Excellent First 2 Days, But Still Plenty of Good Players Left for Steelers on Day 3

It may have not been in the order that most projected, but the Steelers addressed their three primary needs in this draft through two days. They took what was clearly the best player available left on their board in the first round in 6-foot-5, 295-pound Ohio State defensive end Cameron Heyward, a perfect fit for the 3-4 defense and a tremendous talent who would have gone much earlier had this not been the deepest defensive end draft in NFL history.

In the second round the Steelers made a risky pick in Florida Marcus Gilbert, a powerful, 6-6, 330-pound right tackle prospect who has the footwork to potentially start at left tackle in a few years. Gilbert is being counted on to start at right tackle in 2012 after both Flozell Adams (retire) and Willie Colon (finally an unrestricted free agent, maybe?) are expected to leave the Steelers.


The key will be to motivate Gilbert, who often was lazy and inconsistent for the Gators. Although I am not real high on Gilbert, I am more optimistic with this pick than I would have been in yeas past now that the Steelers have a tremendous offensive line coach in Sean Kugler. I thought the front office should have taken a right tackle/guard prospect in round 3 or 4, but Gilbert has more upside and the Steelers clearly preferred a pure tackle prospect in this draft since Max Starks is the team’s only tackle signed past 2011................

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