Do We Overhype our Prospects/Draft Picks?

:-D :-D It seems every year the Steelers snag a late round draft choice and the message board rejoices "STEAL! STEAL! STEAL" And it seems every offseason one by one these past draftees are getting cut. Im just wondering if Im the only one who see this ? For Example.....

Case 1 : 4th Round Pick 2008 TONY HILLS
Drafted in the 4th round as a development prospect not one fan thought much of him and probably wished we had drafted another prospect. Every time of year that training camp came around many said the open tackle or guard position was Hills to take. Hill never did and he was cut in 2011. He now plays for the Denver Broncos.

Case 2 : 5th Round 2009 FRANK SUMMERS
I remember the 2009 draft greatly. Frank Summers was selected and instantly the message boards lit up with "We finally found another Jerome Bettis!" I believe he also developed the nickname Frank "The Tank" Summers on some boards. So how did Jerome Bettis V2 pan out? He started at FB week 1 in 2009 and was active week 2. He was then never seen again in regular season action and was released in 2010.

Case 3 : 5th Round 2009 JOE BURNETT
Burnett had the potential and opportunity to replace the departed Bryan McFadden at the time and appeared to have the edge over fellow rookie Keenan Lewis in 2009. Sadly he will always be remembered for dropping a sure game ending interception against the Raiders later in the season in which we lost. He now plays in the CFL.

Case 4 : 6th Round 2009 Ra'Shon Harris
Harris was another high potential developmental prospect where the sky was the limit for him. He was hoped to be a future starting defensive end. Instead he has been cut by the Steelers 3 times, the Panthers once, the Bills once and now plays for the Texans. His career highlight : One tackle vs Falcons (2009)

Case 5 : 5th Round 2010 Crezdon Butler
It doesn't matter what message board you were active on before coming here, Crezdon Butler was acclaimed to be the future cornerback as his potential was through the roof according to board members. Thankfully board members don't run this team. Butler seemed to be one of those players that couldn't translate his big college play to NFL play and to date he is signed with the Steelers of the west (Cardinals) and has amassed 1 career tackle. That is his only stat.

Future Overhyped Prospects (I hope I'm Wrong) : Chris Scott, Stevenson Sylvester, Baron Batch and Chris Carter. Thanks for Reading :-D

 

I think most sports fans do this. Its the under dog syndrome. Everyone wants the little guys to succeed. Steeler fans are a little more into it due to our relative success with late picks and UDFAs (Keisel, Harrison, Fast Willie, Legursky, A. Brown, etc.)

 

2010: Antonio Brown - 6th round
2009: Mike Wallace - 3rd round
2007: William Gay - 5th round (for all the hate he was a good 5th rounder)
2006: Willie Colon - 4th round
2003: Ike Taylor - 3rd round
2002: Brett Kiesel - 7th round

 

overall NO i dont think we do overhype them... just my opinion... HINES ( 3rd round 1998.... not too shabby for a 3rd rounder eh? )

 

not to pick but keisel was drafted. 7th rd. but you could replace his name with foster. he's started games in each of his first 3 seasons as an udfa.

mundy is another. you can't have starters at every position as backups. that's why they are backups and they come in handy at times.

now , we have been lucky in years past with backups that were good enough to start for other teams but we had starters in front of them. hoke for one. keisel used to sit the bench too for several years. clark wasen't drafted was he? or a late pick by washington before we got him. we have always had a way of coaching our backups to eventually step up. it's become harder to keep guys. we still do a decent job of it though.

 

I dont think anyone really overhyped them. Butler maybe...but the rest eh. If they didnt try to change Summers into a FB maybe he might have stuck around some. The rest...meh...i dont think many cared for...out of all of them Hills showed the most promise and was a surprise cut last year.

 

I personally never consider any of those players listed as STEALS? I do think getting Almeda Ta Amu as our fourth pick is a STEAL!!!

