Colbert defends selecting Pickett

I think he ends up going late first or early second round and the Steelers end up taking Willis in the third if they do the smart thing and take Linderbaum in the first round.

 

Any team after the Steelers in Rd1 would have been taking him as a backup. It's poor management to take a backup QB in round 1.

 

I think that makes sense.

Kind of an Allar level prospect.

QBs are kind of odd though.

Sometimes if you don't go early, you don't go for a while. Like Howard.

So maybe he's somewhere between 3rd and 6th in a normal class? And I think you're right that 3rd makes more sense than 6th.

 

Man...Linderbaum would have been a good pick. Although you'd really prefer not to take a C in the 1st because then you basically can't give him the 1st year option. Because the NFL is stupid and groups all OL together for the option prices (tags too maybe?). So if you pick a C or G in the 1st, you have to pay them like a T with the option. G's maybe isn't terrible. But with C's it's a huge over payment. I think this is why it's very rare for Cs to go in the 1st.

I don't really fault them for rolling the dice on Pickett. Going into it, you know that most QBs fail (unlike OL, who are great bets at the end of the 1st). I also credit them for "not throwing good money after bad" after they decided that KP wasn't an NFL starter. This was pretty un-Steelerslike IMO. Same with firing Canada. I think both were good decisions. Especially since we got a decent return for KP.