No OL in first round!

I will be the first to say we need to upgrade LT and LG, however we would be crazy to think that is going to happen this year. I have two reasons that I believe make it improbable.

1. There really isn’t a lot of LT talent and not LG talent that will be there when we draft at 17. The top three LT will more than likely be gone and there isn’t a LG worthy of drafting that high.

2. Our defense is gong to be absolutely gutted with the loss of all of our free agents. The need to replenish the defense is a much higher need than upgrading the offensive line.

Moore and Dotson are still under contract. Yes they aren’t perfect but at least they are starter capable.
That is a lot more than what you can say for multiple defensive positions.

The defensive line has one starter capable person returning in Heyward. We have unproven depth in Leal and Loudermilk and Adams and that is it.

The Edge essentially has two high quality starters and no depth.

The ILB has one overpriced starter (that could stand to be upgraded simply because he is a drag on the cap relative to his impact on the defense).We have a promising 2nd yr returner who is very green and limited in pass coverage.

The Safeties have one super star and a backup and that is it.

The CB’s have Levi Wallace returning and two other overpriced injury prone vets who are going to be released.

At least on the offense line both Moore and Dotson are cheap and relative to their contributions to the team that is more than what you can say for Witherspoon, Andrew Jackson and even Jack at ILB who either under performed, were injured or did not live up to what we were paying them.

In all honesty it would be a luxury to pick an OL in the first three picks in my mind with the major needs we have on defense.

I would sign a DT splash signing in free agency that can take over for Cam when his play starts to fizzle. The hit and miss with DT’s in the draft is very suspect and it takes time for those guys to develop. My focus would be to finally commit to the secondary in the draft and solidfy it. There is so much talent in the draft at CB we got to go get a CB1 and also resign Sutton. We have to have the secondary to compete with Cincinnati moving forward.

I don’t have an answer at ILB. Partly because I don’t even know what the Steelers are looking for anymore in that position. I believe free agency has options for some mid tier ILB’s that could at least be serviceable or better than what we have had. I believe the steelers will more than likely retain Mack but ask him to come back at a reduced salary.

At Safety we should just stick with what we know and if we can bring both Edmonds and Kazee back. That allow Minkah to really be used in so many different roles.

If we don’t attack the defense in the early rounds and go offensive line then we better be able to maintain possession for a very long time because this defense is gong to be difficult to watch next year without substantial upgrades.

I am hopeful with Andy Wiedell’s acumen on evaluating OL talent he can bring in some steals in that area in the later part of the draft.

One thing I hope we don’t do is wait on a CB because the draft is so deep in that area thinking we will just get on in the later rounds. That neve seems to work. When a position is strong I feel like there is usually a run on it because nobody wants to miss out.I don’t want us to be that team.

 

LOL... This is the thinking that resulted in the Steelers having one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. Going 10 years without using a 1st or 2nd round pick on our O-Line has killed this teams run game.

I just don't see a draft where we would not take an O-Lineman in the 1st. I am a little worried that the Steelers take Porter at #17 just because of his father. I see Joey Porter dropping to the 2nd round round because of his 40 time.


I would take a LT in the 1st at #17 There are 4 good ones out there.

#17 OT Johnson/ Jones / Harrison
#32 CB Joey Porter
#49 NT Mazi Smith


And, I am holding out hope that the Steelers sign the Bills Edmunds brother to fix the ILB position.

 

Normally I would agree with your thinking but we have wayyyyy to many holes to fill on defense. I would be ecstatic to get Mazi Smith at 49 hopefully he is still there. Joey Porter Jr. is long other than that I see about five better cb options, but you are right I believe they will target him as well. I don’t see much of a difference in any of the three tackles you listed and Dan Moore Jr.... and believe me I am by no means a Dan Moore Jr. fan. I believe the Steelers are much higher on him than we as fans are. If there were a sure fire slam dunk at LT available in the first round I would consider it but this years class is weak.

 

Do you like our OL depth? Do you feel we can go a season like 2022
Without our Starting OLmissing anytime? We better get some talent with that first or second pick.

 

Obviously I do not like our OL Depth. But I could ask you the same questions regarding our defense.
Do you like our ILB starters and depth? How about our DL Depth or the fact the only starter at corner coming back as of right now is Levi Wallace.
At least all five OL are returning. That is more than what you can say for the defense.I am hoping Andy W> can work some magic and draft Ol talent win the later rounds. If he is as good as advertised then perhaps he can see things that others don’t in evaluating OL talent. We need scouts that can dig up talent in the later rounds. We can’t draft everyone in the first two rounds.

Colberts speciality was finding war’s in the later rounds freeing us up to draft other talent in rd 1.
Donahue was great at drafting Edge/OLB later in the draft. Hopefully Wiedel can do the same thing with OL.

