Offensive Line Prospects

I have seen a ton of mocks lately with Yankey falling to the second. I was thinking the exact same thing about him at #46. He'd be a plug and play LG and an immediate improvement over Foster.

 

billy turner, Wesley Johnson,hurst, don Hawkins, britt, moses, schofield, Brandon Thomas, pempphail(sp?) from purdue. there are several capable guys out there. Johnson is LT capable but also anywhere across the line capable. turner I really like.

 

Johnson would make a lot of sense really. depth at LT is a biggy. a 3rd center and this is also biggy, and guard capable too. another swiss army knife that played each position well in college but still has the money spot of LT as his main position. his only real downfall is shorter arms. the longer arms make the difference for beachum. well that and brains. if adams and gilbert weren't 2nd rounders, I think we would see a top pick again. I still think this line is a weak link to the offense. I hope we at least draft 1 competent pick.

 

I agree but beachum is 6-2 7/8, but has arms as long as taller players. his arms are only 3/4" shorter than mike adams. he's 6-7 and Matthews and Johnson are 6-5 guys. he's more gorilla like than the taller guys. most teams prefer 34 in. plus arms and 6-4 plus tackles when possible. beachum is kind of a freak of nature at LT in the NFL.

 

I don't see the Steelers drafting O-lineman until the later rounds. I would like for them to find a long term answer at LT that Munchak can develop.

 

I feel like sentence one and sentence two contradict each other here. Most long term answers at LT are first round selections... Now IMO the Steelers have absolutely no business drafting OL in the first round, so later round guys are more in the mold of back ups that you might get lucky on and find a starter. What is your (or anyone's) opinion on Britt from Missou? He might be a late round guy who could eventually turn into a starting caliber player.

On a side note: If Beachum takes another step at LT this year and becomes an average to above-average NFL starter at that position, the Steelers are in an interesting position to play a little money ball. We could end up keeping Beachum at the LT position for the future without having to break the bank at an insane number. That way we could keep Pouncey and pay DeCastro down the line to keep them as the anchor of our line for a while. That type of continuity could be what puts our line over the top.... IDK just a thought

 

Isn't that what happened to Ramon Foster? Not the same injury, but I thought he was supposed to be one of the better OL prospects in his class and then went undrafted. I could be wrong, but I thought it was injury and not just that every team passed on him multiple times.

I hate to see these guys get injured on the field, let alone during their training program. I wish Thomas the best.

 

tough blow for a good lineman. on a lighter note the steelers met extensively with Wesley Johnson after his pro day.

 

I mean maybe they could find a diamond in the rough later round gem, who won't be pressured to start right away.

 

i like james hurst

 

Measurables only go so far, how about
these guys heart, determination,desire nastiness,
intelligence?