Senior Bowl week kicked off today with the annual meat market weigh ins. Basically, players from the North and South squads are herded like cattle and weighed/measured in their underwear, in front of media and NFL staff onlookers. Many take pictures.
https://twitter.com/seniorbowl/status/557553216376684546
Here are the results of today’s weigh ins.
North
[wpdatatable id=36]
South
[wpdatatable id=37]
Since former Steelers defensive Coordinator Dick LeBeau “resigned” a week and a half ago, the writing has been all over the wall indicating his move to Arizona. According to Alex Marvez, the two sides are finalizing a deal for LeBeau to become Arizona’s new linebacker’s coach.
https://twitter.com/alexmarvez/status/557760503339286529
As inevitable as the move to Arizona seemed, taking a role as a linebacker’s coach is pretty unexpected. Linebacker’s coach is a pretty big drop off from defensive coordinator or defensive consultant in Arizona. It will be interesting to see exactly what role he ultimately plays in Arizona.
Gary Kubiak has been hired as the new Denver Broncos head coach.
https://twitter.com/Broncos/status/557277216657010689
This announcement comes just a little over a week after Kubiak announced that he was not interested in leaving Baltimore. How quickly things change. Kubiak’s departure totals five members of the Ravens coaching staff to leave so far this offseason. Quarterback’s Coach Rick Dennison, Assistant Head Coach/Secondary Coach Steve Spagnola, Tight Ends Coach Brian Pariani, and Quality Control Coach Jay Harbaugh have all taken positions outside of Baltimore.
Kubiak is no stranger to the Broncos. He was quarterback’s coach and offensive coordinator from 1995-2005.
It’s not a stretch of the imagination to say that Kubiak’s departure is a big loss to the Ravens. Finding an offensive coordinator of his caliber will be a very tall task.
The New England Patriots are reportedly being investigated by the NFL for under inflating their game balls during yesterday’s victory over the Colts.
https://twitter.com/bkravitz/status/557189134234959872
According to a league source, via ProFootballTalk, several irregular balls were removed from the game yesterday. The phrase “DeflateGate” is being thrown around.
The NFL rule book mandates that each team makes 12 balls available for inspection before kickoff. The home team must make 12 backup balls available, and the visiting team may bring another 12 backup balls for games to be played outdoors.
While this is a newsworthy story, it wasn’t the difference between a win and a loss yesterday. The Colts looked like a high school team yesterday, and a softer ball didn’t help LeGarrette Blount run for 148 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Here is footage from the game where the refs stopped play due to the balls.
[xyz-ihs snippet=”PatsDeflateBalls”]
Hopefully a political cartoonist somewhere is drawing Bill Belichick in the Evil Emperor’s robes, waiving his hand at two refs saying, “these aren’t the balls your looking for…”.
Eleanor Gallagher’s obituary starts off like many other obits do. The 81 year old great-grandmother of Nanticoke, PA “peacefully passed away surrounded by family and friends”. It’s not until the 5th paragraph where things begin to get a little weird.
According to the obituary, Ms. Gallagher’s family thinks that former defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau’s departure played a part in the 81 year old’s death.
“Eleanor was a devoted Pittsburgh Steelers fan, and the family firmly believes that the recent separation of Dick LeBeau and the Steelers’ poor performance this season might have inadvertently contributed to her demise,” the family wrote in her obituary.
To be fair, the Steelers did win the division and make the playoffs. If LeBeau’s “resignation” did contribute to premature deaths, I can only imagine how many babies were brought into this world as a result of Arians’ “retirement”.
In all seriousness, I’ve suggested before that being a Steelers fan does take time off your life. Rest in peace, Ms. Gallagher.
Earlier in the week I reported that the Steelers were hosting a couple CFL prospects for tryouts. Well, according to the Calgary Sun, the Steelers will be adding Lemon to their offseason roster.
https://twitter.com/SUNMitchell/status/556214976252092417
The 6’3, 251 lb pass rusher will be released by the Stampeders before he officially becomes a free agent in February, so that he can sign with the Steelers, according to sources. Lemon registered 13 sacks last year, and tied the CFL record of 8 forced fumbles.