 

Why our O-Line is in Trouble. Hard to build a dominant line with these guys.

Last 10 years of drafting O-Lineman.

2013: None
2014: 5th round, Wesley Johnson, OL, Vanderbilt
2015: None
2016: 4th round, Jerald Hawkins, Tackle, LSU
2017: None
2018: 3rd round, Chukwuma Okorafor, Tackle, Western Michigan
2019: 7th round, Derwin Gray, Tackle, Maryland
2020: 4th round: Louisiana Lafayette OG Kevin Dotson
2021: 3rd round Kendrick Green 4th Round Dan Moore
2022: None

 

We won SB with nobody drafted over the 3rd round. Matter of fact only one was that High...the rest were 4th round, and down. Two were 6th round. So all what Your saying means nothing about where they are picked. Hell the last time We had more than one 1st rounders on our O-Line We never won anything with them.
Some of You see sack, and automatically it's the O-Line. LoL

 

I am guessing that if Joey Porter Jr. is there at 17 he will be the pick. Guessing! This may not be my pick I think CB can be had at 32

 

it's all speculation right now but as far as moore goes, they said and i said at the time ( there was an article on this) that moore would need time but he also had the highest ceiling of any OT in that draft. it looks like we are looking at O-linemen. torrence from florida is a right guard. jones from ohio state is a right tackle. mauch from north dakota state. carter warren from pitt. i keep having this feeling and could be totally wrong but would we get rid of okrafor on the right side to save money or maybe move him to the left side and add a right tackle? tyler lewan is again talking about coming here and wanting to play for MT. i think we have many options, including keeping moore at LT. this will be interesting to watch. i like what meyer did as the year went on. give him some weapons and we could continue to raise the play of this unit.

 

It is all in his 40 time. IF he runs at the combine and puts up a slow 4.5+ he will drop to the 2nd round. Hard to be a man to man shutdown CB if you are that much slower than the WR you are trying to cover.

Like I said before, I look for Porter not to run at the NFL Combine.

 

Richard Sherman ran a 4.6 and was a shutdown CB .

 

Brice

That is not correct

For the year we are ranked middle of the pack and considering how poor they started they actually finished the year playing well

 

MY eyes tell me different. No Stats needed. Dan Moore seemed to be constantly out matched every game.

We were one of the luckiest O-Line units that made it through the entire year without having a single starting lineman miss a game. This is one of the reasons we looked like we got better, because we were constantly facing teams that were missing starters on their D-Line.

 

Brice check your glasses

 

Key word....Seemed.

 

I call it the "Cole Trickle" Phenomenon.

As the season went on.... The O-Line wasn't getting better; Everybody else was getting worse.


"I'm not going faster. Everybody else is going slower"

 

Your not painting an accurate picture. You don’t mention the other needs of the team that took precedence over the line. A good portion of those years we had three Pro Bowl Lineman. We were in the process of trying to build the defense up and we had a lot of unforeseen circumstances on that side of the ball that put is in the predicament we are in today from a team building standpoint. Two players that should still be on this team and would make all the difference in the world in Tuitt and Shazier have really set us back in those areas. Then you take a wasted pick in Bush and it really set us back. Finally on the actual offensive line we had a Pro Bowl guard who fell off the cliff and retired early. Add to all that we were up against the cap from 2016 until recently .... and you can imagine how difficult it was to build this team.

I understand teams have injuries every year but rarely do you see teams lose three Pro Bowlers who were cornerstone building blocks lost to either career ending injuries or early retirement in the quantity that the Steelers did. The result in all of this is we were chasing our heels trying to plug too many holes. Were still dealing with it which is reflective of the Line talent and the lack of starter caliber players on defense.

In a world filled with Rainbows and Unicorns I would love to fill all of our needs in this draft. The question comes down to, what is our biggest need. While I agree the left side of the line needs upgraded we don’t have the luxury to just worry about those positions. Were not KC or the Bengals who clearly only had a few holes to plug. We at least have starter caliber players at all five positions on the line. If Wiedel is as good as they say he is at drafting for the trenches then perhaps he can get some gems for this position in the later rounds of the draft. Our CB’s and ILB’s are decimated and need attention as well. We literally don’t have enough starters on the roster to fill some of those positions.

 

I'm the opposite, but want OL in the first round. Perhaps in the 1st and perhaps the 3rd even.

Leave the 2 seconds for a corner and a LB/DL then another Corner in the 4th

 

I hope You are wrong about Porter not running.

 

This

 

Brice also starts at 2013 because he's aware that our 2010 first rounder was Pouncy and our 2012 first rounder was DeCastro. So we played the entire decade with two first round linemen.

 

the rest were UDFA's.

 

Gilbert was a second round draft pick

 

yes, true forgot about him. always tried to forget about him.