 

On the contrary, I agree with the OP for the most part. I think we tend to look at the late round picks in terms of what they could do for the team, and don't necessarily put them in the context of the whole league. Up until Week 1, we're dealing pretty much solely with potential and optimism, rather than actual NFL competition. So it's not surprising we big up our late round "steals". I, for one, will admit to being very excited about Crezdon Butler, and very little of that had to do with seeing him on the field (more on what folks from camp were saying, plus the fact that anyone had to be an upgrade at that point....).

But around the draft I tend to keep my black and gold glasses firmly on. So I'll probably keep on talking about Chris Rainey being an absolute future star, even though I have no idea if he even sees the field this season.

On a side note, I think we may have kept Burnett around a bit longer had their not been a need to make space on the roster. That drop against the Raiders was sadly the defining part of his career.

(And Summers was drafted to be a FB, if I recall correctly.)

 

Passionate about football, your welcome to go root for, Oh lets see the ST LOUIS RAMS,
how about the JAGS?

 

lol...Alot of these guys turn out to be diamond in the ruff.I think I have become more excited about the players that we pick up after the draft then during the draft.We just needed to start to get a better caliber of players during the draft and then get great backups after the draft.And then with recent luck...maybe just maybe....we have some great success out of a couple of diamonds in the ruff.

 

i'm not sure of the numbers,but i think we do better then most of the league in bringing along our backups to eventually step into roles after the starter has digressed. at least we give them a chance. foster, kemoeatu,keisel,colon, mclendon,harrison,gay,sylvester,foote. the team even keeps guys around, because they saw something in them before they picked them. then we try to coach some of the rest of what we think they need into them.

coaching these guys and watching these guys on TV or in person is two different things. coaches look for improvement in what they are teaching the student, not the big splash play.

for instance if kugler was working on drop steps with adams on a 5 step drop of the qb, he would be looking at feet more then did he complete that block. or the use of hands, or getting off the snap or if he's where he should be on a play. so many different things are coached. fans see these guys play a little once a week and pass judgement. coaches see them all week and look for improvement in small area's. baby steps. the player may be getting better in the coaches eyes but then when put on that big stage with more on the line as a starter, or about to be a starter, they digress back to some old habits, then we look for other talent eventually. you can coach alot of things but you can't coach smarts, instincts, and God given ability. so sometimes these guys fail, even if they had 3 interceptions in preseason. he must be failing in the coaches eye's on some level that he's been coaching him on. maybe he just doesn't play well with others. anthony smith?

 

I was enjoying reading your post until you mentioned Anthony Smith...

I was very disappointed he never worked out - he was someone there was a lot of buzz about. I'll even overlook the whole "guarantee" thing, because I think it was blown a bit out of proportion. But his game mentality never seemed to work out.

 

I think it's a tendency for us sports fans to over hype new draft picks except for maybe Jamain Stephens.

 

I'm pretty sure fans from every team does this. We patiently wait for the draft every year and then we really don't have much to do except analyze our picks. Of course we are going to look at most in a positive light. We are hoping they pan out. We try and find their potential and then we discuss the possibility of them being a contributor to our team. Nothing big.

 

yeah its just fans being fans.....we hope that all of our picks work out and are steals

 

it may be a little more overhyped this year moreso then others because we flat out have a young team and we don't have a choice but for the young guys to step up this year and next.

clark, foote, casey, ike,harrison,keisel,troy,cotchery,batch,leftwich,even ben and heath. some of these guys may have a year window and some may have about a 5 year window, but the window is starting to close quickly. likely an injury would speed up that window also. 5 years of starter material may be a stretch also for the best of the bunch. we are getting into some of our very best people at certain skills. i would hope we are not overly hyping players and that they live up to our expectations moreso then not.

