what's our draft strategy??? (long read)

I know the season isn't technically over, but i figured that this was worth a look.... below is my summary of our diff. positions on offense and defense.. a few people had career yrs., which may blind the f.o. to the real issues..... it certainly blinded me a little, so here goes..... you decide.

Qb: obviously, ben is our man.... but who backs him up next yr.... does the f.o. go with leftwich and batch one yr. older (insert fav. obscenity), or do we go to the youth movement... for those who think it wouldn't work, look no further than washington

rb: no clear cut man here.... at times, the main 3 have looked unstoppable, and of course, at other times they've looked inept and extremely brittle (not to mention ball security issues). i'm in agreement with many on this board in thinking mendy is gone....do we stick with dwyer and redman, with a dose of rainey, or do we invest a 3rd or 4th on an every down runner.

Wr: we all know what our 4 receivers are capable of when they're on top of their game, but we simply did not see the consistancy that should've been there... of course mike wallace's contract and imho, outlandish salery demands will determine a lot of the descision making proceas.... do we let him walk, and pull one of the many dynamic receivers in this yrs. draft, or do we sign mike and still draft one of the young guys to push the rest.

Te: one of the few ares that i think we're set on...... imho heath miller is the most complete te in the league, and i've always been high on paulson.... add that david johnson should be back, and i think that nothing needs to be done.... pope of course is gone.....now do we use a late rd. pick on a project to push johnson, or do we stand pat.

O-line: starks os completing his best season.......colon was very solid despite the penalties... no matter how much th f.o. tries to replace foster, he still finds the starting line-up...decastro has the makings of a special player..... Mike adams has shown flashes.... gilbert may be a solid back-up...... legursky is the best back-up c in the league, and beachum just might be the steal of the last draft...... now do we pick a tackle to push people or stand pat and hope that all the injuries are an aberration.... i think we have the makings of a very strong o-line here either way.

D-line: this area is no where near as confusing as others.... keisel, while still effective, is on the wrong side of 30..... Casey hampton also is pretty much done.... ta'amu blew it.... hood fits the classic looks like tarzan, plays like jane cliche...... the only sure things right now seem to be mcclendon and heyward......i think the only question here is high rd. pick or mid.

Olb: james harrison is nearly used up, however, he's still pretty much our only option.... woodley can't seem to get out of the way of his own hamstring.... and worilds hasn't proven that he can be consistant for a full game week in and week out...... none of thw other back-ups have developed enough to be on the field......looks like the same situation as the d-line..... quick.... high rd. or mid.

Ilb: larry foote was one of those guys that had a career yr..... timmons is obviously the future.... sylvester obviously hasn't taken advantage of his considerable skills...... spence ripped up pretty much everything in his knee that could possibly be torn or broken, and no one else has shown that they're even worth mentioning......obviously, we need a difference maker here...... do we take the chance that spence will come back strong, or do we use a premium draft pick here....

Cb: ike taylor regained his swag and basically shut down his side of the field again to the point that lewis became the 2nd most targeted cb in the league.... for the most part, lewis was up to the task.... cortez allen showed against cincinatti a glimpse of the future post ike.... beyond that we're a hot mess.... curtis brown is approaching bust status to the point that we basically took cb's from the shelves of wal-mart and placed them in front of him......i believe in the old regime's moto that you can never have enough cbs, but we very clearly don't have enough draft picks to go around...... do we give brown one more yr., or do we cut our losses and look for his replacement in the draft or free agency....

S: ryan clarke is obviously the leader of this unit now, but his best days are clearly behind him.... troy still has some tread left, but can't stay healthy.... will allen made me eat alot of crow, and ryan mundy was a headcase...... i for one believe that robert golden is the future behind clarke, but will allen is no spring chicken and i think it may be too much to ask for a repeat performance...... do we take a chance on allen again... Or do we use one of our all too few draft picks.... i don't see any viable free agent options on the horizon....

Descisions, descisions............
What would you do?????

 

Best avaliable rb or cb in round one......Best avaliable cb or rb in round 2...........JMO

 

I hate thinking you have to target needs and perfer to select value. There always is a problem- other teams select before you. You cant project how the draft will go and have to grab the best value but I will play along.

My thinking is the first 4 picks in no particular order should focus on TE, OG, OT and a WR (one with some size) .

TE- Heath injury and age means he will start to decline. Multi TE sets create mismatches. I wont be surprised to see pick used on TE or a quality FA brought in.
OG- Seems more penalties have been called on Colon this year than any other Steeler lineman plus he is always hurt. They have more problems up the middle than outside in my opinion
WR- Wallace is leaving and rest of unit looks like they all wear the same clothes. Need a bigger body that has decent speed. Imagine seeing Brown, Sanders, and Cotchrey....WTF, we running the run and shoot?
OT- Another reliable option since every year these guys are brittle .

size matters in the draft to me- RB, LB, and S are pretty plentiful, but Big asskickers are not (unless someone is exceptional at one of these positions- then draft that guy)

 

depends who leave , if harrison goes i would take an olb with our first round , then a safety in rd 2 . something like djon jordan rd 1and matt elam rd 2

 

Heath is getting up there in age and add in the severe injury I wouldn't be surprised if they drafted another te. I read somewhere that his rehab could be 12months if that's true you can pretty much guarantee they'll looking at TE's.

THere's no way they look at running back in the 1st or 2nd round with the way Haley rotates them. It's simply not worth the investment.

I can't see them passing on a safety at some point early in 2013. I could see them going with the oline early again if someone like Chance Warmack is available when they pick. Of course linebacker is perennial option for them as well. Assumign that we will lose Wallace and Cotchery then WR is another spot that they'll address through the draft.