"experts" best guess

Rather have Fiedorowicz in the third so we can use our first two picks on impact players. Sorry didn't read the article to see how he graded out, but from watching tape he seems to be skilled at both blocking and receiving. Better value as a third round comp too.

 

all I know is when and if we take a TE, I have faith in james daniels to make him better. he's done wonders with heath. he has a lot to do with spaeth being a good 2nd TE and he has really impressed me with what he has done with DJ since his first season.

we can bring up Paulson and palmer and some others, but I'm not sure he has had enough time with them yet. they were in scramble mode when heath was out and then spaeth got hurt right off the bat.

he's made DJ a decent receiver and a really good blocker in 3 years as a 3rd TE. I would expect he could work wonders with any of these high upside TE's going forward and we will have something when heath finally does retire.

I am still intrigued by Nehemiah hicks from texas A&M too as a late 7th or priority UDFA. I wonder what he could do with a guy like that.

 

It's hard to call a 7th round pick a mistake.

 

That is true but Paulson was a pass catching TE they played really well at Oregon but needed a bunch of work. Everyone knew he was a project and last year was only his second season so you really could say the jury is still out on him. After all the bad pub the steelers were getting there is no way in hell they were drafting Burfict and I was extremely pissed when they didn't. I have very high hopes for Garvin though. I think if he puts 10 more pounds on he will be a monster. Lebeau loves him and said he won't be known just for that hit for long. He did start against the Packers but I think we started that game in the nickel so that's why he started.

 

No way is any 7th round pick a waste. Ever. While there are some very good late round picks that are still playing in the NFL, they are an extreme exception and far from the norm. Sometimes you get lucky with a guy, or a guy fits your scheme perfectly, or he's a late bloomer etc. You can say it is the GM's job to get these picks right, but it is also a designated hitters job to hit the baseball... and if he does it 30 times out of 100 he is considered really good at his job. Paulson actually would be considered somewhat of a solid pick because he not only made the roster in multipe years, he contributed in ech year he was on the roster (even though the contribution was small). He outperformed the "average" 7th round pick by a long shot. Most wont ever even make a roster.

Your Burfict point is valid. I hate that the Steelers seem to rarely take chances on "character issue" guys in the late rounds. This is the best place to do it. I understand not drafting a guy like that in the early rounds (since that pick is a huge investment for the organization), but in the 7th round there is literally ZERO risk involved. None whatsoever. This is why I want the Steelers to take Lyerla if he is there. No risk, high reward situation. Most 7th round picks don't make a roster because they just aren't very good at football. That wouldn't be the case for Lyerla.

 

There are plenty of TE in the draft no need to draft a coke addict who didn't play last season Lyerla.

 

I don't think you can lump those two together.

If they hadn't taken Paulson, they still would not have taken Burfict. They were not going to take Burfict. That's a separate issue, because clearly the team would have taken him if they wanted to. They had decided not to.

Paulson made the roster for a couple years. He didn't become much and he won't stick around if we draft a new tight end. Judge him by that. Judge the team's refusal to select Burfict separately.


A 12% drop rate is not something to be overlooked. Drops are a serious thing for pass catchers. Impressive catches do NOT make up for them - not one bit. Unless it happens on the next play and goes for the same amount of yards or more. I'd like to see a stat for that. Even if they did offset, if that's what you're doing, then you're erasing his fantastic catch radius. That's a big deal! Cancel the drops, but cancel what makes him special. That's worth a first round pick?