Prospects at ILB

The other Devin in the 2019 draft. I guess TB picked up his 5th year option unlike Bush's 5th year option that the Steelers did not pick up.

I know the Steelers were really high on Devin White back in 2019 when they drafted Bush so White will be on their radar this offseason. White was wanting $20 million a season last year with the Bucs and ended up playing out his option year with no contract extension.

 

Why not? I don't think we'd have an issue coming up with the 15-18 million a year he is likely to get. Spotrac has him at 18.5.... not sure I'd shy away at that number. We should be able to afford it pretty easily.

 

Spotrac has his market value around 11 million a year. Not sure how accurate that would be or not... I'd assume we'd have some level of interest. I think it would be a good position to lock down either in FA or the draft. Our defense tends to do a lot better with a difference maker at this position. Holcomb was pretty good, but probably a tier below "difference maker".

 

Queen isn't good that's why, Ravens fans bash him all the time Roquan is the superior player.

 

do you think jaylon smith will help us this year?

 

No, there's a reason he bounced around from team to team.

 

Disagree that Queen isn't good. Roquan is definitely a better player because Roquan is probably the best ILB in the game right now (Fred Warner has a say here).

Queen is pretty much good for 3.5 sacks and 4 turnovers every year on top of over 100 tackles. He's good downhill in run support and is solid in coverage. He's definitely a Pro Bowl caliber player. Not exactly sure what isn't to like outside of not being the best ILB on the team because Roquan Smith exists.

 

How did the Steelers miss on Ivan Pace Jr last year? Undrafted out of Cincinnati. Looks like the Steelers were all over him at the senior bowl, and then there is a post about a former player, now scout talking him up before the draft.

At the Senior Bowl he was clocked at 20.58 mph. That the fastest MPH time clocked in the last 2 years for a LB.

And Then you have Ivan's PFF ranking:
PFF Profile and Stats

• Ivan Pace Jr. was not only PFF’s highest graded linebacker in all of college football last season, he was also their second-highest graded defender- regardless of position- with a 93.2 overall grade (min. 100 snaps). Among FBS linebackers, he ranked:
• #1 in overall defensive grade (93.3)
• #1 in pass rush grade (93.3)
• #1 in pass rush productivity (20.3)
• #1 in pass rush win % (36.4%)
• #1 (tied) in batted passes (2)
• #1 in pressures (55)
• #1 in sacks (12)
• #1 in QB hits (18)
• #3 in QB hurries (25)
• #3 in run defense grade (90.7)
• #3 in tackles (74)
• #3 in assists (31)
• #1 in run stops (defensive win)
• #8 in coverage snaps per target (18.4)

UNDRAFTED!!!! How does Austin and company miss Ivan Pace Jr? FYI. Picked up by Minnesota and now up for Defensive Rookie of the year.

 

maybe they liked herbig more and they had his brother here.

 

Probably had a lot to do with him being 5'10" tall. And 31 other teams missed on him, if he went undrafted, so blaming Austin is garbage.

 

Every year Steelers fans get their hopes up thinking the team will sign an expensive free agent, free agents like Queen will be seeking that big guaranteed money which the Steelers don't pay to outside free agents.

 

I liked him for the Steelers, even started a thread about him IIRC.

 

So can a Space Eating DT.

 

But aren’t all the athletic ILB’s who are great in coverage in the same boat? It is part of why I have a big issue with our defense schematically. We love the smallish DT’s that are gap penetrators which offers no protection for the ILB’s. Yet we want ILB’s that are big enough to get off blocks and fast to cover WR’s, TE’s and RB’s. Unless you get lucky and hit on a freak like a Shazier it is nearly impossible to find a guy that can do all of that.

I would much rather have two behemoths at DT 330lbs to 340lbs to occupy blockers and free up the ILB’s free flow to the ball. The bigger DT’s would help the edge players as well by collapsing the pocket and not allowing the QB to step up and away from the Edge on the outside. Instead we seem to desire one gap penetrators and it is essentially hit or miss for our DT’s. I just feel like our scheme makes it much more complicated for ILB’s.

 

Not getting my hopes up, just stating that we have obvious interest in the ILB position and Queen makes perfect sense. We will like his AFCN attitude and his familiarity with our rivals. Doesn't mean I think we will, I just think we should. If we aren't spending the money we have available at the QB position, then we should spend it at ILB/S/ or CB. Queen would be fantastic here next to Holcomb.

 

This off season has been one of change. New coaches, more emphasis on offense. And they fired a coordinator in mid season. They never do that. They did this year. I'm encouraged by the changes and hope to see them continue into free agency. We are over the cap right now though and I'm not sure we could afford Queen. He's a very good linebacker and we'll see how much teams are willing to fork over to him. Hang on and let's see what happens.

