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2008 draft for the Steelers.

Discussion in 'Steelers Talk' started by Rollers, Jun 5, 2020.

  1. Rollers

    Rollers Well-Known Member

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    1. Rashard Mendenhall = decent back but never really lived up to a number one pick
    2. Limas Sweed = could have the worst hands of any receiver ever drafted
    3. Bruce Davis - who?

    This could be the worst draft class ever that came through the Steelers organization.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  2. SteelersFanIrl

    SteelersFanIrl Well-Known Member

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    That was a bad draft no doubt.

    2015/16 combined were rough ones as well, Bud is the only player left from those two years as far as I am aware and he will likely be gone after his tag year. Hargrave was an excellent pick in 2016 but they couldn’t keep him unfortunately.

    Every team has bad drafts though, Steelers would be in the top 5 I would imagine in terms of roster building through the draft.
     
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  3. Vox Ferrum

    Vox Ferrum Well-Known Member

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    In recent memory perhaps, go back to 85 and 86, those were dark days.
     
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  4. AskQuestionsLater

    AskQuestionsLater Writing Team

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    Worst of the Kevin Colbert Era. Worst in the teams history since the merger?! I am not sure sure about that one.
     
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  5. bigbenhotness

    bigbenhotness Well-Known Member

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    2008
    2016
    2015
    2009
    Not so good ones

    2017,2010, 2019,2007 pretty good ones.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  6. thorn058

    thorn058 Well-Known Member

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    I often think that some of these bad draft classes say more about the team at the time of the draft then the players themselves.

    Let's take this example. In 08 they are looking for that power back to bridge the gap from Bettis and Parker. Tomlin isn't sure about his offensive philosophy but KC and Rooney are all about Run the ball, play tough defense, control the clock. Mendenhall has a rep as a power back from Indiana, not of the Bettis mold but more than Parker. So they took a guy who seemed to fit but didn't need to be ready yet.

    Limas Sweed, if ever there was a young man not ready to be on his own, I think it was him. He really wasn't needed right away so no pressure to play behind Holmes and Ward. People say he was a headache but I just think he wasn't ready for a strange town, strange state and a fan base that will eat you alive if you screw up. His best attribute was is size and it never got called into play. Finally given up on due to lack of development but let's be real he was drafted to be Ben's big receiver.

    Bruce Davis is again the type of guy the Steelers look for, NFL pedigree, a tweener being a smaller DE that they would convert to outside LB in the 3-4. Struggled to adjust and was waived by the team. Harrison and Woodley in front of him did we actually think he was anything other than a project?

    With the exception of Mendenhall none of the 6 guys drafted were potentially a starter, all were project guys who needa least 2 seasons under their belt to be even considered backups. However they were safe guys that wouldn't worry therewith guys in front of them. No way Ward thought Sweed was brought in to replace him. Like I said it would be an interesting topic to look at what the team was during good to great drafts compared to mediocre to bad drafts.
     
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  7. STEELWINDS

    STEELWINDS

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    Hey Rollers.

    I was so pumped about Limas Sweed. Just Jacked! After drafted, I was watching college film on him and said: Oh Yes! His highlight reel was spectacular. However, that was the highlight of his pro career. What a total disappointment. I am still baffled as to what happened. Mendenhall was serviceable. I still think there are some that place way too much blame on him for us losing Super Bowl XLV. In the hierarchy of things, Ben is way closer to the top for blame. Bruce who? What a waste. Soft. Never had the grit for a Steeler LB.


    STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid
     
  8. Roonatic

    Roonatic Well-Known Member

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    Has anyone researched how C. Noll's drafts panned out when the Steelers were king of the league in the mid seventies? Seems that those mid-seventies picks didn't have a chance to crack the lineup & would look like a bad draft class in hindsight.
     
  9. Rollers

    Rollers Well-Known Member

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    I was really excited about Sweed as well. Just goes to show you what I know about drafting NFL players. Wasn't Ben's best game for sure. We had 3 turnovers in that game and we got 0. Sweed had all the tools but not the head for the game
     
  10. steel machine

    steel machine Well-Known Member

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    Like STEELWINDS I was convinced Sweed was the next Lynn Swann. I don't follow College football but once they picked him I looked him up and thought this guy is going to make us so damn good on offense.

    Mendenhall had me pumped too. Davis didn't even remember the poor guy.
     
  11. STEELWINDS

    STEELWINDS

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    Hey Roller.

    Yes, I think Sweed's issue may have been more of a psychological issue. I thought I read something somewhere about his use of contact lenses and that it was impacting his play? I am not totally sure of this. Oh well. The Draft is always a "risk". Usually, the top ten players are so-called as close as to "guaranteed" as possible but even then not so. I was really pulling for the guy. On a similar note, I think Claypool is going to be dynamite. At least I hope that he turns out well. I think he will. He seems tough (smile). Take care.


    STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid
     
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  12. steelersrock151

    steelersrock151 Well-Known Member

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    Say what you want about Sweed, the block he laid on the Ravens in the playoffs was worth the price.


    And for bonus fun, the video right after that one is the 2015 Bungles playoff game.
     
