Article on early draft pick failures

I realize that hindsight is 20/20, but the fact is our scouting department and FO (and coaches)have failed over the last few seasons. Jason Worilds over Sean Lee? Puhleaze! Nice pick, Tomlin!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ysmal-season?search_query=Pittsburgh Steelers

 

Interesting, though he had some misses too, we seemed to do a better job drafting before Doug Whaley left as Pro Scouting Coordinator and was replaced by Brandon Hunt.

 

The problem I have with that article is that they aren't matching the positions up. "We picked a dud LT, when we could have picked (out of all the players left in the draft) this OLB or this TE" seems to be playing a bit too much on hindsight.

If there's a pick where it's like "we picked this RB, when this other RB was on the board", that's more of a case I think.

And while I don't disagree that our assessment of talent has been poor with the way some of the picks have turned out (though not all are down to bad assessment, and more down to bad luck), I would also imagine you could do this exercise with just about every draft ever, with perhaps the exception of 1974 and 1987.

 

I guess hindsight is always 20/20

 

they should write an article about how we develope the draft picks ...

 

You're right, but I guess the failure to pick Sean Lee still sticks in my crawl to this day. I understand that Tomlin personally lobbied for Jason Worilds over Sean Lee when Colbert and others leaned toward Lee. Lee played at Penn State and the Steelers knew him well. It was somewhat a surprise that the Steelers passed him up. He's turning out to be a stud and has even been mentioned as a DPOY candidate. Let's just say Worilds isn't. What Tomlin was thinking is perplexing to me to this day.

 

The draft is kind of a crap shoot. Even in Cowher's era the Steelers had their share of misses.


2006
Anthony Smith
Willie Reid
Orien Harris
Omar Jacobs
Charles Davis
Marvin Philip
Cedric Humes


2005
Fred Gibson
Rian Wallace
Shaun Nua
Noah Herron


2004
Ricardo Colclough
Nathaniel Adibi
Bo Lacy
Matt Kranchick
Drew Caylor
Eric Taylor


2003
Alonzo Jackson
Brian St. Pierre
J.T. Wall

 

Bad draft picks happen to every organization. But when added together with the litany of other problems, we see what the Tomlin era really is.

 

True. But you're failing to see who else came out of those drafts from 03-06. Troy. Ben. Heath. Santonio.

Under Tomlin, who's the stud pick in seven seasons? Timmons? Brown? Wallace? Pouncey?

 

Best post I've seen in a long time. I know none of these names;if I wasn't a steeler fan

 

How about these names:

Jim Wolf
Rick Druschel
Allen Siterle
Scott Garske
Mike Gefert
Tommy Reamon
Charles Davis

My guess is that you've never heard of any of these Steelers draft busts, who were all drafted the same year.

That year was 1974.

Swann, Lambert, Stallworth, and Webster all came out of that same draft.

You assess a draft based on the hits as much as, if not more than, the misses. From that standpoint, see again what Cowher/Colbert hit on from 03-06.

 

How is Brown less of a stud pick than Santonio?

The way I see it, there are certain areas where the drafting has been noticeable: OL and DB, and probably LB.

LB we seemed absolutely stacked at in preseason. With the exception of Worilds - who did not actually have a bad season from the bench last year - I think it's fair to say the decline of our LB play has been a surprise to most.

DB we have routinely picked low and hoped that someone worked out. But looking back to 2003, with the exception of Troy and Ike, this seems to have been a constant theme.

OL - we have invested in plenty of high round picks, and that's why it's so frustrating to see the line fail to improve each year.

It's not as simply as "Tomlin did good" or "Tomlin did bad". We've tried to find diamonds in the rough with DB, but the odds of that strategy working are minimal, no matter how good the scouting. We've tried to invest in solid college lineman, and a mixture of bad luck (Decastro and Pouncey injuries) and lack of development (Gilbert and Adams) has got in the way. I think we can pin more of that on draft day decisions, but there are other factors bearing on it as well.

 

The proof is in the pudding, This has led to our demise. I have asked for months about who is responsible for these draft picks.Nobody wants to fess up, This is why both have to go somebody needs to be held accountable.

 

After looking at what we could of had, it seems we draft players based on need and not talent.

Example, We drafted Adams because we needed a left tackle, regardless of him being a project but passed on other talented players even though we didn't need that position.

I always say take the most talented player on the board regardless of position.

 

I think the one on that list that hurts and also tells a lot about the coaching staff is Urbik, how could you have the guy for 1 season and say he wasn't good enough when we have the likes of Foster and Whimper? I'm guessing the coaching staff made the call and that would makes me suspect of this staff and whether they know how to evaluate and develop talent.

 

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/11/08/andrew-says-biggest-steelers-loss-may-be-off-the-field/

yep, here ya go scruffy.

 

Urbik and Legursky will get the chance to exact a measure of revenge today.

 

Yep. Thing about Ben ... had the Steelers not had a lousy 2003 season he would not have been available.

 

Which why need need to draft his heir apparent this if we continue to lose week after week. Colts did it with Luck

 

We'll likely get another chance next year, especially with who all we'll be loosing.

 

I like the qb's this year better. this is going to be a tough draft for our gang. play it smart and we could load up on both or either side of the ball. it is the offenses turn.

 

Jameis Winston will be the prize...and he won't be available until 2015.

 

This article touched on the subject with the urbik reference