It was not made clear when the signing would reportedly happen. Here are some of Lemon’s CFL highlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TStkAvjDTws
It’s that time of year again. The time where the experts (and non-experts) start cranking out mock drafts. ESPN draft guru Mel Kipper Jr. has released his highly anticipated mock draft version 1.0, and he has the Steelers taking Wake Forest cornerback Kevin Johnson at No. 22.
If you thought CB was the “cool pick” last year, this year it’s going to be off the hook. Nonetheless, most of Steeler Nation probably will applaud at a first round CB, regardless of who he is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaxVwD-HvNU
Johnson is 6′ 0″, 175 lbs and started 41 games at Wake Forrest. I’ll do a complete report on Johnson, and other potential Steelers CB prospects in the future. The Steelers haven’t taken a CB in the first round since 1997 when they drafted Chad Scott.
Jeremiah has the Steelers taking Gerrod Holliman in the first round. Holliman is a free safety out of Louisville. The 6’0, 201 lbs defensive back saw his first year as starter in 2014, and recorded 14 interceptions. 14. He’s hard to watch honestly, because a) he looks a little lost at times (at least in the games I’ve seen so far) and b) he doesn’t look like he’s a fan of tackling in run support.
Of course these and other expert mocks will most likely change in the coming weeks and months, but it’s interesting to get a feel for who these big name media guys think the Steelers should select with the 22nd pick.
The Steelers have added another player to their off-season roster this week. Former Rams offensive tackle Mitchell Van Dyk has been signed to a reserve/futures contract.
https://twitter.com/SteelersPRBurt/status/555831813416185856
https://twitter.com/Mitch64psu/status/555445064927694848
Van Dyk was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the 2014 draft. The Portland State OT is 6’7″, 313 lb and did 14 bench reps at his Pro Day.
He spent the summer with St. Louis and did about how you’d expect a 7th round lineman to do in preseason.
The Steelers have signed former Bengals SS Isaiah Lewis to a reserve/futures contract.
https://twitter.com/SteelersPRBurt/status/555133824523186176
Lewis is 5’10, 208 lbs. The Bengals signed the former Michigan State safety as an undrafted free agent last spring, but waived him before the season began last August. Lewis began his college career as a nickel corner, but started at SS for the last 3 years.
Lewis was projected to be a mid round prospect going into his senior year, but an arthroscopic knee surgery early in the season effected his play, and subsequently his draft stock. Here are some of his highlights from Michigan State.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQJPe0N8_XM
Keith Butler was named Steelers defensive coordinator today. A move which has been anticipated for many years. One question that has been on the minds of many Steelers fans lately is- Will Keith Butler’s scheme differ from Dick LeBeau’s scheme, and if so, how much?
Bob Labriola of Steelers.com spoke with Butler today, and asked a few questions to get a better understanding of what the new coordinator’s defensive philosophy is.
“It’s not much different than most people’s philosophy would be. We definitely have to stop the run, we have to make offenses one-dimensional if we can, and we have to put pressure on the quarterback. If we can do those things, then we can help the offense. We have to get the ball back for the offense – that’s our main goal,” said Butler.
I like it. I like it.
When asked if he’s a 3-4 guy, Butler says, “I would consider myself a whatever-it-takes-to-win guy.”
“If it’s a 3-4, that’s fine, if that fits your players. I think you have to be able to fit your defense around the players you have. With what offenses are doing nowadays in the National Football League, they’re playing a lot of three wide receivers and a tight end and a running back, for the most part. In those situations, we’re going to be in kind of a 4-3 anyway, but we’re still going to be able to run the 3-4 also. It gives you a little bit more versatility, I think.”
Sounds good. Sounds good.
Butler goes on to say that the 3-4 is important due to what offenses are doing today.
“I think there’s still a place for it is because you also have to be versatile as a defense as offenses are trying to be versatile. So we don’t want to blow it up and say we won’t run the 3-4 anymore. We will run the 3-4, but we will run some 4-3 also, in our sub-package.”
Makes sense. Though, isn’t that essentially what the Steelers have been doing defensively?
The Steelers will not hold a press conference to announce their new DC. I’m sure however that we’ll hear much more from Butler in the coming days and weeks, and will soon grow as tired as him from hearing 4-3 questions.