Life After Lawrence Timmons. Take One: An Introduction to 2017s Draft Prospects

Hello fellow members of TSF. AskQuestionsLater here again bringing you a take of opinion of whom Pittsburgh should look at for the life after Lawrence Timmons. Clearly, as many of us saw Monday night... Lawrence is not the same player he used to be.. and as such.. must be replaced with haste. As such, I will be looking at some of the top linebacking prospects for the upcoming 2017 draft. Today.. we start with a young man from a familiar place; Raekwon McMillan of Ohio State.






Height: 6'2


Weight: 240


Age: 19 (will turn 20 on November 19)



For those of you who have watched B1G football like I do, Raekwon stands out quite well. Last season, he complied up 119 total tackles; 57 of them solo, generated 1.5 sacks, and had 4 total pass breakups. While those stats surely do sound like the modern 4-3 SAM 'backer.. do not let the total pass breakups fool you. More often than not.. teams that Ohio State played rarely went McMillan's way in 2015 due to his impressive coverage abilites. Not just in his movements.. but his fluidity as well.



One of the other attributes that Raekwon has shown is his play recognition. He can diagnose plays very quickly and attack whatever gap or disrupt whatever lane he has within his duty. His downhill level of play also is consistent. Not as violent as I would like.. but consistent nonethless.



However, as with all propsects.. with the good comes the bad. For all his productivity.. Raekwon is a good athlete.. but not a tier one athlete. His intelligence does mitigate many of these issues, but his lack of lateral agility and explosive power will limit him for some teams based on their criteria (i.e. Seattle love of rangy linebackers or Baltimore's outright downhill thumpers)



Even with all that said.. I do believe he has a place in Pittsburgh's defensive scheme. Granted.. he is not even close to the twitch levels of Ryan Shazier (outside of a pre-injury Jaylon Smith and Sophomore Malik Jefferson.. I do not think too many are) but he closet to that of a young Lawrence. Another good comparison would be the Buffalo Bills Reggie Ragland, whom again, compared favorably to Lawrence in his younger days.



At this point and until otherwise.. while many sites have Raekwon going in the mid first round.. I see him more so a late round one/ early round two selection. Keep in mind that, while Raekwon is a great football player.. he is a good athlete. As such, inside linebackers, and linebackers in general who are both usually top 15 or surefire 1s. His worst case scenario would be high round 3... but that will depend if he has a mediocre season and/or times average at the combine.



That being said though, Raekwon is a great option to choose when Pittsburgh move on from Lawrence.


With that out of the way, that does it for take one of my series. Be sure to give me your recommendations for whatever linebacker I should do next. Before you do though.. here is one that will excite some SEC fans. Next up on the list:







Jarrad Davis

 

please god
not a buckeye or gator
for the love of god
urbanmeyervomit

 

So with the new contract Vince Williams got he is not in the running to be the replacement?

LJ Fort and Matakevich too, will they quickly part ways? Not saying they wouldn't, but where do they stand with the log jam at ILB?

 

It is like I said.. if you do have a suggestion.. feel free to comment on who you would like me to analyze next.

 

no thanks

 

Why not?

 

After Timmons, it should be Shazier / V. Williams.

Still, I'm not sure Timmons will be walking away next season.

 

He may well be in. My views are from an athletics standpoint. Vince can lay the wood... but that is all he provides. Raekwon can cover better and lays the wood just as good.

 

I would draft two more OLBs first before I think about ILB.

 

True. However, Vince's primary assets is his run stuffing abilities. He can cover.. but not to the extent that Raekwon has shown. This still does not mean that Raekwon will get drafted by Pittsburgh... but rather a showcasing of options.

 

I do have Jarvis Jones on tap... but before I get to him.. I wanted to cover Lawrence first considering Pittsburgh is more than likely going to let him go by seasons end.

 

I like Anthony Walker from Northwestern and would like to catch some Vandy games to take a look at Cunningham. Steven Taylor caught my eye last year from Houston when I was watching WJIII and Elandon Roberts. He's only 225 or so but is used all over the defense..ILB, OLB, S.

 

Yeah, but it if he get surpassed on the depth chart he needs to be a special teams contributor and at his age I don't see that happening.

 

no way they let Timmons go, if anything they'll sign him on a 1-2 year deal this next offseason and they limit him to 1st and 2nd down action

 

Not if he plays like this past week. They are already making him a 2 down player... What next level of demotion is there for him?

I'm hopeful he is just playing into form and he looks good by week 5. That is sort of what happened last year.

 

I suppose we can agree to disagree then. To me, Lawrence is no longer the same player he once was.

 

Interesting you have both considering I have Zach as a big sleeper. Has shown some solid coverage skills and is far more of a twitch player than McMillan. Anthony the same.. although I believe he is best employed as a WILL in a 4-3 set.

 

I think you may have misunderstood what I was stating. By seasons end.. I meant at whenever the Steelers seasons ends then ensues into the offseason. I did not state
during the season.

 

While I do think Lawrence has had better days... I would never resort as to cutting him. Nevermind his cap hit... but I am certain in fan response would be quite negative

 

darron lee is looking pretty good for the jets. i was high on him last year but we have a nice group right now. matakevich will improve in year two i have no doubts. fort is shaziers main backup and i hope they re-sign him next year. he can play that cover role. vince and matakevich can play the other side of this tandum as starter and backup. timmons was allowed to stay and play off the remaining big contract and it will be done. 15 mil. is alot but it will be over then. he may get a harrison type deal next year with a reduced role. thats my take on it.

 

I think on Steeler friendly terms LT would be great depth at ILB, If we spend a high draft choice on an ILB
next year, somebody needs to be shot. With Dirty Red and LJ we got ample players at ILB
position.