Top 5 Position Needs Ranked

The more I think about it especially after some Fa signings,
OLB and ILB are both great needs for depth alone.

 

I don't have any idea what the order of need is, but these are what I see as needs:

DEFENSE

Safety - Not an in the box guy. We need a deep safety more than an in the box guy. One way or another I think we need a #3 in a bad way. I do think Sutton could move to S should we not get someone.

ILB - Williams and Bush are going to play 90% of ILB snaps. Gilbert I think is being counted on behind Bush. I don't think Spillane is good enough to play any meaningful snaps. I expect we either get a guy in the draft or you will see this team get a cheap veteran to backup Williams. Again, I'm not sure I trust our #3 at the position. Gilbert may shine, but we haven't seen enough yet to know.

OLB - Our current backups we have zero clue about their ability to play. Ola and Skipper. You want to go into the season with them as your backups? Again, I think it could be a cheap vet or a draftee.

NT - The rest of the Dline is fine, but NT we only have 1. Maybe we have decided that it is rare and McCullers can play those 300 snaps for us this year, but I bet we add a NT in the draft.

OFFENSE

WR - Washington, JuJu, and DJ. I like them, but we need a #4 that is getting trained for multiple reasons. One, we still don't know what we have above. Two, injury. Three, Switzer and Cain don't give me any confidence that we can win with them. That being said, I think Ebron lines up wide some as well.

Oline (all positions) - This one is interesting. This one takes some exploration and I still don't know what we'll do, but we need to add at least 1 maybe 2.

AV - UFA next year. Who is our future LT?

Wisnewski - I think he can hold down the LG spot as well or better than Foster did last year. Foster's time was up. I loved the dude, but he was just done. He is better suited to be a backup.

Pouncey - Here is a guy getting older. 2-3 years tops left. Last year was not his best and it looks like he is slipping. Maybe that was because he needed to cover more for Foster, but he looked poor.

DD - My most trusted guy on the line. Going to be solid another 3-4 years.

Feiler - He to me is a marginal starter. Does he keep his job as starter? Move to LG? Move to RG should an injury happen? He is a guy I like, but it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't stay at RT.

Banner - He has found a role, but now wants to start. He is on a one year deal. If he starts he get kept. If not he goes.

Chuks - Looked good at RT in his one start last year. Can he push Feiler out?

Gray - PS guy last year. Probably better as a Guard than a tackle. Don't think he can play center but right now I think he is our backup interior Olineman. We don't even know if he can play.

I would like to see a backup center drafted. I would like to see a T or a G drafted as BPA. This draftee may affect where Feiler ends up in the long run.

 

It sounds like you might be interested in Cushenberry, if he is there at #49.

 

Yes. I think he would be a good fit. He would need to be our BPA. I think we draft BPA at the positions in my post. We have to start thinking about rebuilding our line. I think Cushenberry can play G until Pouncey is ready to go, but the advantage is that he can sit a year cause he won't need to start right away. Get some strength built up.

 

If the Steelers can't draft a contributor for 2020 with the 49th pick, I hope they trade back a little bit and get and two picks between 50 and 75.

 

Knowing fichtners offense and the amount of dependence on a feature back to make it work, colberts talk about looking into bell and no interest in AB, the addition of watt, ebron and keeping mcdonald, Johnson's emergence, juju and washingtons solid play with ben being back, just points towards RB to me. let's break this down:


1. Fichtners offense at Memphis when it was on the national scene: led by deangelo williams.
2. Colberts talk of bell: they miss that feature RB, conner is nice but unreliable.
3. Colbert not wanting AB back tells me they are not looking for a number 1 wr, nor have they shown much interest in that addition so far. They did add a new coach.
4. O-line as their money saving position as in the past. Low cost across the front except for P and D and AV. Even cut Ramon to sign feiler. Saved a few bucks and grabbed Wisniewski instead of paying finney. Two draft picks and a low cost banner in reserve.
5. Deon Cain and picked up darboh. Two fast and fairly big young WRs to help stretch the field on occasion.
6. Keeping McDonald and adding ebron to give Ben some security with size to go downfield against safeties and linebackers. Moving them away or the thought of away or getting burnt. This freeing up man coverage on his wr bunch that can work underneath to mid range where they are at their best.
7. Addition of a highly missed FB in watt to help the run game and take up some TE lack of blocking.
8. A feature RB that can block, catch and run without a lot of coaching up.

