cb's

watching more and more of these guys but i'm not overwhelmed by any of the early picks. to me it seems like we could get guys just as good later on in this draft. some maybe better. i'm still high on dj white from georgia tech. another guy i like is one that probably isn't on a lot of radars at this point. anthony brown from purdue. he was even moved to safety for them because of injuries and did a good job. a lot of guys in college that have to make that move get overlooked as true corners and true safeties. this kid can play.

nick vanhoose northwestern.
deandre elliott colo. st.
lashaun simms s. utah
keivarae russell ND
maurice canady virginia
zack sanchez miss.
william jackson3 houston
xavian howard baylor
frankie williams purdue


just a few other names to watch. they are pretty good ball players.

 

Keivarae Russell is coming off a injury, one of those draft scouts on Twitter said he liked Xavien Howard.

 

Here are a couple of guys I am interested in watching at the combine, not sure but could be 2nd round picks.

Harlan Miller, CB/KR, Southeastern Louisiana - 6'0", 182 lbs. with 30-7/8" arms

Artie Burns, CB/FS/KR, Miami - 6'0", 193 lbs

Burns has a really tough story and sounds to be a super good Character guy, kinda like Shark when he came out.

 

Russell intrigues me. Jackson 3 has gotten some attention, but idk about him yet. Taveze Calhoun from Mississippi State is another guy to look at. Looks like a perfect fit schematically for us.

 

Can all these guys tackle? Do they want to tackle? Do they know where the ball is, can they find the ball? Are they fluid in the hips, do they have speed to run with WR? If I am a Steeler
scout these are some of the traits I am looking at.

 

dj white georgia tech
anthony brown purdue
frankie williams purdue
justin simmons safety from boston college

all guys that are flying under the radar at this point but fill all those traits. good ball players that scream steeler. i hope we are looking at them.

thompson the safety from boise st. is one of the top guys on my list though. add simmons late in this draft with him and we could have the backend of this D covered for years. it could end up being one of the best in the NFL again. if we could pull those two off i would be one happy guy.

 

frankie williams falls pretty closely in the same mold too elvis. i think these guys are steeler types and could be steals. thompson and simmons patrolling the deep half for us? oh yea. we could easily fix the safety position for years.

 

Keep up the good work Mac, your passion for the game shines thru, Same with you SE,
You guys will find us Steeler ball players. You guys know what I am looking for in a Steeler.
These players who you mentioned Mac, can we get it done? What needs to happen to get it done?

 

I watched Harlan Miller on draft breakdown and there isn't a lot on him but if anyone gets a chance to watch it.

http://draftbreakdown.com/players/harlan-miller/

Here is a few things I haven't watched a lot on the CB's some here and there but what really stood out to me on this kid was how he followed the ball. He broke on all the screen playes, he came off his guy on the run plays and he came off his guy when the pass went a different direction. Here is walterfootball's take:

Projected Round (2016): 2-4.
2/13/16: Miller put together three straight seasons of good production. He totaled 11 interceptions over that span, with four as a senior. Miller also had 49 tackles and 10 passes broken up in 2015. He is another small-school corner who took advantage of his opportunity to impress against better competition at the Senior Bowl. Miller had a strong week where he showed nice skills to be a cover corner. He needs to add weight to his frame while maintaining his speed to battle NFL wide receivers.
Read more at http://walterfootball.com/draft2016CB.php#eLVwEQkIR7B0jv2W.99

My problem is the small school thing, can he transfer that skill at the next level. Like it says he had a good week at the senior bowl....I have still yet to watch that game, lol! This is the only thing keeping this kid from being my #1 CB that I have watched so far.

 

I like Artie Burns from Miami. He is 6'0 and probably around 200 lb. they have his 40 time at 4.53 , I think he looks much faster on tape. I predict a 4.4 from him at the combine . He has press man ability and we need at least 1 CB like that . He also is a solid guy as his Father is locked up and his Mom passed away, he raises his little brothers . This is a guy who will work hard and only get better . This is the CB I hope we get ..

 

If the Steelers don't add a CB in free agency other than re-signing one of their own, should they double dip at the CB position? Their pass defense was ranked 27th giving up 271 yds a game, it doesn't make sense to bring back all those same guys. They should re-sign to a Gay two year deal, Blake and Boykin no thanks.

