Projected O Line

Center is the biggest need, they have players that are passable at the other positions.

I said on another thread recently that the only guys that are signed past 2021 are Banner and Dotson. It would not be crazy to use their first two picks on the offensive line. Tackle with the first and Center with the second.

If there was ever a year to trade back in the first round it’s this year. Try to get an additional fourth round pick, maybe even a third. I can’t remember the Steelers going in to a draft this threadbare in a long time. They literally need everything.

 

Yes, although this year I’m thinking the vets who usually get cut during training camp may have already been released due to the cap.

 

DL I don't think is a huge need. Davis will be the new nose. He is a draft pick. We signed wormley. We have mondeaux. We have bugg s which is a former draft pick. We also have a couple futures pickups. Christmas. Taylor. We may be set on this part of the team. We could see an udfa possibly added.

 

I have not seen much from Buggs or Davis to indicate that either of them is trustworthy on the nose. Buggs did make a couple of nice plays late in the first win over the Ravens, but that was after getting shoved all over the place most of the game.

 

Dotson was drafted in the fourth rd and he might emerge as the best one of the bunch this year.
I am hoping DD had some injury issues and can bounce back this year.
Okorafor did not impress me at all last year I thought he looked like a pylon most games.
Finney should start at center over Haus.
Banner other than having size is almost a total unknown.

Dotson probably is the best of the five so far based on last year.

 

It rained most of the day in T-town today from about 9am till 2 p. very hard at times. Not sure when pro day was played or if it was inside or out ?

I live in Tuscaloosa .

 

Pro Day was indoors if that was the case. Either way, Mike Tomlin, Matt Canada and Kevin Colbert all were in attendance for it.

 

I think you’re right. If nothing else they’re definitely be less than normal.

 

buggs is more a DE. davis is more the nose. i saw some good videos talking about davis (which was a rookie last year) and his quickness being very good and his motor staying after plays and making the play after some relentless hustle. so that's a good sign. if he can build on that great for us. i see they have wormley again listed as a NT on the teams roster page. that's interesting again as it was last year too.

now as i know you know we don't run the base that much, so 3 tech. tackles are used a lot more in these sub packages. tuitt is capable of moving inside in those. wormley, buggs and davis and sometimes mondaeux are used inside. that's where we need to see them over cam i think. we have been using our DE's (tuitt and cam inside in those formations too much for my liking. with our weakness at ILB that creates problems against the run. when we pull them up against the run it creates problems against the pass since we rely so much on our ILB's to cover. as each layer breaks down it hurts the next layer of this defense, yet we don't make too many adjustments. Bud was playing the run pretty well in his time here. that will hurt. TJ is up and down against the run at times. that hurts the edges. to sum it up, we need penetration from the line, set the edge from the outside and we need flow to the ball from the inside backers. find that combo and we will be much better.

if...... highsmith takes a step up, davis and whomever gets penetration, spillane and bush flow to the ball better, we could be good. hiltons ability to help in run support was big as well. will we see that from his relacement is a question as well. this defense has to work in sync. if one spot breaks down teams take advantage of it and we don't adjust well (butler). with the money troubles we have, it almost has to work with these players.

 

That if is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Davis has some ability, but he really didn't do much of value when he did get playing time in 2020. Wormley is out of position at nose tackle. The only reason I give that any chance of working at all is what we saw last year with Alualu, who was also an end who had to shift to the nose. The line might be okay, but overall, this defense is significantly weaker than it was at the start of 2020.

 

i agree it is weaker but i think we knew that was going to happen with the money troubles. we can hope that year two in the system helps some of these guys. health will be key.

 

Trusting someone like Highsmith to step up in a starting role is reasonable. Trusting someone like Davis, however, is not.

 

we shall see.

 

Banner is going to be the RT, not Left. He is a bulldozer type tackle not the light-on-your-feet type you need for a blind side protector. Even Ed Bouchette (Steelers beat writer) expects this.

 

Blount and Woodson and after that you are right.

 

Ike Taylor, Bryant McFadden and Deshea Townsend were good CBs. With rings.

 

Funny, you said Steelers suck at drafting CB's, I list two and you add three more Not Ike Taylor for me. He got beat a lot.

 

Ike was great.
Just had stone hands.
If he just caught one quarter of the ball he got his hands on .....he'd be in the Hall of Fame.

 

my parents run into ike all the time down in orlando. he bought them drinks one night. they run into he and his family in church a lot. ike's a good guy. down to earth guy.

 

derwin gray signed his tender. it's a shame we draft these guys and let them get away like that. he could have helped this year. several linemen we have let slip away over the last few years like him.