  13. groutbrook

    groutbrook

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    [​IMG]
     
    • Hilarious Hilarious x 1
  14. STEELWINDS

    STEELWINDS

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    Hey Roonatic.

    Yes, that would take some time to research about Noll's Drafts. However, like someone stated, some draft picks are selected for future plans due to the fact that there are already quality starters there. This is a good problem to have. If that is the case there is no pressure really for that player to be thrown into the fire. Hopefully, the transition from the college ranks to the pros can be a nice gradual and progressive move. Otherwise, it puts pressure on everyone from the Management to the rookie. I think Claypool is in a good position to lay back and learn with selected snaps.

    The same applies for Highsmith. However, I would not mind seeing Dupree replaced by Highsmith as his so-called development took way to long and it jammed us up with contract negotiations. Personally, I still do not think he is that great. He is serviceable. This is why I would like to see Highsmith replace him and then next year go and get another quality OLB for depth. OLBs use to be our Drafting strength. However, with the Jarvis Jones Bust and Dupree being just average (IMO) we have struggled to draft effectively for that position.
    The same may be happening for Edmunds at Safety. He was thrown into the fire and up to now has shown minimal growth. He seems to be heading down the same contractual "headache path" for us path that Dupree did.

    Under the Tomlin regime, the whole drafting crew has done a poor job with drafting secondary personnel. They have drafted 14 Secondary personnel, with all except maybe Keenan Lewis could be deemed "Busts". Unacceptable and disgusting. They might as well let other teams draft Secondary personnel and go after them once they have proven themselves. This is the case for our current Secondary. Haden, Nelson and Fitzpatrick are not our draftees and they have done a phenomenal job. Edmunds is our draftee and he is floundering. Again, a poor job by Management for the drafting of Secondary personnel.


    STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid
     
  15. Rollers

    Rollers Well-Known Member

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    only problem with that is Highsmith comes from a small school program. His biggest sack day 4.5 came against Old Dominion not a power school. He had a total of six sacks for the previous 3 years. I am not sold on Highsmith at all. But I hope I'm wrong. I don't see him starting this year at all. I think you will see him on special teams and maybe some spot duty. I agree with you on secondary picks under Tomlin. Horrible. Two players selected this year from one of the worst college programs in the country. The only two drafted off that team. We got them both. I loved the Claypool pick. The rest? Not so much. Again I've been wrong before so we'll see how that goes
     
  16. HeinzMustard

    HeinzMustard Well-Known Member

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    08 looked great on paper. At the time, I thought it was the best draft ever.
     
  17. steelersrock151

    steelersrock151 Well-Known Member

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    There was not a Steeler fan that wasn't enthusiastic about the draft. But hindsight is 20/20.
     
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  18. Steel_Elvis

    Steel_Elvis Staff Member Mod Team

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    I was very unenthusiastic about the 2008 draft. I don’t like taking RBs in the 1st round (never have), and I didn’t like Mendy’s tape. I hated the Bruce Davis pick. Really, the only pick I liked was Sweed. I guess I missed on that one. He looked so good at Texas.
     
  19. Vox Ferrum

    Vox Ferrum Well-Known Member

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    The years dim my memory, but I do remember comments on TV about how long it took to draft another all pro after the fab 74 class. To lazy to look it up, but it was some time.
     
  20. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    It's not like they completely stopped drafting good players after 1974. Their first-round pick in 1975 was Dave Brown, who was a hell of an NFL cornerback for a long time. They lost him to the Seahawks in the 1976 expansion draft. Bennie Cunningham was the top pick in '76. They also drafted two other solid pros that year, Ray Pinney and Gary Dunn.

    The early '80s were when it got rough, though '84 waw a good one with Louis Lipps, Terry Long and a bunch of decent role players. Chris Kolodzieski looked like he might be something before tearing up his knee. The 1985 draft was truly awful. The worst part of '86 was that the Steelers had crap at tight end, but Noll wouldn't give Brent Jones a chance and he went on to be a star for the 49ers.

    To answer the question about drafting an All-Pro, it was 13 years after the '74 draft when they took Rod Woodson in the first round of the '87 draft. That was also the year they got Greg Llloyd in the sixth round and Merril Hoge in the 10th.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  21. mytake

    mytake Well-Known Member

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    Who did the Patriots draft that year? :smiley1:
     
  22. mytake

    mytake Well-Known Member

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    Rod Woodson in 1987?
     
  23. Steel_Elvis

    Steel_Elvis Staff Member Mod Team

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    It's worth re-posting this one every couple of years
     
    • Hilarious Hilarious x 1
  24. HeinzMustard

    HeinzMustard Well-Known Member

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    I don't have a clue. I hate the Patriots.
     
  25. Vox Ferrum

    Vox Ferrum Well-Known Member

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    I did a quick look at this list and I think you may be right. There was even a dearth of Pro Bowl talent during that period. Gary Anderson and Louis Lipps were on a couple of times, a couple of other once, but damn the quote from one of the Teams insiders was correct, 'during that period it was not hard to cut players, but hard to know when to stop' (not a direct quote, but close, lol).

    https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/pit/all-pros.htm
     

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