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Troy retires... In comes Landon Collins?

Discussion in 'The Bill Nunn Draft Room' started by SGSteeler, Apr 11, 2015.

  1. SGSteeler

    SGSteeler Well-Known Member

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    I'm as sad as everyone else that Troy has played his last down in the black and gold... There won't be anyone else quite like him. With that said, we have a gaping hole in the secondary that can be filled this year with Landon Collins.

    I've been looking through some tape and articles on the kid and he seems like the perfect fit. He's an aggressive, big hitting, in the box safety. While he lacks elite speed (4.53 forty), he actually has sneaky really good range because he takes great angles in both the running game and the passing game. He is an elite tackler and also possesses pretty good hands as well (making a one handed pick in one of the game films I saw). I actually found it really difficult to find a real flaw in his game. FWIW his that his pre game ritual is watching an hour of game tape and highlights of Sean Taylor. He was his favorite player, and models his game after Sean's.

    He would fit best in a defense that doesn't make him cover man to man very often, but let's him get aggressive in the box and plays a lot of zone coverage... Perfect fit. Our safety situation is straight garbage right now, and we could get ourselves a day one starter with this kid. One of my favorite players that could be available right around our pick in the first round.
     
  2. steel1031

    steel1031 Well-Known Member

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    I would be a happy camper. then get a cb in the 2nd
     
  3. HugeSnack

    HugeSnack Well-Known Member

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    No. There will be an OLB or CB for us at 22. We already have Shamarko, and I'm not worried about our ability to find a SS somewhere if we need to sometime. I'm very worried about our ability to find a CB.
     
  4. freakfontana

    freakfontana

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    troy was a ball hawk too while collins is not great in coverage
     
  5. steel1031

    steel1031 Well-Known Member

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    not that bad in coverage. compare him to kevin johnsons stats at corner. in 47 games Johnson had 7 picks and 38 pd at corner. Collins had 5 pics with one td and 18 pd in 41 games. at strong safety. I know it isn't an exact comparison but he gets put down a lot for his coverage when he wasn't ask to do it a lot. but when he did he was pretty good
     
  6. SGSteeler

    SGSteeler Well-Known Member

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    Well in fairness we have no idea what we have in Thomas. When there was a chance to play him last season, we elected to go with Will Allen instead. Not that it was a bad thing since I think Allen did a good Jon, but it definitely isn't a good sign in regards to our confidence in Thomas to take over... Although outside of Troy it seems like the FO likes to address the Safety position in FA rather than through the draft (Clark, Mitchell, and even tried to sign Dexter Jackson before drafting Troy).
     
  7. SGSteeler

    SGSteeler Well-Known Member

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    This seems to be a popular misconception in Collins' game. He seems to struggle in man to man coverage... He actually does pretty good in zone. I think it would be a solid fit for us since we wouldn't be asking him to chase anyone around in man coverage.
     
  8. CK 13

    CK 13 Well-Known Member

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    I agree with Snack, corner or OLB is the way to go.
     
  9. HugeSnack

    HugeSnack Well-Known Member

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    I think we know more about Shamarko Thomas than we do Landon Collins. From my post in another thread:

    -Shamarko's lack of playing time can only be attributed to things off the game field. Maybe he sucked in practice. But maybe there are other factors, like Tomlin's trust in veterans over youngsters (especially his boy Will Allen), Shamarko's injury and lack of practice time, and those two things combined. Tomlin said this himself, if you want to believe him. Additionally, Shamarko looked promising the little we have seen of him, holding up okay as a rookie SS playing CB, and as a special teamer. Additionally, how much you wanna bet he won't start week 1 of 2015? He just lost a bit of competition. You can say he is still behind Will Allen on the depth chart. I say LaMarr Woodley was behind Clark Haggans on the depth chart. Last year they felt like an ill-prepared Shamarko was a roll of the dice compared to steady Will. This year the "competition" will be something like Lawrence Timmons vs. incumbent Larry Foote - who was so certain of the outcome that he asked to change teams. Shamarko is the starter, and will have to prove he's a failure before they take it away. We'll have to wait and see, but I'm betting he is good by the end of this year.
     
