what will the starting lineup look like

it's a slow time and early in the process but what's everyone's opinion of our opening day lineups on both sides of the ball?

Defense:

D-Line: tuitt, mclendon, heyward
LB'ers: moats, Timmons, shazier, jones
CB's: gay, grant
S: Mitchell, Thomas

Offense:

O-line: beachum, hubbard, pouncey, decastro, gilbert
WRs: brown, Bryant
TE: miller, james
RB: Williams
QB: boyd( cause he can put it in your back pocket from 70 yards out)< green font
ben

what say you?

 

DL: Tuitt - McLendon - Heyward
LB: Jones - Shazier - Timmons - Moats
S: Thomas - Mitchell
CB: Gay - Allen - Golson (nickel)

OL: Beachum - Foster - Pouncey - DeCastro - Gilbert
WR: Brown - Bryant - Wheaton
TE: Miller - Spaeth
RB: (Bell) - Williams
QB: Roethlisberger

similar to you Mac, but I don't think Foster is getting beat out, nor do I think grant will be ready to start. They will start Golson or Blake outside before Grant. I think he's ST's this year and CB5. Oh, and no way is James gonna beat Spaeth out. Not one aspect of his game is on Spaeth's level quite yet. Hopefully by the end of the year or by next season he's the TE2, but it won't be this season IMO.

 

Hard to disagree with this one. To me the only question is who starts opposite William Gay? I agree it will most likely be Allen or Blake, with Golson as the dark horse... Very different from Mike Mayock's opinion; he's said more than once our starters are Cortez Allen and B.W. Webb. So many things wrong with that I don't know where to start.

Hopefully we see a lot of Dupree mixing in, and hopefully we don't need to see much of Harrison.

 

Yeah, hopefully Allen regains his confidence and plays some good football. This is a make or break year for him. If he doesn't win the starting job and play alright, it will be the last we see of him. I'd be surprised if Webb was our starter too, but who knows. We just haven't seen enough of the kid to know what he has.

I bet we do see a lot of Dupree this year tho. More so at the end of the year than the beginning I would think. Depends on how quickly he learns and how well he plays. I hope JJ plays well enough to keep Harrison on the bench, but I think Harrison is seeing 15-20 snaps a game regardless. I guess we will have to see how it all unfolds.

 

Day one roster will be:

QB- Ben
OL- Beechum,Foster,Pouncey,DeCastro,Gilbert
WR- Brown, Wheaton
RB- Williams
FB- Johnson
TE-Miller

Defense:

DL- Heyward-McLendon-Tuitt
LBer- JJ,TImmons,Shazier,Harrison
CB- Allen,Gay
SS- Mitchell
FS-Thomas

That's the starting 22!!

Cajun

 

Interesting that you have Jarvis over at LOLB. I lobbied for that earlier, but with the addition of Dupree (and Tomlin saying Dupree will be on the left side) that seems unlikely.

 

Can't be sure who will be getting the start at ROLB. I know they want to keep James on a snaps count,so it's important that Jarvis shows improved strength and techniques in the preseason...even if it's just the preseason. To me he can't afford to treat it like that, he has to come ready to play even in limited snaps.

 

If anyone follows Harrison you'll know James is preparing and training hard not only to be ready for the season but to be the starter and leader and mentor of this LBer Corp. He'll be ROLB day one. The choice for LOLB is JJ and Moates. JJ will get the chance to start but any struggles and Moates comes in.

Side note..... if JJ thrives at LOLB Dupree may be groomed to replace James.

Cajun

 

Wanna hear something funny? I agree with you. I don't think that's what's going to happen (at least this year), but I'd like to see them try.

That thinking is contrary to most, who think Jarvis is too weak to play LOLB, and since Bud is bigger, that's where he'll be. But I think run defense is something Jarvis can be savvy enough to manage even against RTs, and he'll do better rushing the passer on that side, where he doesn't have to face the more athletic LTs. Bud, meanwhile, is the athletic freak, who may be able to beat the better pass protecting LTs with speed or power.

I think the path to success could be Jarvis (Robin) at LOLB and Bud (Batman) at ROLB. That's the exact opposite of how the team is starting right now, but who knows? Maybe they'll try a swap eventually.

 

The heck with global warming , I think hell just froze over!!! LOL

cajun

ps- did you notice what I did with the safeties ?

 

I didn't. But now I do. That's another one of those things that might happen someday, but for now I think they stick with the plan and see if it works. Mitchell was not only new to the system last year, but apparently playing through multiple groin injuries. I think he gets another crack at FS. And Shark not only fits better as a SS, but I believe has logged more time there.

 

Lets sub Wheaton for Bryant and Foster for Hubbard. I do like the (General) Grant, at the cb
position, lets hope the coaching staff gives him a chance.

 

I think the best thing KB could do is to keep switching them up just like the safeties did under DL. you don't just learn one spot but both. moats and JH also in the equation. it will keep the O-linemen from getting a read on what one guy does and keeps them off balance. make them have to study 4 different pass rushers during the week instead of focusing on what one guy does. I believe KB can do that with the middle backers too. we have 4 guys that bring different skillsets to the position, again keeping offenses guessing and having to plan harder on what each guy does. it leaves a lot less time for other planning.

 

I think SGSteeler is right on with his lineups.

Grant and Golson will get opportunities to contribute for sure. I think they will both be used on special teams, but IMO they will be fighting for the dime corner spot to start. By the end of the year, you hope that one of them is ready to contribute in a more regular role.

 

most of the starting lineup was set already......... the only spots in question on offense are the wr spots after brown, where wheaton will be fighting for dear life to hold off bryant.... and who knows what will happen if coates lives up to his potential

defensively, the spots in question are at olb and cb, where the competition will be hotly contested

there might be a slight battle at ilb between shazier and spence as well

 

safety?

 

it's pretty much a given that shamarko is the man this yr. and i think everyone agrees that mitchell is getting one more chance........... no real battles here

 

I'm not so sure. my concern about Mitchell is the double groin tear and how it will affect him. is it healed? we saw it pretty much end the career of an up and coming LB here years ago. I do think Thomas is a safe bet but I don't want to put the season on will allen either. we seem pretty undermanned at this spot like we were with cb last year. we haven't heard too much about Mitchell and if he's healthy yet. they put in a bid on the waiver wire for sweringer for some reason. they also held onto golden. I'm not sure this is a done deal quite yet at safety. all we have behind them is lewis, hollimen and darby and none are sure things.

 

once Dupree gets a grasp of playbook, his speed will keep him on the field. I will bank on by seasons end (barring an injury) jones and Dupree will be starting and tearing it up

 

I don't see Harrison being a starter, Joey Porter said he wants him to play 25 snaps a game. Harrison could be a 3rd down pass rush specialist.

 

Yep er

 

I'm pretty sure Porter said Harrison will play at most 25 snaps per game, so that's not a projected average, that's a projected maximum. Porter might be thinking more along the lines of 15-20 snaps.

Of course, he could be wrong or full of it. And somebody will probably get injured at some point.

 

At this stage, Harrison is mostly a pass rush specialist. There are an average of 67 defensive plays per game. If Harrison only plays 15-25 snaps a game, that would basically cover all 3rd down plays.

 

A slight change...

Moats- Timmons- Shazier- Harrison 1st string
Dupree- Williams- Spence- J. Jones 2nd string

Cajun-