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LLT
04-11-2011, 03:28 AM
Steelers carry impressive track record into challenging draft
Posted April 09, 2011
By Mike Wilkening


The Steelers, who hold the No. 31 overall pick in April's draft, have fared very well late in Round One since director of football operations Kevin Colbert began running the draft in 2000. DE Ziggy Hood, who showed major improvement last season, was the No. 32 pick in 2009. TE Heath Miller was the No. 30 pick in 2005, the same spot where the Steelers drafted OG Kendall Simmons (80 career starts for Pittsburgh) in '02. Also, they moved up from No. 32 to No. 25 to select WR Santonio Holmes in 2006, and Holmes was Super Bowl MVP in his third NFL season.

However, the 2011 draft is not as deep in first-round talent as others of recent vintage. Draft analyst Nolan Nawrocki gave 34 players first-round grades in PFW's 2011 Draft Preview, but only 29 of those players would have graded out as first-rounders last season, using PFW's grade-to-round conversion scale for the 2010 draft. Overall, the minimum grade assigned to a first-rounder in 2011, per PFW's scale, is 5.85, which is the lowest first-round minimum assigned since Colbert began running the Steelers' draft in 2000.

Read More: http://www.profootballweekly.com/2011/04/09/steelers-carry-impressive-track-record-into-challe

steelerfan
04-11-2011, 09:25 AM
PFW has a good rep for sure. But every so-called weak draft always has 20-30 players taken after the 2nd round that always turn into great starters/Pro-Bowl players. This happens every draft. In fact, I think great teams are formed not by what a team does in the draft in rounds 1 and 2....but in rounds
3 to 7. We really don't know what Colbert has in mind for pick 31. He might have a few players that he will try to trade up and target if they fall to a certain point. He also might have a few players he might like, but ones he feels can be available in the 35 to 40 range, so he might try to deal back a little to acquire say another 4th rounder. But I don't like it when anyone says there are only this many 1st rounders, or that many. Cause we all know that if you could re do a draft say 4 years back, that there would be alot of players taken after round 3 that teams if they could do it over WOULD draft them in round 1. Just like there are always alot of players in every draft that teams selected in round 1 that if they could do it over wouldn't come close to selecting them in round 1 again.



For us, our success has always come down to health, and depth. Our team really was remarkable last season for what they accomplished. But I really think we need to address depth. Depth on the DL. And then try to upgrade the starting talent on the O-Line, and secondary. That might be able to be done in rounds 1 and 2. Or done through some free agent signings. But the team needs to address these problems.