You're the GM - What would you have done differently?

Alarming when you have so many people on the same page.Is there something to that?

 

OLB Jarvis Jones
ILB Arthur Brown
WR Markus Wheaton
FS Shamarko Thomas
RB Johnathan Franklin
CB Terry Hawthorne
WR Justin Brown
ILB Vince Williams
QB Zac Dysert

 

*Yawn* Been gone for awhile. Did I miss anything?

For me this draft was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Now that I've settled down a bit and had some time to digest it, I'm happy.

1. Jarvis Jones - I was all over the place the entire offseason about which way to go in the first round, but by the time the draft actually rolled around, for me it was Jones or bust. I'm thrilled. There wasn't anyone else I wanted at #17. I sure as hell didn't want to trade up. I didn't want any of the other guys mocked to us. I didn't want a CB in round 1, or a WR or RB, or an ILB that high, or an OL, or a TE. If Jones had been off the board, my next move would have been to trade way down (with SF maybe) and take Manti Te'o. I would have been happy with that in a draft with a strong 2nd/3rd round, but I'm happy to not have to worry about OLB in 2014. I was stoked when Jones bombed his pro day, but I feared it wouldn't be enough to drum out the idiot teams out there. Glad I was wrong. I'm not convinced Jones will beat out Worilds this year, but am excited to see the field however often he does. I am convinced he'll be starting in 2014, with Worilds on another team, be it clinging to the league or rolling in cash after his great season. A+

2. Le'Veon Bell - Okay, my initial reaction was of shock and disappointment. I'd looked at film of Bell a couple months ago, considered him, and decided against him. Certainly not before the 3rd round. This struck me as a reach for need, something lesser teams do. I still do think that's what happened, but the more post-draft research I've done, the more I've come around on Bell. While he may be the same type of back we have in Dwyer and Redman, he obviously has the potential to be much better. I wanted to see some speed at the position, but I suppose if we can get more 5 yard runs and fewer 2 yard runs, I can live without the 40 yard runs (or 30 or 20 - seriously, this guy looks slow as hell on tape to me). I'd liked to have traded down and tried to land him anyway, but whatever. This is one of those times where I'm going to have to trust the Steelers that this guy is as good as they say he is, and not as good as I think he is. C- ...I felt a lot better, though, as soon as we made our next pick...

3. Markus Wheaton - I liked Wheaton enough that I had him on my short list of guys to take in round 2. In fact, after the early round 2 massacre of my list of desired picks (Te'o, Cyprien, Bernard, Hunter, Slay, Ertz, Banks, Minter), he was one of the only guys remaining, along with Arthur Brown and Keenan Allen. I'd have been satisfied with Markus at #48. And as I just complained about a minute ago, I'd have been okay with Bell at #79. So although I don't normally think that a good pick excuses a bad pick, in this situation it kind of does. All I have to do is pretend we took Wheaton first, and I'm happy. He's a polished guy that should be able to help us out sooner rather than later, which I like. A ...And a fresh new grade for Bell: B

4a. Shemarko Thomas - Let me first say that I hate it when chumps trade a future higher pick for a present later pick, and I always wanted to be on the good end of that deal, not on the chump end. But I do acknowledge that Thomas is a steal, and worthy of a 3rd round pick. If you're getting a guy that truly could have gone a round sooner, I guess it's acceptable. And the comp picks we'll get next year will help. But it's still going to eat away at me. I'd have much rather traded our 4th (Landry Jones) and our 7th (Nick Williams) to move up a couple of spots for Thomas and kept that 3rd rounder, which could be used on an awesome player next year, or to move up a dozen spots in the first round. Here's hoping Rashard Mendenhall starts full time and Keenan Lewis makes the Pro Bowl. Anyway... Thomas was somewhat on my radar before the draft, but I didn't really get into him until after we made the pick. And the more I read and watched, the more pumped I got. Grade for the trade: D Thomas: A

4b. Landry Jones - Oh, man, I don't know. He might pan out, but there just seems to be a ton of bust potential. I'm with Steel_Elvis, that the way I view the trade is that this is the guy we traded away a 3rd round pick for. And Landry Jones isn't a guy that makes me want to trade anything. I know that with years of development he could work, but I don't think that in 2013 he'll be better than Byron Leftwich or Charlie Batch, and I'm far from convinced he'll ever be capable enough to lead this team to playoff wins. So it's really hard for me to like much about it. Blind faith that they know what they're doing is really all I have here, and that's not much when it comes to the Steelers and the QB position. D

5. Terry Hawthorne - Aaaand we have our first pick I never heard of. Pretty standard for me, because my brain can only hold 4 rounds of pre-draft analysis. I was looking to get a mid-round CB, so I like where the pick is. I had my eye on Poyer for awhile. I gleefully admit I have trouble evaluating cornerbacks. But I like Hawthorne's size and speed, and I like our DB coach. So he gets a B

6a. Justin Brown - I see this as a stab in the dark. We've got the small, shifty, sure-handed WR thing covered. We need a big tall lug to pull down high passes. I don't think much of this guy so far, but it's a position that might have room for a 6th rounder to stick around. There's at least some chance this big tall lug will be effective. This is what the 6th round is for. C

6b. Vince Williams - Couldn't come out of this draft without an ILB. I wanted one higher and was hoping we'd trade up for Te'o as he was sliding in round 2, but what little I've seen on Williams, I like. He definitely looks like a good tackler. I fully expect him to make the 53 and probably even the active roster as a special teamer and 2nd/3rd stringer inside. B

