Trade back, CB, DL, or Bust?

Why in the world would we draft a WR in the 1st round this year?

I am asking this under the full assumption that Mike Evans and Sammy Watkins will be off the board by No.15.

We have 3 capable WRs on our roster right now. Brown, Wheaton, and Moore. Wheaton would definitely be considered the least capable of the 3 because of his lack of experience but I (and the Steelers) am high on him and Steelers drafted WRs tend to break out in their 2nd seasons. I think the reason people have been so accepting of the idea of Beckham Jr lately is because we've spent the past few months romanticizing about Mike Evans (who is too great of a talent to pass up), and now that he'll probably be out of our range, we're compensating with Beckham Jr. And I think the reason that the Steelers would draft Beckham is because he just ended up being the best value/talent/need combination on our big board when our pick comes around. Classic Steelers decision. I usually have nothing wrong with that, but this year I do. I think it would be unwise to use our 1st rounder on Beckham Jr... or any WR that is not Mike Evans or Sammy Watkins.

Barring detrimental injuries like the past 2 seasons, we're a playmaker/depth at CB and a playmaker/depth at DL away from being an elite Super Bowl contender (I'm assuming we re-sign Keisel and maybe Harrison post June 1). The Steelers are building to win right now. Not 4 years from now, even though I'm sure we'll be building to win then too. We don't have the same draft leisures we've had in the past. We need a CB and a DL who can come in and be a big playmaker within the next 2 years.

So... why would we not draft a CB or DL regardless of draft position this year?

At the end of the day, I really don't care about the value in draft positions. I want to win. If we want to win now, we need defensive help far more than wide receiver.... so draft a CB and a DL early that can come in and help right away! This isn't rocket science haha!

That's been on my mind for a few days now so I'm curious to know what you guys think. Let me know Steeler Nation



Go Steelers!!!!

[Snip] *Removed link per forum rules

 

Moore lost his job to a 4th round rookie last year, and Wheaton, while I am hoping he is ready to step up, has to show more than the promise he showed last pre-season....

That said, I would take Beckham Jr, but only in a trade down scenario. The Steelers have traditionally had success taking CB's in the 3rd-4th round...

 

Just because they draft a DL doesn't mean he will start right away Heyward sat on the bench for 2 seasons, so the chances of a rookie DL being a playmaker is slim. I would re-sign Kiesel post June 1st Harrison not interested he's done.

 

Yes. It seems like the DE position in Lebeau's system takes the longest to master. Heyward, A. Smith, Keisel all took a while to develop...

 

Who are your gameday active DL?

Heyward, McLendon, Thomas... Arnfelt, Williams, Keisel? Fangupo? I think there's a chance we get a good player out of those guys, but there's a lot of room for disaster, too. Even if everyone remains healthy, that could get ugly. This is why I wanted to keep Ziggy... As it is, I'm afraid DL is a significant need we must address in the first 4 rounds.

 

I just don't see the thinking in taking another 7th round guy this year as in your positional setup. we drafted a 7th round DE last year and found a good UDFA in camp. why get another guy at that level this year? just to say we got one? now if we are talking NT, that's a possibility. calvin Barnett possibly. great motor and from what I've seen well under rated. I think we have a gem in arnfelt though. I'm also waiting to see what they saw in Williams down the road. now isn't the time to panic and give up on these two. if keisel is re-signed for a year, it will give us a better barometer of these two playing a part time basis and maybe more by mid season.

I also think with the addition of moats, we may not need an ilb that high. moats is fairly young still and I think could end up pretty good once he gets in one defense and learns it. not flopping back and forth between a 4-3 and a 3-4.

we do have another couple of guys on the roster that I am quite curious about too, before we just write them off.

al lapuaho DL Utah st. ????????? ut.st. had a decent defense when he was there.
dan molls ILB Toledo - I liked this kid last year in the draft. curious to see him play for us. he's got some mobility and was leading the nation in tackles at one point his SR.year. 2012
vic so'oto OLB BYU- I've talked about him before. 2 years with kevin green, dom capers and GB's 3-4. he's 6-3 263 with some speed.
linear Sampson Baylor WR
Miguel maysonet stony brook RB
jasper Collins Mt.Union WR
danny coale VT WR

all 3 of these WR's had a lot of promise during the draft. they were not the top tier guys and needed some time. the rookie year is out of the way and we have a fine teacher for our WR's.

we may very well have some diamonds in the rough sitting here already. most of these guys had promise and good college careers. they had an injury or starters in front of them, or just needed some more coaching and polish. we could use the depth and we wouldn't have to force any pick in the mid draft or later just to fill a position unpicked. then again they could all flop, but so could draft picks. at least these guys know what it's all about instead of being wide eyed rookies. big difference in that.

 

yes, you are correct as always TTF. :ugeek: thank you. the fact remains the same, they all had promise. we have a veteran coaching staff finally, I'd like to see it pay some dividends with guys like this. maybe that's all it will take compared to where they were. poole and alexander I still have some hopes for. I think it's hard on some guys their rookie years making that jump. these guys have that out of the way and can focus totally on what they are learning and closer to the react part of the game.

 

I like Beckam, but not in the first, I don't know why everyone thinks we will bring back Harrison. He is too old to play special teams at this point, even Pitt beat reporters think it is a possibility though, which is weird?

Beckham would be a nice replacement for Sanders. But we need a bigger target.

Unless something crazy good happens in the draft I think we do sign Keisel though.

 

If we need Kiesel and Harrison we are in trouble, and facing a long season ahead.

 

at the moment we have no "sure" better options

 

we either go totally young or we bring these guys in not to start but as a rotation. they can cover our butts still if things don't work out. same with ike, moore, H-B and blount. it buys us an extra year to get others up to speed during the year so we know what we have to do next year. at least that's how I look at it. if we happen to get some good play from them, which I have no doubt, than that is just a plus.