Players that don't fit Steelers

I Want to discuss about players that we have a shot at drafting but don't fit the Steelers. Players that could be good picks for someone's system but who you don't see the Steelers drafting. Maybe open some eyes for us about picks that are not going to happen for a reason.

Single player that I have not seen as a fit at any moment yet is Mackenzie Alexander, Clemson.
- Yes, I saw him play and on tape I think he is first round material (maybe end of round1) but the biggest thing for me is that he always played man to man. If we were man cover team I would grade him differently but one of the hardest things is playing man coverage player in zone or zone player in man to man. Has he played zone at all? For sure we play some man but are favoing zone. And we palyed man more with Ike who was capable but nothing suggest so far we are playing any more man in future.
- If we wan't more picks we have to play DB'swith eyes toward QB's and that means zone.
- I am not overly worried about his height BT our #1 is going to play AJ Green and other tall guys

Also don't want pure box safety since we were already strong - stronger than many think against the run but very weak against pass. Only pick up Jeremy Cash, Sua Cravens and oter safetys who's weakness is coverage if they really fall, maybe round 3. In round 1-2 I want only top coverage safety. With MacLendon we were good against run. Just need good Dline play to pick up from last year against run. If we need safety against run we are screwed already. And we already have Shazier as the speed guy in box. Coud we really play Shazer and Cravens at same time effectively?

 

I don't like the idea of "players who don't fit"... I think the reason Lebeau is gone, and the reason we are seeing more versatility, more hybrid looks, etc, is because you cannot be rigid in scheme in today's game. You have to get the best talent, and build scheme to talent.

With that said... I don't think Mackenzie Alexander is that good on tape. I think he wins man 2 man because his front 7 was absolutely dominant.

 

I understand what you are saying but I still see it a bit differently. In 2016 you have to play hybrid looks and make opponent guess all the time. Even the young QB's are good at reading defenses if they know what's coming. I still don't think we should play all the coverages all the time and require that every player has to be great with any call. That makes us not great at anything and the advantage is not ours even though opponent is guessing all the time.

On coverage I think we play more zone than man. We are not playing one single coverage as nobody is like the Bucs in early 2000's with basicly only cover 2. I think we are cover 3, cover 2, mixed zones and only some man in between. Since we play more zone we favor zone skills in player evaluation. Compared the Seahawks are single high safety team most of the time. That means they don't play a lot of 2 man or cover 2 but do play cover 3 and cover 1 looks. They have one safety that is great center fielder and one that is box safety. The mix up is rolling the safetys the other way around every now and then but still playing single high. So you need mix up and versatility but you don't play all of the plays. This is why they give great value to what technique a D lineman is plaiyng. If a player has DE size but has played 1, 2 and 3 tech with success he is not a sure thing at 5 tech.

 

we are not that far off. another good cover corner that is capable of keeping up with the other teams #1 receiver will go a long way.

the slot is covered with gay and golson when teams go 3 wide and could jump to the #2 receivers if teams go into a hurry up and we can't get defensive changes.

cockrell is good enough to cover a teams #2 guy.

DL said a few years ago we were looking for corners with some man ability instead of just zone heavy guys and i think that is still true. the #1 though needs to be more heavily a man cover guy. it would help the rest of the zone coverage.

we need another pass rusher up front and some depth.

the ILB spot could use another fast player for depth and eventual takeover for timmons down the road.

a good coverage safety which i think we may have in grant. that would give us a decent back end and we could add that other safety that isn't late to the dance on deep stuff (speed), is a good tackler and has some decent cover skills. size is a plus as is a mean streak. 3 guys come to mind for this type of player, simmons, green and joseph, but there are others that would work.

with the speed at ilb we can do a lot of things with these guys. with the 3rd safety that can do many things it allows us to help stop the run, mix up the coverage with the ilb'ers, blitz the ILB'ers if we want, blitz the safety if we want and not lose track of TE's and RB's.

with just a couple of additions of the right type of skill players we can play it many different ways and not get caught with bad match ups.

 

Spot on Mac. My biggest grip against Alexander is that he didn't have any interceptions which was kinda alarming. Could mean that he isn't much of a play maker. And we need some playmakers in that secondary. When was the last time one of our corners picked a ball off and took it to the house?

And here's another thing...We need corners that can cover man to man if need be be because when we've beaten Brady, we've done it by maning up on the wide receivers in tight coverage.

 

Big play Willie Gay had one just this last December vs Cincy. But I agree some infusion of man coverage ability would not hurt to say the least.

 

As others have stated, we are very close, we are a quality safety, cb, olb, edge rusher, away from seriously competing for a Superbowl title. Lets hope we find some of these this draft.And of course barring any serious injuries. We will be able to compete and WIN.