steelers roster

was watching the bengals ravens game today with a bunch of guys at a place we go to. the game sucked so we started talking steeler football and got into what i thought was an interesting discussion. a bunch of us think the steelers are one of the few nfl teams that have a top 5 player at each position. we grouped the d-line and o-line together to kind of make our argument work, but I was wondering what you all thought.
Ben is top 5
how close is mendy?
wallace is top 5
pouncey is a top 5 olineman in my opinion caught alot of heat for this but i think he is
I said heath is a top 5 te
d-line is hard. I think keisel is under appreciated but not sure he is top 10 One gut said hampton is top 5
linebacker is a no brainer I think we have two harrison and timmons even woodley
troy is top 5 saftey
Is ike a top 5 corner?
we did not talk kickers or punters but I wonder is any other teams can come this close. What do you think

 

Ben is top 5
Mendy has the talent of top 5, but until he's used properly, he'll never have the stats of a top 5 guy
I don't think Wallace is top 5 to be honest, and in fact think Brown is going to end up the #1 guy
Pouncey has taken a small step back this year. Isn't top 5, but very well could be one day
Heath is top 10, not top 5. He just doesn't have the speed of some of the other top TE's like Gates, Witten, Graham, etc.
Dline, no top 5 anymore. Smith used to be for sure, and Hampton perhaps was close
Linebacker, Harrison for sure.
Troy is top 5 for sure
Ike isn't top 5 in my opinion. Makes too many mistakes and can't catch the ball

 

You really dont think heath is top 5. I think he is the most complete te in the game. witten is the only one who can come close to blocking as good. I know i am a homer but i think pouncey is the best center (i think mangold is overrated) and he is as good as any guards and I think a couple of tackles are better. if you just compared 3-4 defenses i think kesiel gets it and as mad as I get at him I think hampton is still one of the best true nose tackles, but you are probably right if you take all d-lineman we dont have one

 

Heath may very well be one of the best blocking TE's in the league, but most teams don't use their TE's for a whole lot of blocking anymore. Jimmy Graham, Witten, Vernon Davis, Gates, Gonzalez, Gronkowski and Hernandez come to mind as being better than Heath. They really aren't used for blocking a whole lot, but even when they are, they can get the job done. When it comes to catching though, Heath just doesn't have the speed that those guys do. I do like the guy though and am glad we have him, especially considering our awful Oline.

Pouncey is very good, I just think he took a step back this year.

Keisel is good in a 3-4 system, but when compared to guys like Peppers, Suh and as much as I hate to say it, Ngata, he just isn't up there.

 

If Heath isn't top 5 I wanna know the 5 that are better

 

Witten, Gronkowski, Hernandez, Graham, Gates, Gonzalez and Vernon Davis. Those guys are basically WR's in a TE's body. They may not block as well as Heath, but when it comes to the receiving side of things, Heath just can't keep up with those guys.

 

You have different criteria for rating your top TEs -- you are rating them solely on their recieving abilities. The TE is alot more that that IMO. Do you think those TEs would excel in the Steeler offense?

 

I don't have a different criteria as those guys can also block. They may not be able to block as well as Heath, but they can block just fine. I'm looking at the entire picture, and I think when taking into account how the TE is used in todays NFL, those guys are better than Heath. It's just my opinion though.

 

When I first read this, I was wondering if you couldn't make a case for a few teams like this. For an example, I took San Diego: you could make a case (not saying you should, but you could) that Rivers, Gates, Jackson, Hester, et al. are all top 5. Then my comparison kind of ran out of steam...

What I concluded was this:
For every team, there are slightly weaker spots - in particular where there may not be one player who's top 5, but the job still gets done.
On the one hand, we seem to have less of those spots than a lot of people (my SD argument fell apart when I got to the defense). BUT on the other hand this may well be because we watch the team week in, week out, so we're more aware of how good someone like Heath is, when other fans wouldn't.

I don't think anyone would put Mendenhall in top 5, though - unless he builds up some consistency. He's not got the same influence on a game like Rice can have.

 

san diego was one of the teams I started with too. One of the guys there laughed because he is a semi charger fan. he has a man crush on rivers. he thinks he is the best qb in the league. he said gates would be top5 at te. of course he said rivers and then he said name someone else. one guy said waddle and he didnt agree. said he was just paid like a top saftey. I got hit pretty hard on mendy. peterson , jones-drew, turner, maybe foster, then i have no problem putting mendy next. with fosters o-line I think mendy would be just as good.

 

Mendy would absolutely be just as good as Foster if he was in Houston. I could probably run for 60-70 yards behind that line. You can't really make assumptions like that though, you can only go with what is reality. Mendy struggles in our offence because of Bruce Arians. He has top 5 talent though, there's no denying that. But you gotta go by results, and he just doesn't have the numbers. It sucks, because he's the type of RB that can really help an offence, but we just don't use him properly.

 

I agree he is not used the way he should be imo. just curious, who is your top 5?

 

Peterson
Rice
Chris Johnson (he'll bounce back next year)
Foster
Michael Turner
Forte
McCoy
MJD
Steven Jackson

There's also a few more that could fly up the standings at anytime like McFadden, Ryan Matthews, Demarco Murray, Fred Jackson if he keeps doing what he's doing, Ben Tate, Beanie Wells.

There's so many good RB's and potentially good RB's that no matter how good I think he is, I just can't rate Mendy as top 5 until he puts up the numbers. I do like him though and think he's got a ton of talent, we just need to use him better.

 

No not at all positions.

 

You guys are nuts. Foster would run for 100 yards a game behind our line because he gets 2-3 yards before making a move. unlike Mendy who dances 2 times before getting to the line. Mendy is just not consistently tough. He shows glimpses, but does it really mean anything to him. Does not appear to.

No way Mendy is a top 5 back. And I hope we do not give him a fat contract. I want players that have heart to stay. I think we need to figure out how to pay these young wr. We can draft a rb in the next couple of years and maybe Batch can be the man in a few years.

 

Heath Miller is the best tight end in the game, and has been since his rookie season.

Shaner82, can we just agree that Heath and guys like Hernandez and Gates simply play different positions? They are called the same, but can we just acknowledge that they are different? We might as well be comparing running backs to fullbacks.

Also, I think Heath blocks a LOT better than those guys, not just a little. He can take on defensive ends by himself and pancake them some of the time, while most of those guys couldn't stop a linebacker and would need to block a cornerback to get anything done. Heath can block any position on the field. I'd even trust him with nose tackle for a short amount of time. And even though he doesn't have the sprinter speed of those guys, he's got the talent to put up 1,000 yards per year if used correctly. He runs great routes, has fantastic hands and is exceptional after the catch. He would work that way if we asked him to, and many Steeler fans have been wanting them to ask him to do it for years.