I know that's a lot of figuring in, but think about it. Colbert and MT don't make drastic changes but more calculated moves. They are going to help one central figure, Ben. RB makes that happen. JT Barrett threw a lot of TDs with a good feature back to fairly average wrs. He's here, are they using this model, plus fichtners, to make this train run? They watch the big ten closely. They are well aware of what drove the buckeye train with different qbs that maybe weren't as good as their numbers suggested. The wins stacked up though, using a good defense with it. We have that side of the ball. Just some small tweeks to the offense and we could have a similar model.

Think about what minor tweeks it would take to improve this O with ben back. They have made some but to complete the machine will require one piece. MT and Colbert are not stupid. Call me crazy but the wheels are turning and things are adding up. JK Dobbins could make this thing gel. Akers, Edwards-Helaire could be fall back plans. This is the place I think we get the most bang for our buck. Have at me.

 

Are you Dobbins agent?

 

Are you the Anti-Dobbins? I just know how much he was the part of a very successful offense and was the main reason why. Is that wrong to want that for a team that needs something to get them over the hump and into the playoffs?

 

Really good write up on the top interior defensive lineman. Even with the addition of Wormley, I still think its a top 5 need.

https://www.rotoworld.com/article/evaluations/thors-interior-dl-rankings?page=1

 

Robert Hunt LA-Lafayette would be available I'd imagine and Steelers met with him earlier. Is he value at 49 will be their determination.

 

another note on the OL vs RB.....Matt Feiler is the youngest at 27. Everyone else (of the presumed starters) is 30 or over including DD. Having a solid o-line in place will do more than a RB would imo. You're drafting for 5 positions instead of just 1.

Samuels is on the outside looking in as I thought he would be. But JC30 and Snell are still young and there are very good backs available every year and take less time to implement than OL.

I don't like Swift, 15 fumbles for Taylor is a concern when JuJu and JC30 cough it up at times and I don't think Dobbins will be there. I don't see any other backs worthy at 49 imo.

 

2020 NFL Draft: Ranking each position group in this year's class

By Lance Zierlein
NFL Media draft analyst
Updated: April 3, 2020

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...nking-each-position-group-in-this-years-class

 

IOL dead last and after TE?? Zierlein is smokin something......

 

A safety maybe they should look at in the mid rounds.

 

I’ve seen Duvernay in quite a few mocks for us and I’ve seen Jones in even more.

 

Jones scouting report.

weaknesses:

Terrible play on the ball in the air.

Not fast.

misses a lot of tackles.


Doesn't sound like who we need it minka goes down.

 

I'm not going to discount Dangerfield and what he may contribute. Not on the level obviously of minka but every year he has played better. I think mt trusts him. He has been here quite awhile around this defense. We are only in year two of having teryl Austin as our safety coach. I think the uptick will continue with him here. How much can be get out of a player like Dangerfield?

 

Dangerfield I think is fine for the backup SS position. He will fight with Marcus Allen for those snaps, but I think we need to draft a FS guy for the other spot. We could use Sutton or Hilton there in a pinch, but I prefer to draft that guy.

 

Terrell Burgess is a good start then. Not too good in Tight Man Coverage or up against big body receivers but he is rock solid just about everywhere else. His lack of length will sadly prevent him from getting his hands on the ball at times but he has good ball skills. Best trait though is that he is both explosive and fast with a 4.46 40 time


Issue stems on if he will be available in Round 3?! Likely but he is a top 75 player.

 

Tray matthews from auburn. Tyree kinnel from michigan. John battle from LSU. Then Dangerfield and allen. All from power 5 schools except dangerfield. This is Dangerfield 6th season with this team in different ways. Do we need to draft one just to draft one?

 

They need to draft one to backup Fitzpatrick, if he gets injured they're in big trouble.

 

How do you know these guys can't play? Dangerfield started when Davis went down before. Now there are three others they picked up to try at safety along with he and allen. Not to mention hilton and sutton. If you are expecting a minka type performance from a backup of he's injured I believe you are overestimating a draft pick from this weak class.

 

Antoine Winfield Jr or Ashtyn Davis

Exactly. The roster is flooded with SS. Who is our back up at FS? Do people forget already how long we suffered without a S capable of playing single high? Minkah immediately came in and solved that problem. Obviously no one is expecting a Minkah like performance from a draft pick but that doesn’t mean you don’t try and find a reliable back up. There are a few guys in this draft that can not only provide that but can also help out in the slot and in the box. If they target a Safety,they should target a FS we have enough SS.

 

I don't expect the backup safety to be a All-Pro like Fitzpatrick, just need him to be competent, and not a liability.