Are the Steelers a CB and WR draft picks away from the playoffs?

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on...d-cb-wr-in-draft-could-determine-playoff-fate
The article suggests that if they can draft a elite player at CB and WR it would determine their playoff fate, it does have some merit if you could get Gilbert or Evans in the 1st that's elite talent. Or in the 2nd if you drafted players like Bradley Roby, Kyle Fuller, Jordan Matthews, Donte Moncrief, these are the type of players who should contribute immediately and help the team in the two weakest areas CB, WR.

 

have the teams that's had revis and megatron won anything? this is the question we must ask. is it really whats holding us back?


it still all starts up front and everyone wants a late round D-lineman and a late round developmental prospect on the O-line.

while we lost 3 DE's and have a late 7th rounder covering our franchise qb's blindside, and blocking for one of the best backs we have had in a while.

we lost two wr's granted, but we drafted two last year. we also signed two vet FA's though and have one guy we kept around that's tall. we still have our starting 3 cb's from last year. we also added a FA.

we did pick up one D-lineman that maybe isn't exactly what we need, but will provide depth to our depth.

we still have two 2nd round OT's that struggled. we have a C coming off major knee surgery/rehab in his last season under contract. we signed a backup at both spots, but still no true backup at LT. status quo or less is what we have done this offseason up front on both sides of the ball.

is WR and CB still our greatest needs or just what everyone wants to see?

 

I agree, we are a WR and CB away, provided our defense doesn't falter next year.

sadly I don't know if the second coming of Hampton or A. Smith is in this draft?

We are hoping our pass rush improves, but it is not a given it will.

 

here is the problem we have only one def lineman worth to be a starter (heiward others has to be upgrade )

 

While I see your points, where do you see are most pressing needs? I say in this order:


1. WR
2. CB
3. DL
4. OLB
5. OL

 

what about moats? he's young still and I think they really want to see where he fits and maybe eventually sign him as a future starter.

to me we have a wait and see year. can moats play. can Williams play. can worilds fill one side and can jj fill the other. remember worilds is only signed for this year and we may decide we aren't going to pay him like our OLB's of the past after this.

another thought is, can we see what they can fully be without good DE play in front of them or will we get a false reading?

what about garvin? yet again we just don't have enough to go on. I'm also not ruling out dan molls yet as an ILB. he was pretty good at Toledo. maybe he just didn't fit well where he was last year. so'oto is another guy we know little of, but he should know the 3-4. a couple of these guys seem like more than just camp fodder.

then we move to arnfelt. if he was in this years draft he may be one of the top picks in it with his numbers. how about we see what Williams has. so many unknowns until they get more playing time. if we draft a guy in a many of these spots and the one we have does well, then what?

we also have two good WR's we picked up in addition to two we drafted last year. maybe they fit well for us, maybe they don't. again we just don't know. all in all it's a tough year with the youth movement to see what we actually have. if we draft new ones we could be saying the same thing next year.


another thing as I've said before is what do we want out of a WR? is he going to become our #1 soon? do we want a #2? 3? just a RZ receiver?

are we running more sub package defense? is DE then, less of a need? will we use other players differently because of this? players like shamarko Thomas. good coverage skills and it's been written that they like his coverage skills as more of a nickel type player but he's got that SS tackling ability against the run too. how many safeties and corners will we keep because of this?

so many unknowns, wait and see's and a cap we don't want to waste on the wrong players anymore. tough draft to decipher and a lot of unknowns is this years team. can our veteran coaching staff get what we need out of what we have?

not only that but we have guys with contracts coming up again next year at some critical spots. we also have a lot of one year contracts. all these things can force you into picking for need, more than we like to.

 

No rookie DB or WR will make or break us for the playoffs. If we want to return to the playoffs this upcoming season, we need to look to guys like Bell, J. Jones, Arnfeldt, V. Williams, S. Thomas and Wheaton to progress. The only positions I see from this class that could pay immediate dividends and put us over the hump for sure would be in the trenches or a pass-rush specialist.

 

The things that usually kill us in down years are 1. No pass Rush, or 2. only scoring field goals, when we should be scoring touchdowns.

A redzone WR, would help tremendously.

 

or a te or both

 

I think a rookie WR can come in and make a big impact. I don't think its at all out of the question to see any of the WR's with a 1st or 2nd round grade improving on what Sanders did last year.

We need Wheaton to really step up next year.

Don't think ILB is a huge need. I loved how Vince Williams improved every game. And Garvin's good too. They are both gonna be much improved.

For end, i think you have to draft one relatively early, and maybe bring in a vet....or bring back Kiesel for one more year, as the DE spot seems to take awhile to master in this Defense...

