hawaiiansteeler
04-23-2016, 06:53 PM
Steelers have had a blind spot when it comes to evaluating defensive backs in NFL draft
April 21, 2016
By Ray Fittipaldo / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Steelers were coming off a Super Bowl appearance after the 2010 season and boasted the best defense in the NFL. But a few months after they were carved up by Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV, general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin wanted to remake their secondary.
In the 2011 draft, the Steelers spent two of their first four picks on cornerbacks. Curtis Brown was selected in the third round and Cortez Allen in the fourth.
Brown never started a game and was cut after three seasons. Allen started 18 games over his five seasons before he was released last week, 20 months after signing a contract that paid him more than $6 million per season.
It has been five years since those mistaken evaluations, and the Steelers are still trying to make it back to the Super Bowl. They’re also still trying to remake their defensive backfield after another series of draft choices in ensuing years never panned out.
The Steelers have selected nine cornerbacks and safeties in the past five years. Only three of them spent time on the 53-man roster last season and none of them started a game. Safety Shamarko Thomas is the only one who remained on the roster for the entire season. Thomas, Allen and rookie Doran Grant combined to play a grand total of 53 defensive snaps.
Five of the other six draft choices are out of the NFL, and Senquez Golson, last year’s second-round pick, spent his rookie season on injured reserve.
The Cleveland Browns can’t evaluate quarterbacks. Other teams have a hard time evaluating linemen and linebackers. The blind spot in the Steelers’ scouting department in recent years has been the secondary.
“We’ve made some mistakes, there’s no denying that in terms of some of the evaluations,” team president Art Rooney II said in January.
Twenty-five picks after Allen was selected in the 2011 draft, the Seattle Seahawks took cornerback Richard Sherman, who has been named first-team All-Pro three times in his first five seasons. In 2012, the Los Angeles Rams found Trumaine Johnson in the third round and the Carolina Panthers found Josh Norman, a first-team All-Pro last season, in the fourth round.
Meanwhile, the Steelers drafted the likes of Terrence Frederick (2012, seventh round), Terry Hawthorne (2013, fifth round) and Shaquille Richardson (2014, fifth round).
None of them made a 53-man roster in the NFL. Frederick and Hawthorne were cut out from training camp and were not deemed good enough to sign to the practice squad.
The mistaken evaluations of defensive backs since and before 2011 have been contributing factors in the decline of a once-proud defense that finished the 2015 season 30th in the NFL against the pass and allowed a franchise-record 272 passing yards per game.
The 2010 defense, by contrast, allowed 276 yards total per game.
The poor track record can be traced to 2006 when the Steelers used a third-round draft choice on safety Anthony Smith, who was cut after three seasons with the team.
Since 2006, the Steelers have drafted 15 defensive backs.
• Only two have earned second contracts from the Steelers, with Allen being one of them.
• Four never started games for the Steelers. Three were cut in their initial training camp and failed to ever make the Steelers’ 53-man roster.
• There have been plenty of others who made the roster but failed to make a lasting impression. Joe Burnett (2009, fifth round) played one season with the Steelers and never played for another team afterward. Crezdon Butler (2010, fifth round) also only played one season for the Steelers. He has played for seven teams in the past six seasons.
to read rest of article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2016/04/21/NFL-draft-2016-Steelers-have-had-a-blind-spot-when-it-comes-to-evaluating-defensive-backs/stories/201604210003
April 21, 2016
By Ray Fittipaldo / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Steelers were coming off a Super Bowl appearance after the 2010 season and boasted the best defense in the NFL. But a few months after they were carved up by Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV, general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin wanted to remake their secondary.
In the 2011 draft, the Steelers spent two of their first four picks on cornerbacks. Curtis Brown was selected in the third round and Cortez Allen in the fourth.
Brown never started a game and was cut after three seasons. Allen started 18 games over his five seasons before he was released last week, 20 months after signing a contract that paid him more than $6 million per season.
It has been five years since those mistaken evaluations, and the Steelers are still trying to make it back to the Super Bowl. They’re also still trying to remake their defensive backfield after another series of draft choices in ensuing years never panned out.
The Steelers have selected nine cornerbacks and safeties in the past five years. Only three of them spent time on the 53-man roster last season and none of them started a game. Safety Shamarko Thomas is the only one who remained on the roster for the entire season. Thomas, Allen and rookie Doran Grant combined to play a grand total of 53 defensive snaps.
Five of the other six draft choices are out of the NFL, and Senquez Golson, last year’s second-round pick, spent his rookie season on injured reserve.
The Cleveland Browns can’t evaluate quarterbacks. Other teams have a hard time evaluating linemen and linebackers. The blind spot in the Steelers’ scouting department in recent years has been the secondary.
“We’ve made some mistakes, there’s no denying that in terms of some of the evaluations,” team president Art Rooney II said in January.
Twenty-five picks after Allen was selected in the 2011 draft, the Seattle Seahawks took cornerback Richard Sherman, who has been named first-team All-Pro three times in his first five seasons. In 2012, the Los Angeles Rams found Trumaine Johnson in the third round and the Carolina Panthers found Josh Norman, a first-team All-Pro last season, in the fourth round.
Meanwhile, the Steelers drafted the likes of Terrence Frederick (2012, seventh round), Terry Hawthorne (2013, fifth round) and Shaquille Richardson (2014, fifth round).
None of them made a 53-man roster in the NFL. Frederick and Hawthorne were cut out from training camp and were not deemed good enough to sign to the practice squad.
The mistaken evaluations of defensive backs since and before 2011 have been contributing factors in the decline of a once-proud defense that finished the 2015 season 30th in the NFL against the pass and allowed a franchise-record 272 passing yards per game.
The 2010 defense, by contrast, allowed 276 yards total per game.
The poor track record can be traced to 2006 when the Steelers used a third-round draft choice on safety Anthony Smith, who was cut after three seasons with the team.
Since 2006, the Steelers have drafted 15 defensive backs.
• Only two have earned second contracts from the Steelers, with Allen being one of them.
• Four never started games for the Steelers. Three were cut in their initial training camp and failed to ever make the Steelers’ 53-man roster.
• There have been plenty of others who made the roster but failed to make a lasting impression. Joe Burnett (2009, fifth round) played one season with the Steelers and never played for another team afterward. Crezdon Butler (2010, fifth round) also only played one season for the Steelers. He has played for seven teams in the past six seasons.
to read rest of article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2016/04/21/NFL-draft-2016-Steelers-have-had-a-blind-spot-when-it-comes-to-evaluating-defensive-backs/stories/201604210003