Now for the Real Work!

[Count Steeler]

As fun as the draft may be, the real work starts now. In my mind, there is not much separation between most of these guys. There might be slight height differences, weight differences, speed differences at any given position. However, the real work is in player development and keeping the young minds into the game.

For this I look to our coaching staff. In my opinion, Carnell Lake has excelled at player development and it shows in our defensive stats for the last 2 years. Our WR coach of the last 2 years, failed. Our O Line coach has been dealt a bad hand with all the injuries, hope they stay healthy this year. Our DL picks need some help. Our LB picks also have not impressed. Part of it may be scheme, but it shouldn't take 3 years to get players ready to play.

So my point is, the draft is a tiny portion of what makes a team successful. The real work starts now and the coaching staff, outside of Lake, needs to perform much better than it has in the last 3-4 years. They don't have to develop in to Pro Bowlers, but they need to be solid contributors to the team.

[stillers4me]

I love, love, love NFL draft weekend! Every man chosen has potential, he is now in charge of his own destiny (unless he's drafted by the Jets) . Who will be the new stars of the league and who will fail to live up to their hype?

I enjoy getting to know our new players, hear their stories, share their dreams. Isn't it great knowing we have a franchise that no player is never disappointed to join....there's always hope and high expectations in the Steelers locker room.

But there's no more guarantees in being drafted in first round than in the last. Physical strength and talent are foundation of success......mental grit and hard work comes next. I can't wait to see who survives the upcoming battles.

I feel good so far...... I assume that the Steelers are well aware of how important this particular draft is to the future of this franchise. We need to hit a grandslam this year with our pics.........the frickin Ravens winning the superbowl and the Bengals are looking better every year (yes, I really said that ), we can easily find ourselves looking up at them for years to come if we don't get this just right.

Let's see what these guys have before we count them out. We are not the only team that passed on Eddie Lacy. I hope for his sake he has a great career. I just hope LeVeon has an even better one.

[Moose]

I have to agree with ya' stillers4me on the bunghole thing. I dread them having another decent year, it makes going to work that much more dreadful. Those obnoxious bunghole fan's were so much easier to put up with when they knew they weren't playing football past December. I sure do wish we would have picked up that TE instead of them. I think our F.O. people have done good so far, now I hope them get someone to fill in and learn from Troy, although another Troy is hard to replace.

[stillers4me]

I have to agree with ya' stillers4me on the bunghole thing. I dread them having another decent year, it makes going to work that much more dreadful. Those obnoxious bunghole fan's were so much easier to put up with when they knew they weren't playing football past December. I sure do wish we would have picked up that TE instead of them. I think our F.O. people have done good so far, now I hope them get someone to fill in and learn from Troy, although another Troy is hard to replace.

Something's happening in that Bengals locker room.....and I don't like it one bit.

They are not quite the disfunctional misfits we've known in the past...........and it's scaring me.

Dear football gods, please put the universe back in the right order.....now. This is so not right.

[HollywoodSteel]

Something's happening in that Bengals locker room.....and I don't like it one bit.

They are not quite the disfunctional misfits we've known in the past...........and it's scaring me.

Dear football gods, please put the universe back in the right order.....now. This is so not right.

You draft that high for so long, I guess something's bound to go right eventually... unless you're the Browns.

[Moose]

Something's happening in that Bengals locker room.....and I don't like it one bit.

They are not quite the disfunctional misfits we've known in the past...........and it's scaring me.

Dear football gods, please put the universe back in the right order.....now. This is so not right.

Yup, and I don't think it's Marvin in the locker room making the change, I believe it's the assistants he has. Zimmerman and some of the other coaches. Marvin hasn't a clue on football, as we've seen in past year's. He's always being 'out coached'. Sooner or later a team will sway his assistants away and hopefully they'll be cellar dwellar's again. I don't think the brownies are too far away from getting it together either, that's why we need to get the act together.

[st33lersguy]

Something's happening in that Bengals locker room.....and I don't like it one bit.

They are not quite the disfunctional misfits we've known in the past...........and it's scaring me.

Dear football gods, please put the universe back in the right order.....now. This is so not right.

I think it has something to do with getting rid of those idiots Chad Johnson and Carson Palmer

[Godfather]

I think player development has a lot more to do with success than drafting. If you look at the draft history of the worst franchises, you see a lot of busts. The best franchises have a strong track record, especially in the first round.

But what are the odds that some teams are consistently great at evaluation and others are consistently horrible? Nobody is going to get it right (or wrong) every time. It's more likely that the players turned out the way they did because they were put in a position to succeed or fail.

[blackngldblood]

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I mean absolutely no disrespect here but aren't the o'line coach and WR coach brand new to the Steelers this year? Can't blame past failures on those two guys.

[Count Steeler]

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I mean absolutely no disrespect here but aren't the o'line coach and WR coach brand new to the Steelers this year? Can't blame past failures on those two guys.

Yes they are. I am hoping the WR coach gets our guys better prepared. Too many dropped passes last year. Kugler, as the O Line coach, rarely had a healthy, consistent group of men. Don't know if it is a result of his coaching or just bad luck. I'm hoping with the change in coaches, our luck changes as well.

BTW, no disrespect taken.