Analysts - not enough priority on DBs in Pgh

Alot

 

Well the same thing happened for 20+ years after Bradshaw: We still found defensive gems but could not find QB and WR talent to save our lives. Since TB, our QB efforts included Stoudt, Malone (first round pick so don't say they didn't ever prioritise the QB position), Scott Campbell, Bubby Brister, O'Donnell, Cornelius Benton, Alex Van Pelt, Jim Miller, Kordell Stewart, Tee Martin, Brian St. Pierre. Also in that time we picked up free agents Tomczak, Kent Graham, Todd Blackledge and David Woodley. Now one could argue that that group of QBs, over that long span, is a dumpster fire with only O'Donnell, Kordell and - ever so slightly - Bubby being halfway decent at all.

In that same span, we drafted such defensive cornerstones as Mike Merriweather, Rod Woodson, Lloyd, Nickerson, Lake, Kirkland, Steed, Perry, Chad Brown, Buckner, Gildon, Holmes, Roye, Raybon, J-Peezy, Aaron Smith, you get the picture. (I know it's not quite apples to apples comparing all Defense to QBs taken but the point is sometimes you go on sprees of bad picks for one position).

All that being said, I _DO_ feel they have neglected the DB unit for a long while, and mostly missed when they did attempt to upgrade talent, missing on players such as Burns, Davis, Golson, Grant, Richardson, Sharko, Hawthorne, Brown, Butler, Burnett, Mundy, Ant Smith, Colclough, and so on.

 

Jags coached the Senior bowl a couple years in a row iirc. This is a huge advantage come draft time and they are seeing the rewards.
It's no secret Denver needs a qb, and guess who is coaching this qb laden senior bowl? Smart move on their part.

I don't think drafting dbs has been a priority. How many years did fans scream for a premium pick on a cb? Then Golson was picked in the second. So a change recently, but Lake still sucks at evaluating and developing prospects imo.

 

I agree with you on most of this. I also think the years of poor play in the secondary led to them reaching for players too much. I'd argue that Golson, Burns, and Davis were all drafted 1-2 rounds early (and maybe more).