polamalubeast
09-10-2014, 08:09 PM
While Troy Polamalu was wowing NFL evaluators at his legendary USC pro day workout back in the spring of 2003, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert and coach Bill Cowher were a thousand or so miles away, with their eyes focused on Colorado running back Chris Brown.
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Steelers defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, meanwhile, was in Southern California along with a scout, but selecting a safety in the first round at that point was a luxury the team probably could not afford. The locale of their top brass for these pro days indicated as much.
The Steelers believed they already had a verbal deal essentially in place with safety Dexter Jackson, who had just come off a Super Bowl XXXVII MVP performance for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and were prepared to spend what was big money by Pittsburgh's modest free-agent standards to solve their issues on the back end of the defense. So Colbert and Cowher were locked in on first-round running backs with the draft approaching, and the prospect of trading up to land Polamalu with the 16th pick of the 2003 draft -- as would eventually, and historically, take place -- wasn't a consideration at this time.
In fact, were it not for some divine intervention -- in the form of the preternaturally low-spending Arizona Cardinals of all teams swooping in late to make Jackson an offer he could not refuse – in all likelihood Polamalu would never have donned a Steelers jersey, much less come to rise to the pantheon of iconic Steelers' defenders like Jack Lambert, Mean Joe Greene and Rod Woodson.
As it turned out, Polamalu would become an ideal fit in the defense constructed by Cowher and the Steelers' next defensive coordinator, Hall of Famer Dick LeBeau, and, in what might end up being his final NFL season, the game-changing safety is putting the finishing touches on his own Canton-bound resume.
Though Colbert and Polamalu have discussed at times how close he came to never being a Steeler, it's a thought the soft-spoken superstar doesn't care much to entertain – “I don't really think about it,” he said. “I'm not the kind of person who really deals with hypotheticals,” a sentiment echoed by Cowher. But as many in the Steelers' organization think back on the series of events that resulted in the trade up to draft him, the serendipity is in the details.
read more
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/feature/24702711/troys-story
CLOSE
Steelers defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, meanwhile, was in Southern California along with a scout, but selecting a safety in the first round at that point was a luxury the team probably could not afford. The locale of their top brass for these pro days indicated as much.
The Steelers believed they already had a verbal deal essentially in place with safety Dexter Jackson, who had just come off a Super Bowl XXXVII MVP performance for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and were prepared to spend what was big money by Pittsburgh's modest free-agent standards to solve their issues on the back end of the defense. So Colbert and Cowher were locked in on first-round running backs with the draft approaching, and the prospect of trading up to land Polamalu with the 16th pick of the 2003 draft -- as would eventually, and historically, take place -- wasn't a consideration at this time.
In fact, were it not for some divine intervention -- in the form of the preternaturally low-spending Arizona Cardinals of all teams swooping in late to make Jackson an offer he could not refuse – in all likelihood Polamalu would never have donned a Steelers jersey, much less come to rise to the pantheon of iconic Steelers' defenders like Jack Lambert, Mean Joe Greene and Rod Woodson.
As it turned out, Polamalu would become an ideal fit in the defense constructed by Cowher and the Steelers' next defensive coordinator, Hall of Famer Dick LeBeau, and, in what might end up being his final NFL season, the game-changing safety is putting the finishing touches on his own Canton-bound resume.
Though Colbert and Polamalu have discussed at times how close he came to never being a Steeler, it's a thought the soft-spoken superstar doesn't care much to entertain – “I don't really think about it,” he said. “I'm not the kind of person who really deals with hypotheticals,” a sentiment echoed by Cowher. But as many in the Steelers' organization think back on the series of events that resulted in the trade up to draft him, the serendipity is in the details.
read more
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/feature/24702711/troys-story