count, that’s 10 out of 14 draft visitors who are defensive backs.

Here is the list of prospects visiting today:

Ohio State safety Vonn Bell, Auburn cornerback Jonathan Jones, Clemson safety T.J. Green, North Carolina Central CB-S Ryan Smith, and Akron linebacker Jatavis Brown.

http://gty.im/498624624

Bell being the top talent and the headliner of the group, while the others are late round depth guys. He’s definitely not my favorite safety in this class, but I wouldn’t be completely shocked if he were the Steelers first round pick.

Steelers Preseason

Steelers Will Announce Preseason Schedule Today

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The Steelers will announce their preseason schedule today at 4:00 pm according to team spokesman Burt Lauten.

https://twitter.com/SteelersPRBurt/status/718115065631739905

We knew the date was getting close, as the schedule was released on April 9th for the past couple of years. The 4 game schedule typically includes a mix of non-divisional opponents who aren’t terribly far away. Here’s my guess at this year’s opponents-

@ Philadelphia

Tennessee

Detroit

@ Carolina

2016-04-07_0020

DeAngelo Williams And Vontaze Burfict Got Into A Twitter Fight

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DeAngelo Williams was on ESPN today. He made the rounds…SportsCenter, First Take, etc…

https://twitter.com/DeAngeloRB/status/717720253506195456

He even did some dancing.

At some point during his interviews, the veteran running back said that the Bengals were going to be his rival this year.

“For me, my rival throughout my year will be the Cincinnati Bengals,” Williams told ESPN. “I don’t think there was any doubt in my mind if AB was not interfered on or hit the way he was hit, however you want to label it – there’s no doubt we go on and give the Broncos hell.”

Essentially, it seems, Williams is saying that Burfict’s hit on AB kept them from the Super Bowl.

Word got out to Burfict at some point today and he took to Twitter to put Williams in his place.

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Get the popcorn…

https://twitter.com/DeAngeloRB/status/717850623778140162

https://twitter.com/King55Tez/status/717851651663663105

https://twitter.com/DeAngeloRB/status/717852751967961090

https://twitter.com/King55Tez/status/717852681805701121

https://twitter.com/DeAngeloRB/status/717853179287830528

I’ll give Burfict credit…he spells way better than I would have guessed. After the brief exchange, his mentions skyrocketed, most of which were from Steelers fans.

https://twitter.com/King55Tez/status/717861430238830592

Ifo Ekpre-Olomu

Steelers Reportedly Made Waiver Claim On CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu

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According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Steelers were one of four teams who placed a waiver claim on CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu.

https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/717712690819547136

http://gty.im/454821398

The Browns waived Ekpre-Olomu with a non-football injury designation on Saturday. The 5’9″ corner was selected by Cleveland in the 7th round last year, but was one of the top ranked CB prospects in the 2015 draft before suffering a torn ACL and dislocating his knee at the end of his senior season.

The Steelers had the lowest priority of the 4 teams who made waiver claims on the cornerback.

 

 

A'Shawn Robinson

Alabama DT A’Shawn Robinson Visited Steelers Today

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The Steelers had Alabama defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson in for a pre-draft visit today. The 6’3″, 307 lb lineman is widely considered to be one of the top DT prospects in this year’s draft.

https://twitter.com/BobLabriola/status/717384436954873856

Robinson was a five star recruit out of high school in Texas, and originally verbally committed to the Longhorns before switching to Alabama prior to signing day. A two year starter in Alabama’s 3-4 defense, Robinson played down the line, showing that he could anchor at zero-tech or 2-gap as a five technique.

Robinson was mainly asked to be a lane clogger in Alabama, and attributed his lack of penetration to scheme. “I most want to improve on my pass rush and become a better rusher,” Robinson said at the combine. Robinson’s pass rush technique is raw, but he often draws a double team from offensive linemen.

The Steelers spent one on one time with Baylor’s Andrew Billings at his Pro Day last month. Obviously the team will look to add defensive line talent in the coming draft. Whether or not they do so in the first round is anyone’s guess, but either of these prospects would be solid additions.

Will Johnson Steelers

TE Will Johnson Signs 2 Year Deal With Giants

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The Giants have signed former Steelers TE/FB Will Johnson to a 2 year deal, the team announced via Twitter today.

https://twitter.com/Giants/status/717369399200595968

The Steelers signed Johnson as an UDFA out of West Virginia in 2012. During his time in Pittsburgh, the occasional starter played in 63 out of 64 regular season games.

Johnson’s departure doesn’t come as  a surprise. Roosevelt Nix proved himself quite capable last year, and it’s hard to justify keeping such a limited role player on the roster.

Will posted a heartfelt farewell to the Steelers and fans via his Instagram account today.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BD0-9jNpwme/

“SteelerNation, first I would like to say thank you to the Rooney family, Coach Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and the entire #Steelers organization for the opportunity to play in the National Football League. They took a chance on me when no one else would, and for that, I am forever grateful. Next, I would like to thank my coaches, teammates and SteelerNation, some of the very best fans in football, for welcoming me. It’s been a fun Journey in which I’ve made great relationships and memories that will last a lifetime.”