 

I disagree if you draft the right players and they play at a very high level, they could help the team and make enough plays to get them back into the playoffs. Although the rest of the team needs to step up also mainly D-line and secondary.

 

Doesn't anyone think 2 redzone RB's one of whom catches it pretty well might be a start?

 

Vince Williams was a rookie six round draft pick. I think he held his own. Do you remember how bad Larry Foote was when he was a rookie? Everyone wanted him run out of Pittsburgh for a couple of years after his rookie season. Then he was decent enough come back and solidfy our linebacker core for a couple of season. Now don't get me wrong, he was "all pro material" but you can't have "all pro's" at every position.

 

To be blunt, no.

 

i remember the year foote became a starter in place of bell and i was in new york vs the giants and one guy near me sayd , foote is average but is nowhere near how was kendrell bell , we need to find an inside lb. we won the superbowl that season ..

 

To the part in red: Peyton Manning has only one ring... having the best QB in the league must not be that big of an advantage haha

In all seriousness though, I do think that WR and CB are two of our top 3 needs, with DE probably being the other. We seriously lack depth at both ILB spots, and could use a starter at ILB that isn't strictly a 2 down LBer who is on the sideline in sub packages. Basically we lack quality depth at most skill positions, and here is my theory as to why (depsite the fact that I KNOW it will not be popular)...

Essentially prior to 2013 we had 4 drafts in a row where either OL or DL (or both) were selected within the first two rounds. 6 out of 7 players from 2009-2012 with the only exception being Worilds (we had no second rounder in 09, although we took Urbik with our third rounder). I don't think you have to look really hard to see why we lack depth, and even quality starters, at skill positions. I do think having a solid OL and DL is important, but I think having great skill position players are more so. If we invest all of our money in a big time LT and we pay our pro bowl center and solid guard, then all of the sudden we cant afford a quality #2 receiver or Bell (or both). We could pay Heyward and get a really good DE to play with him, and all of the sudden we cant afford a solid #2 corner, or a starting quality ILB. It's a fine line in the cap era haha

You have to have a good mix, and I think the top two rounds in the next few drafts should stay away from the OL and DL (with a possible exception that somebody drops to a spot they shouldn't be available at).

 

As someone else said more people will have to raise their game,for us to be a legitimate not just make the playoff contender.Here is hoping they do
and that we have a stellar draft.

 

ben,heath,AB,bell. that's 4 highly paid highly skilled, skill players on offense. most teams don't have that many on one side of the ball. that's not even counting two first rounders on the O-line.

we used a first round pick on a right guard, which is probably the least important spot on the O-line, or I should say easiest to fill. I'm not downing DD, and loved the pick, but it doesn't set your offense on fire. we did just as well with our LG, UDFA player in that spot the last few years.

we have 2 2nd round OT's and one of them sits the bench. the other is very marginal at best and right tackle only capable. we did find out we were not very good with our 2nd round LT's and started playing much better when we replaced them. actually we played better without our two 2nd round T's playing on the left side. gilbert started camp as our top choice at that spot only to lose it a week into camp. we then signed a backup tackle that was also RT only capable and did so again this year. we have 4.3 million still sitting on the dead money list for another RT that hasn't been here for two years now.

we also have a 1st round center that we played pretty well without last year. not much different in 40+ sacks a year with or without. is he worth it to us to spend another 7-10 mil. to keep?

to sum it up, what position helped us the most upgrading last year? center and LT is the answer. we got real lucky with who we had and got to fill those spots. how many right tackle only players do we need? to me most of it is not drafting an O-lineman, but where we spend our tight salary cap money on position wise. if beachum goes down we are in deep chit. thank God we picked up munch. finally we have someone that can let kevin know just because you put an OT or OG by a players name that they are not all created equal.

next, you don't just lose 3 starters on the D-line and not replace them or replace them with a guy that can't play all the spots you lost. you sound like Colbert when you say we are good enough on the lines with who we have. everyone wants to talk about seattles big DB's and that's why they won last year, but forget how good they were up front on that defense and created pressure for those big DB's to do their thing.

I'm not even going to start on dumping our tandum of OLB'ers, only to pick a 1st rounder and pay a backup more than Harrison was making at the time we couldn't afford him. we kept a guy that made more money and played less games. not to mention we will be paying him not to be here for the next two years. it's not how much we spend it's on who and where we are spending our money that's the problem. that comes from the same guy who has several failed draft classes for us as you talked about.

we keep putting Band-Aids on wounds that require stitches and expect them to heal. the worst part is putting a Band-Aid on the gunshot wound and a full dressing on a scratch.