Would Vonn Bell be here if LeBeau was still DC?

Hard to say. Seems to me they are now aiming towards athleticism with production college players. If not they would have probably taken Mosley over Shazier, and that was when DL was still the DC.

 

To answer your first question, yes. LeBeau's refined Hokie scheme only meant that the front seven was getting tooled. Granted, the two 5 tech defensive ends would have been still gapping and the linebackers would have been wreaking havoc. "How does this answer if Vonn Bell would have been drafted?" Vonn's instincts would have allowed him to "freelance" and survey the field; the equivalent of what Troy did. However, Vonn would have been doing more so in the backfield due towards his lack of athleticism compared to Troy's in addition to further refining and maximizing his instinctive ability later on.


Towards your statement, I really thought Ryan Shazier marked the beginning of the end for the LeBeau reign in spite of the fact that Shaz was a Meyer disciple at Ohio State. Bud Dupree for me cemented it. Now that Artie Burns is in the mix, Keith Butler's new Eagle scheme is now ready to take flight and ascend Pittsburgh (hopefully) back into their usual dominant defensive ways.

 

Love to trade Jarvis Jones over there to LeBeau for the right draft pick. I like to see a teacher and his student together.

 

Who knows? Who cares? I think we ended up with the right player. I at least hope so.

 

Hahahahahaha....It needs to be!

 

we did take grant last year while keith butler was the DC. bell was a good player, but davis is bigger, faster and stronger. MT likes speed on defense. we added that. we were also running some of this hybrid defense under DL too.

 

I will take Davis over Vonn Bell (I still expect a horse whinny sound a la young Frankenstein, whenever I mention his name for some strange reason). Watched a lot of big 10 this year and especially OSU in the offseason. Just didn't get the gooseys over him like some others have. I really like the OSU offensive players but not their defensive guys. Bosa being the exception.

 

boy, I hope that lesson was learned very well...

 

Me too.

 

My reasoning for taking Davis is that he represents a new paradigm for the Steelers philosophy on safeties. He is not a cornerback but has acquired cornerback traits while already having the intangibles of a safety. Case in point:



He is one of the many new hybrid NFL defensive backs who are coming out of college to counter the athletic TE's and be used in sub package plays.

 

Fans wanted Bell just because he came from a big name school, doesn't mean he was the right fit for the Steelers. I'm glad they drafted the bigger faster safety in Davis.