1st Round Pick is Ryan Shazier LB OSU !

[katmandu]

Dude is freaking FAST for a LB!

Led all players at the combine with a 42-inch vertical jump and blazed a sub-4.4 40 time at his pro day.

[X-Terminator]

We need help at all 3 levels, so I'm not upset.

True, but I think CB was the biggest need of all, and they passed on the best one available. Like I said, Shazier had better pan out, because right now, Colbert and Tomlin are not looking real smart.

[86WARD]

Dude is freaking FAST for a LB!

Maybe he can help return punts...he is aerodynamic...too soon?

[Steelerette]

I would've rather have had one of the safeties.

I have a feeling Spence might be our safety project now.

[86WARD]

True, but I think CB was the biggest need of all, and they passed on the best one available. Like I said, Shazier had better pan out, because right now, Colbert and Tomlin are not looking real smart.

Best one available on "paper." will be some time before we can say that for sure...which could be a good thing. And hey...he's still available...for now.

[Steelerette]

Maybe he can help return punts...he is aerodynamic...too soon?

He has suddenness. Not sure about the glide.

[fansince'76]

Spence just got cleared . Now were crowded at one position and empty at DB great job Kevin colbert

I think the rosy Spence reports are BS. This pick confirms it, IMO.

[86WARD]

He has suddenness. Not sure about the glide.

lol...look at him again...he definitely has "glide."

[Shoes]

Well we don't have any fat lazy LB's any longer. When the Bears picked Fuller i had a feeling they would go LB. I think it will pan out ok.

[st33lersguy]

McGill and Baptiste are both very prototypically what the Steelers would want. They're just not guys who could start this year. But you have Allen blossoming, Ike back for another season (for better or worse), and a few guys who can backup if they really had to. If you weren't going to start Dennard this year anyways, why not wait and get McGill or Baptiste? They could play situationally and step into the starting role next season.

Ike Taylor's days of being good are behind him, Allen is inconsistent, and outside of that your best corner is William Gay who is best suited as a nickle corner. McGill and Baptiste didn't shutdown every receiver they went up against like Dennard did, they didn't win the Jim Thorpe Award or be an important part of one of the elite defenses in college football like Dennard. A.J Green and Josh Gordon are laughing at our cornerback corp.

[Steelerette]

Dennard got many of his accolades doing things that will get him penalty flags in the NFL. I'd be more upset if they had passed up Fuller.

[katmandu]

I have a feeling Spence might be our safety project now.

X2

[dislocatedday]

I hope Shazier is good enough to start from day one beside Timmons and be productive.

[Jaucer]

Dennard got many of his accolades doing things that will get him penalty flags in the NFL. I'd be more upset if they had passed up Fuller.

This x2. Dennard is an NFL PI flag waiting to happen. Maybe he'll correct that and maybe he won't. Once Fuller was gone the Steelers were better to wait until later to get a CB.

[Steelerette]

I hope Shazier is good enough to start from day one beside Timmons and be productive.

I think he is. One of the rare players who could start on our defense immediately. But he might not even have to do it full time, we'll get some looks from Moats and Williams. I think we're going to be very pleased with our LB corps this season... the entire LB corps... for the first time since when, Lloyd Green Kirkland Brown Ravotti?

[Jaucer]

I hope Shazier is good enough to start from day one beside Timmons and be productive.

He has the football IQ to, so I won't rule it out. Like I said in the draft thread I can see him calling the defensive plays in a few years.

[Iron Steeler]

We have enough lbs ... You can hide a sub par lb we have noooooo DBS at all

[Shoes]

I think he is. One of the rare players who could start on our defense immediately. But he might not even have to do it full time, we'll get some looks from Moats and Williams. I think we're going to be very pleased with our LB corps this season... the entire LB corps... for the first time since when, Lloyd Green Kirkland Brown Ravotti?

That's about how I feel also.

[Dwinsgames]

....and what if Sean Spence makes a miraculous recovery ???

what if he does ?

Shazier 10 times the prospect

- - - Updated - - -

We have enough lbs ... You can hide a sub par lb we have noooooo DBS at all

yep we hid Vince williams all last year by putting troy in the box all year long weakening our secondary in the process ....

our LB core just got better as did our secondary by default

[fansince'76]

We have enough lbs ... You can hide a sub par lb we have noooooo DBS at all

I dunno. Troy was pretty conspicuous, and not in a good way, when he was forced into playing at LB last year thanks to all the damn injuries. Don't care to a see a repeat of that.

We have 8 more picks. Keep the faith.

[Texasteel]

The draft does not end tonight, and there is a lot of very good CBs still out there.

[steel9guy]

I'm iffy on this pick. I like it but I was really hoping for secondary. Back in the day I'd trust this pick but Tomlin and Colbert haven't been on their draft game like Colbert used to be.

[steelreserve]

All I have to say about this pick is, are you fucking kidding me? With the highest natural pick we've had in years, we go and waste it on the one position we DON'T need. We used the #15 overall pick to give ourselves an odd man out - BRILLIANT fucking work, rocket scientists.

[katmandu]

what if he does ?

Shazier 10 times the prospect

- - - Updated - - -



yep we hid Vince williams all last year by putting troy in the box all year long weakening our secondary in the process ....

our LB core just got better as did our secondary by default

Spence --> Safety.

Shazier just added a lot of speed to our Defense. Aggressive tackling machine.

http://youtu.be/wmT5sX7G3xk

[MrPgh]

The Steelers sure do love LBs, and they love to de-value the CB position.

[Shoes]

Tomlin said early this week that there was a premium on pass rush capabilities. Maybe we should expect more of the same tomorrow. Kind of exciting stuff.

[fansince'76]

Not sure why so many people are putting so much faith in Spence. IMO, he's a long shot at this point, and them picking a kid to play ILB instead of CB at #15 speaks volumes to me. This defense is a mess and needs help everywhere. I would have been mad if they went WR or OL again.

[Steelerette]

I don't understand what this Spence fetish is. This pick says nothing about him. Spence is a situational player and safety conversion project, who might or might not yield any fruit. He never was supposed to be a starting ILB.

[steelreserve]

Not sure why so many people are putting so much faith in Spence. IMO, he's a long shot at this point, and them picking a kid to play ILB instead of CB at #15 speaks volumes to me. This defense is a mess and needs help everywhere.

I'm not putting faith in Spence; I was more wondering what we're going to do with Moats. And I guess this means Williams is like 6th-string now; not that he was great, but as a backup, he could've been fine. And I also wonder what we're going to do with three #1 draft picks and a #2 as linebackers - even if they all play up to their draft position, we can't pay them all or we're just stupid.

Overall, the thing that pisses me off the most is that we've been neglecting the DB position for 10 years, and NT for a similar amount of time, and we just whoopty-dooed past both of those again. It doesn't fill a need, nor am I even remotely sure it was the best player available. This guy better turn out to be a perennial Pro Bowler or I'm PISSED.

[86WARD]

Safe to say Harrison won't be returning?