7. Nick Williams - We never get the workout warrior type, so I'm excited to have one. Dude definitely has impressive numbers, and we definitely have space at the bottom of our DE depth chart. Can't wait to see if he can rush the passer come preseason. B


Overall, I felt like we landed need after need. Too often when you go BPA you get an awesome draft of guys that never see the field. In 2012, we demolished our needs list with guys that all had either solid or tremendous value: DeCastro, Adams, Spence, Ta'amu, Rainey. That was amazing. In 2013 we hit our needs again, but I'm afraid some of them were reaches (Bell, L. Jones). It's still by no means a bad draft, and some of those other picks might be good enough to outweigh the ones I'm not so nuts about. But I'm not giddy like I was a year ago. B+

 

I still find fault with this draft. This may be silly, but after a little while to think I have concluded that the problem with this draft is not that it was a draft which appears to be one of need, but that we reached for one need while ignoring another. For instance, who doesn't know that we needed an ILB as Hugesnack noted he wanted one earlier. There sits Arthur Brown still available in round 2 and we draft a RB. Yes, we needed a RB, but if I am comparing the 2, I still think the BPA between them is Brown. I do think Bell was the best RB available at that time, but not best player. We didn't do a NEEDS draft, we didn't do a BPA draft, we did a combo draft where we took the BPA at positions of need. Having Jones, Timmons, Brown, and Woodley could have potentially left us looking for only depth players at the LB position for the next 7-8 years. Instead we took a RB.

 

The question with Williams I think comes down to how they view him. I do like him and think he was a steal when we got him. If you look at Robinson, they called him a one trick pony. Williams problem is that he is the other trick. Neither can cover. They kept Robinson off the field despite his ability to get to the QB. If they do the same for Williams it doesn't matter how smart he is.

I do find a difference somewhat based on the D we play on our need to get someone off the field in obvious pass situations anyway. We can pull him when we go to the nickle and bring in Gay. The real problem for him is can he cover well enough on downs 1 and 2 to stay on the field. THAT is the question with him.

 

If I were the GM I would have taken Colt McCoy as a backup qb. I also would not have resigned David Johnson and I would have never signed Cotchery. I also would maybe lobby Lebeau to give the young guys a little more playing time although I admittedly say that part as a fan. I would send Ziggy Hood packing along with Casey Hampton and give the starting job to MCCLendon. I also would have a zero tolerance policy for off the field problems of rookies coming in and would probably put behavior incentives in their contracts. So I guess I will just keep going to UPS every day because it's obvious I'm not GM material. LOL.

 

everywhere i read , said bell would be lucky to get out of round 2. by the way how did brown become bigger then life? i mean he's a good player but, far from a can't miss. bell will put much needed TD's on the board, brown won't. we needed scoring worse then an ILB. with foote,rolle,mcfadden,wilson and sylvester here, i think it was less need then some of you are making it out to be. we lost a ton of scoring.

 

I hate doing this because I'm such a chicken, but it's only fair. Just to be on record...

1) Jarvis Jones, OLB
2) Arthur Brown, ILB
3) Markus Wheaton, WR
4a) Shamarko Thomas, S
4b) Jonathan Franklin, RB
5) Terry Hawthorne, CB
6a) Bacarri Rambo, S
6b) Joe Kruger, DE
7) Da'Rick Rogers, WR

I think Franklin in the 4th is better value than Bell in the 2nd, and that lands us Arthur Brown to play alongside Timmons so we can cut Foote next year. Taking Rambo means I just drafted two backup safeties, but we did just lose two backup safeties, so I know the space is there. I like both players and think they're both great value, and we could use the help. Taking Brown means we don't need Vince Williams, so I take Paul Kruger's little brother, who I think could put on weight and be a solid 5-tech. Rogers I take because he's got the size and I'm not worried about character concerns in the 7th, and the value is much better than Justin Brown. I didn't take a quarterback because I didn't feel like it.

I'm one that believes this team's problems are on offense, not defense, but I just took 6 defensive players out of 9 picks. I really wanted to find a way to land Barrett Jones, but the only real shot I had would be taking him with 4a, taking Thomas with 4b (he would probably be there), and then missing out on Franklin and taking Joseph Randle instead of Terry Hawthorne (or Andre Ellington in the 6th, but is he a full time player?). I liked Franklin over Randle enough to skip Barrett Jones

Actually, you know what? Forget that. I want Jones. We're the Steelers, and we need 7 offensive linemen for every single game. I'm tired of losing games because our backups can't hang. Revised:

1) Jarvis Jones, OLB
2) Arthur Brown, ILB
3) Markus Wheaton, WR
4a) Barrett Jones, OL
4b) Shamarko Thomas, S
5) Joseph Randle, RB
6a) Joe Kruger, DE
6b) Jordan Poyer, CB
7) Da'Rick Rogers, WR

Alright, now I feel MUCH better about the OL and I no longer have to sweat about which if any of these 500 UDFAs is going to be good enough to start a real game. Randle might not be as good as Franklin, but one thing I've learned around here is that no running back is doing anything without decent blocking. I miss out on Hawthorne, so take Poyer instead and lose Rambo.

 

After watching tonight's game, while I know it's preseason. Sorensen over the qb we picked.