 

I think I'm on board with that. We're pretty much guaranteed not having a chance to draft Ramsey and Hargreaves, and the rest of the bunch are all pretty much muddled together with no clear distinguishing traits. He has very long arms (nearly 34") and good size. I think 4.4 is a good guess for him. If he deviates from that I would think it would be closer to the 4.3's than the 4.5's. From what I've read I think his personality would jive well with the other guys we have on defense. Just a question of where to select him.

I like a lot of safeties in this draft, but not many corners. Burns is one of the few I hope we get.

 

I like a lot at the Safety spot as well ..One guy I hadn't really got to is T.J. Green from Clemson,I just saw his time in the 40 and I am digging for tape as we speak .He is projected as a 6th. or 7th. rounder but with a 4.34 40 that stock just went way up . The Steelers need speed and range and size this kid has all of that . Maybe we could scoop him up in round #3 or #4 ..

 

I agree I posted this above, he is a good character guy has Steeler all over him.....

 

I am pretty bummed Miller ran a 4.65 but I still love what I saw on film. Also wow what a good class of DB's a lot of 4.3 & 4.4's.

 

You know PWP, I very rarely see eye to eye with your comments (to each his own) but I like
this ball player also and the safety from WVU Josephs. But we shall see I hope the Steeler scouts
are working their tails off.

 

i too like fuller and burns. fuller has an injury history being his only downfall for me. (wrist and knee) he may not quite be what his brother was a couple of years ago but still a good pedigree. i wanted his brother bad then, but oh well.

lots of good choices out there at corner and safety even into the 3rd and 4th rounds. you could probably build yourself a whole secondary out of these groups this year in the first 4 rounds. maybe similar to a repeat of the 9'ers back in the day.

fuller
cash
white
simmons


burns
cash
white
simmons

fuller
burns
green
simmons

many other variations could work. doubtful but it's there to be had.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Artie Burns is the Byron Jones of this draft, sneaking into the back of the first round. I mocked him to us in the 2nd a few weeks ago, but now I have doubts that he'll be there for us. Either way, lots of options not named Apple or Alexander.

 

I watched the 2 games on Xavien Howard Baylor and I am not impressed. Let me say one thing now this is what I saw we all see things different:

He played on and off the line.....that was the good, now the bad:

Too handsy, and no top end speed when running with the WR the WR pulls away. Also he has trouble going up for the ball, really noticed this in the NC game. Right off the bat in the SMU game he gets burnt deep. He doesn't show up in run support and what I see is him not being able to shake the WR block. Maybe we need to look at #16 on SMU he was blocking well...or Howard was just bad. He also doesn't read the run, he gets locked on the WR and misses the play.

IMO we have this kind of player already here, maybe coaching will improve him but right now with a solid class I am not a fan.

 

I'm starting to agree with you. I mocked him in the 2nd but watched another game I found on youtube and the lack of desire for run support and shedding blocks is concerning. I saw flashes of it in the other 2 games, but it's just too prevalent. I know Baylor doesn't have much of a defensive reputation, so coaching could be some of that. But the effort on his part was lacking imo.

I'm finally getting around to watching the DBs at the scouting combine (I've only seen half of the 40s and straight line back pedal and turn). I had no idea James Bradbury, Samford, was so tall and lanky. Very thin though. Anthony Brown, Purdue, looked pretty fluid. Will have to check those two out some more.

 

brown isn't bad and his mate frankie williams is probably even better while you are watching purdue. both can play safety and corner and williams can return punts and kicks too. 7th round or udfa possibility with him. would be a gem at that point. very deep class this year. there are a lot of guys being overlooked that may be as good as some of the top guys from what i've been watching.

 

The one part that stands out and let me know how you feel about this is the fact that the WR runs right by. In this NFL with all the speed at the WR position and the long TD strikes has me worried this kid won't make it....at least with us. Thoughts? I will have to watch some of the flim on these other guys you and Mac mentioned. Williams really has my interest, I am a "late round gem" kinda guys. I feel anyone can know about the top 50 players but reach out in the 150-300 range and pick a guy that will shine and that is great. I mean really AB, Beachum who knew?????

 

Ok so I watched the one and only game draftbreakdown has on Bradberry, and my first reaction is no effin way. Some things that stood out to me was his lack of aggression, if the play went the other side he was a fan in the stand! Also another CB who looked weak in run support, although towards the end of the Central Ark game he did make a couple nice plays at the line of scrimmage. Before I write this kid off I need to see more, but with just one game to judge him on I didn't like what I saw.

FYI Draftbreakdown has no film on Williams.