  10. SGSteeler

    SGSteeler Well-Known Member

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    Well they both have played zero NFL regular season games at SS, so not necessarily haha I'm sure the front office/coaching staff knows exactly what we have in Shamarko though. I agree with your points that Tomlin trusts his vets, and I'm sure Shark missing practice made that decision to play Allen over him much easier... I was just trying to point out that we haven't seen him as a SS on the field in a meaningful game. Ever. He is a complete wild card to us. His play at CB his rookie year has zero impact on how I feel about him as a Safety. I'm not trying to slam the kid, or even say that I dislike him... I'm just saying that in my mind, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that we look to upgrade the SS position in the draft. Tomlin himself has already said that there is a possibility Mitchell makes the move to SS (does that move Shark to FS?).

    What we do in the draft will show our faith in Thomas. If we take Collins, or maybe even to a lesser extent FS Rowe (making the Mitchell move to SS a reality) then his starting role is very much up in the air. I think it will be Shark and Mitchell next season, but it wouldn't shock me if we went elsewhere.
     
  11. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

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    there also could be a 3rd option. the steelers have always liked to use safeties as nickel and dime backs more than most teams. probably to help in run support more than corners. it wouldn't surprise me to see two corners and 3 safeties on the field a lot. I also still wouldn't rule out my thinking of cortez as a free safety and having him face the play. :cool:
     
  12. freakfontana

    freakfontana

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    i start to like ibrahim campbell .. if he last to our pick in rd 2 , i would take him
     
  13. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

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    I found 13 passes broken up for Collins but whatever. there are many safeties in this draft with far better numbers than Collins. also with better speed. oh and for as much of a hitter a lot more forced fumbles. I'm not even sure why he's ranked as a 1st round guy truly.:cool:
     
  14. Wardismvp

    Wardismvp Well-Known Member

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  15. contract

    contract Well-Known Member

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    I haven't seen much of him, but from what I have seen he looks stiff.
     
  16. Wardismvp

    Wardismvp Well-Known Member

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    Maybe I am missing something, I hope we are leaning/ going to draft a Free Safety type of ball player. I believe the SS position is filled up.
     
  17. SGSteeler

    SGSteeler Well-Known Member

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    I think you're missing our current depth chart at SS haha

    Thomas and Allen is what we've got. A guy who has never played a regular season snap at SS and a 34 year old career backup... That's not a lineup I can be completely comfortable with just yet. Thomas could change my mind (and I hope he does) over the course of the season, but until he gets live game action I can't say I'm super confident in him. I believe he will get the start, so I really hope he turns out to be a stud.

    It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that the FO thinks we have 0 current starting quality SS. We need depth at FS too unfortunately lol but I think our SS position is really far from being "filled up".
     
  18. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

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    what about mitchell?:cool:
     
  19. Da Stellars

    Da Stellars Well-Known Member

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    Mitchell can probably play both, but I would rather have him in the Ryan Clark Center Fielder spot.

    I remember Clark had a bit of a learning curve his first season too, but I knew he would be good for us, and I think Mitchell (while not on Clark's level) will be solid as well.

    The question is Shamarko, we know nothing about him as a starter? Haven't seen him play at all outside of Special Teams. Injury Prone?
     
  20. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

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    MT is already said he'd like to move Mitchell to SS. Mitchell played all last year like a strong safety. we did see what Thomas could do his rookie year and coverage was pretty good. the steelers have used safeties for several years as nickel and dime situations as extra DB's and that's what shark did his rookie year. I do expect we will see one of these bigger corners drafted that can play free safety as well. there are quite a few with that skillset.:cool:
     
  21. Wardismvp

    Wardismvp Well-Known Member

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    My thinking exactly Mac!!!!!! Oh well everybody is entitled to their own opinion.
     
  22. Jball

    Jball Well-Known Member

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    Not trying to call you a liar or anything mac but, when did Tomlin say that? I missed him saying that. Was he asked by someone if Mitchell would be better at SS or something ?
     
  23. TerribleTowelFlying

    TerribleTowelFlying Staff Member Site Admin Mod Team

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    Yeah, last month at the owner's meetings someone asked him if he'd be opposed to moving him over to SS, and he said no, he wouldn't be opposed to it.
     
  24. Da Stellars

    Da Stellars Well-Known Member

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    Exactly, Tomlin did not say anything finite that Mitchell will be moved, just that, if needed, he thought Mitchell could play SS, and he would let him compete for that spot... it is far from definite that will happen though.
     
  25. SGSteeler

    SGSteeler Well-Known Member

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    He's the starting FS as of now. If they do in fact move him to SS then that's a different story. Either way (SS or FS) we need a few players at the position.
     

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