 

yes and no to your theory.

space eaters out of base defense is OK. we play too little of our base though. we like to play two down linemen way too much for my liking. two guys can only eat up so many blockers. our OLB'ers crash down too far to get to the qb and we leave our edges open. the inside linebackers have a hard time covering crossing routes and having to get out to the edges to cover all that open territory. that is asking a lot. we are so concered about covering the pass downfield that we play this defense too much. get a couple of lockdown corners in here and that may work with minkah covering deep and help from our strong safety to help out the ILB'ers with that edge coverage. they also have a responsibility of keeping the qb from rushing up the middle if the rush doesn't get there. a NT out of the base would help that.

 

I think were saying the same point here. To me I feel like our DT’s and Edge Players have the luxury of just teeing off with their primary responsibility “Get the QB” and on the way to the QB if it is run play get the RB. With this style of defense we leave way to much responsibility on the ILB’s, S and CB’s. The way we played edge this year on run plays we would just crash down the line of scrimmage with no outside contain leaving the secondary and ILB’s responsible for covering the outside run, RPO or cut back. We don’t ask our DT’s to maintain gaps or occupy multiple blockers very often, so it leaves a guard or tackle free to block our ILB’s or Safeties. I am not sure Ogunjobi is capable of occupying multiple blockers or playing gap two gap contain. Thats why I want two bigger DT’s even in passing downs. They can push the pocket so the QB can’t step up or be their to stuff the draw play or a QB scramble up the middle. Plus it free’s up our ILB’s and Safeties to flow freely to the ball and have them worry less about one more responsibility as far as getting off blocks.

I understand it is a passing league but if you can’t stop the run or the middle of the field slants, etc. it is death by a thousand cuts. We gave up a ton of long sustained drives this year. For Tomlin’s scheme to work you really have to have ultra superstars at Safety and ILB. Why not scheme it up to make it easier on those guys so you don’t need superstars in those positions? I love splash plays just like anyone else but not at the expense of giving up long drives. Yeah everyone says but if we hold them to a field goal ...but in the second half our defense is so drained from being on the field for so long that we are counter productive. Plus we are either behind or it is a close game so it doesn’t play into our defenses strength because the opposing offense isn’t in a predictable situation of third and long or having to pass the ball to catchup.

I agree with you we need another CB on the boundary opposite of JPJ but it still doesn’t help out in stopping the run or pass coverage in the middle of the field. To me I still think you prioritize stopping the run so you put the other team in a predictable third and long situation so that it makes it much easier on your defense. I feel like we were unable to do that all year long. Adding another massive body next to Cam would go a long way towards that. We were on the verge of having that with Cam and Tuitt but unfortunately we lost Tuitt to retirement. Im not sure if Cam is the same player he was three years ago. I think with Cam’s step back and Ogunjobi not living up to his contract we really took a step back as a whole along the defensive line last year. I like Benton but I feel like we still need more on the DL and I am hopeful we can get some bigger body types in there to play the run like we used to in the Lebaue days. I know it will never be to that degree because we played with three down lineman one of which being a NT but at least getting bigger bodies in there should help a little even on the passing downs.

 

that is where us playing more base 3-4 sets. with a nose tackle and two DE's we occupy more blockers without making it a priority of their play. seals up the middle of the pocket to allow our OLB's to get home without the qb having open lanes to run thru. or RB for that matter. thus allowing ILB'ers to do their jobs. a shut down corner on both sides of the defense also makes the field smaller.

 

They will create plenty of cap space for free agency, but I don't see them spending big money on one guy, they have plenty of holes to fill.

 

I agree with you unfortunately in todays NFL the offenses spread you out with three wide receiver sets so you almost have to have a nickel on the field which makes the NT kind of obsolete. Thats why I felt a happy medium is to just have two DT’s so you can have the nickel but make those two DT’s bigger like 330 lbs so they can play gap contain and occupy blockers and push the pocket. The sad thing now is when offense play an 11 or 21 personnel now and pound the ball most defenses aren’t equipped to defend that because they either don’t have a traditional NT anymore or they really don’t have great tacklers at ILB, S or CB. You saw that with the Steelers when we went against the 49’ers this year. The art of tackling and playing the run is being lost. Thats why I am actually happy the Steelers are committing to it even more with Arthur Smith because when everyone else is zagging we should zig. Defenses today are built to stop the pass so lets run on them.

 

The Godfather, Dontay Corleone might be able to get him in 3rd. Big motor, has destroyed Pitt Panthers.

 

I am starting to warm up to the idea of Sweat in the 2nd and Trotter in the 3rd.

Barring a major free agent pickup, with Chuks gone, I am going to assume it will be an OT in the 1st. Of course if the Steelers want to hit the AFC North for a Free Agent tackle they couldn't do better than JONAH WILLIAMS. Hey, Cincinatti, sucks to have a $50 million QB eating up your cap doesn't it.

 

I agree these hybrids don't work, these 300 pd Ol
Swat them away like flies. Same way with big TE's. Please
Give me Ray Lewis type lbs. The problem is there not out there.
The cover abilities of the llb's are non existent.

 

wilson is pretty decent in coverage.