 

Personally, I was never behind any of those guys except Summers, who I didn't really think was a steal, but was excited to have nevertheless. I think he didn't get a fair shake. Look at his timeline:

1. He was a running back, not a fullback in college.
2. He was drafted to play fullback, and possibly be a short yardage guy (we'll never know!)
3. He barely got any reps at all his entire rookie training camp and preseason, because they all went to Carey Davis and other guys, who were ultimately CUT for Summers!
4. He was then thrust into the starting lineup at a position he'd never played and didn't have any practice at.
5. He gets a back injury (real or fake, I don't know) and is put on IR.

He wasn't much of a blocker from what I saw, but he had terrible technique -- which in a weird way I consider a good thing. He definitely had all the tools. He had good size, he was really strong, he was quick enough and a decent receiver. The only thing missing was technique. He would lunge at guys, or even dive, when trying to block. He needed to learn. I thought it was way too soon to judge his blocking since he'd never really done it, even in the preseason.

My God, David Johnson still sucks after three full years of full reps, and doesn't offer the running or receiving abilities Summers could have. Frank could have learned up real good and been a much better all around player.

 

i think the difference is the OC snack. under haley, summers would get more of a shot as a FB. under BA, it was looking for another receiver out of the backfield.

 

I disagree. BA used the FB position plenty, he just said he didn't. DJ's a perfect example. He was called a TE and H-back, but he lined up at fullback more than anything. In his one game, Frank tried to lead block quite a bit. Probably more times than in all the preseason games combined.

 

thats what i'm trying to say. BA used it, but didn't like it much and wanted a guy that was more a partime blocker and fulltime receiver. i think haley will use the position more as a fulltime blocker and a secondary receiver.

do you remember when kirby went to look at summers at his pro day? he said he thought summers was a version of the bus. that doesn't mean lead blocker to me. i never remember JB lead blocking. he was a running FB not a blocking FB. i think kirby had one idea of summers use and BA had another. together they hoped for a john L. type out of him. never materialized and they even tried it with kuhn. that's the one i thought they should have worked with.

 

thats what i'm trying to say. BA used it, but didn't like it much and wanted a guy that was more a partime blocker and fulltime receiver. i think haley will use the position more as a fulltime blocker and a secondary receiver.

do you remember when kirby went to look at summers at his pro day? he said he thought summers was a version of the bus. that doesn't mean lead blocker to me. i never remember JB lead blocking. he was a running FB not a blocking FB. i think kirby had one idea of summers use and BA had another. together they hoped for a john L. type out of him. never materialized and they even tried it with kuhn. that's the one i thought they should have worked with. [/quote:12mscij9]
Okay, you're talking about misusing personnel. I agree with that, but I think Summers could have been a blocking fullback if they'd invested some reps and time in him. And he could have been a good pounding runner, too, because that was his wheelhouse. I also remember everyone being very impressed with his receiving skills at his pro day. They have done so many stupid things with the FB position since 2007. This is just a different kind of stupid. It was like they had given Summers the job from the beginning, then gave Davis 99%* of the reps to try to win it back. When he didn't, they wound up with a guy who had 1%* of the reps and no NFL experience and no experience at all at that position. Stupid.

*numbers possibly exaggerated.

 

i hope will johnson wins the spot. he just seems to me like a guy that will be dedicated through hard work to make a spot for himself. we know he's got the receiver blood in him, since being a WR and TE but he also seems like a guy that will put in the time and effort to be a good inline blocking back too. in that position you have to have the mindset to want to do it.

 

I'm sure I'll be thrilled with his running and receiving. He has little blocking experience and admits as much. I'm sure he'll be willing, but will he be any good? If he is, it's currently a hidden talent. Fingers crossed, I guess.

 

Totally agree with this conversation and the one about Frank Summers. Summers was totally mishandled by BA and he suffered for it. But, some of that blame has to go to the HC for not addressing what we think we are seeing (saw). There is quite a list of players I think this happened too recently. I think Kordell Stewart was mishandles years ago also, but that's ancient history now.

On to greener pastures.