LB tops the 5 key positions heading to 2015 season

[hawaiiansteeler]

LB tops the 5 key positions heading to 2015 season

By Gerry Dulac

RUNDOWN

It is likely the Steelers will start four No. 1 picks at linebacker, perhaps as early as the opener in New England.

It will only be a matter of time before Bud Dupree, their No. 1 choice, moves in as the starter at left outside linebacker ahead of veteran Arthur Moats. The Steelers needed a replacement for Jason Worilds, and they think they found him.

Dupree is 6-foot-4, 269 pounds, but he is freakishly athletic for his size. He can rush the passer and drop into coverage, and has the football smarts to quickly pick up the defense. The hope is he will pair with former No. 1 pick Jarvis Jones to provide the type of productive outside tandem the Steelers once enjoyed with Joey Porter and Jason Gildon or James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley.

Jones enters his third season and has to start to show why he was a No. 1 pick. This is a big year for him.

to read rest of article:

http://sportsblogs.post-gazette.com/...s/201507010003

[Steeldude]

Once again Jones is handed the starting job without merit.

[GBMelBlount]

Once again Jones is handed the starting job without merit.

They invested a first round pick in this Jones so it understandable that he is being given another year before declaring him a bust.

Even though there is a strong possibility that he is not nfl caliber they need to determine if it is simply that his light is coming on slower.

Everybody transitions differently.

[Steeldude]

They invested a first round pick in this Jones so it understandable that he is being given another year before declaring him a bust.

Even though there is a strong possibility that he is not nfl caliber they need to determine if it is simply that his light is coming on slower.

Everybody transitions differently.

But they should make him earn the starting spot. I want the player on the field that gives the Steelers the best chance of winning.

[TeeTee]

Once again Jones is handed the starting job without merit.

Sure he has merit. He was a first round draft pick, and they will do everything in their power to make him look like he is working out instead of admitting a massive mistake. I am still hoping he turns out, but so far he is proving too weak, too slow and unable to get through or around OTs.

[LLT]

But they should make him earn the starting spot. I want the player on the field that gives the Steelers the best chance of winning.

I tend to have a little more faith that Jones will do okay tis year....but I TOTALLY agree that they best player should be on the field regardless of draft position.

[Texasteel]

I tend to have a little more faith that Jones will do okay tis year....but I TOTALLY agree that they best player should be on the field regardless of draft position.

I do too Perry. I thought I was seeing a great deal of improvement in Jones before he got hurt. I think the Steelers will give Jones chance to bring out the player they think they see in him, but if he doesn't they probably believe they still have the LBer position pretty well covered, provided Dupree is what we think and hope he will be.

[hawaiiansteeler]

since i'm always looking out for my fellow Steelers Universe posters, I didn't want any of you to miss out on this bargain of a lifetime...

http://www.lids.com/NFL/Pittsburgh-Steelers/20376946

[86WARD]

He looks sooooooooooo fat there...

[hawaiiansteeler]

Steelers 2015 Training Camp Battles Preview: OLB

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2015/07...de-linebacker/

[hawaiiansteeler]

Who Are The Four Horsemen On The Steelers Defense?

By Joe Kuzma July 15, 2015

Those of you who interact with me on various forums, and social media, know I’m a big pro wrestling fan too. For those that aren’t, don’t close this article yet, you won’t get lost. I promise.

In the 80’s, there was a famed pro wrestling group called the “Four Horsemen.” This stable of 4 wrestlers were the best of the best, holding every title available in the promotions where they competed. This got me thinking about the current Steelers defense: in a 3-4, the 4 Horsemen should be the linebackers. But which linebackers will rise to prominence this season as the “main” 4 guys? Here is my potential list of candidates:

Lawrence Timmons
Drafted in the same year Mike Tomlin took over head coaching duties, Timmons has been one constant in what has lately been an inconsistent defense. There’s no better “surefire” choice for one of the four slots in this group. The captain of the defense would be the head of the group. Finally receiving Pro Bowl and All-Pro (2nd team) honors in 2014, Timmons, in my opinion, has been vastly underrated among “top” lists in the NFL for years. While he’s never been a QB sacking machine, LT has always been a tackling monster: his 2014 combined tackles total fell one shy of his career best.

James Harrison
What else can you say about a 37-year-old former NFL Defensive MVP who looked ageless last year? Harrison was on the field for 43.6% of the the team’s defensive snaps, despite playing in only 11 games, after coming out of retirement. His snap count continued to climb as 2014 wore on.

By week 17, in the AFC North championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Harrison played in 68 of the defense’s 71 snaps. While Harrison may see a reduced role in this year’s defense, with the focus on younger players, there is no denying his leadership and the aggressiveness he brings to the playing field in both practice and games.

If Deebo were to miss the cut of 4, I could easily place him in the wrestling version’s J.J. Dillon role: a 5th wheel manager, who oftentimes helped his colleagues to victory!

Now this is where the list gets tricky. If Harrison is the older sage of the group, that means we have 3 more spots remaining, with up to 5 candidates remaining to fill them:

Bud Dupree
This year’s first round selection is the new blood of the group and could be a potential starter. Considering his accolades coming out of college (and that he achieved those stats playing for a mediocre Kentucky team) I have high hopes for this physical specimen of a player to have an immediate impact on the defense.

Arthur Moats
Whoa… not who you expected, is it?

to read rest of article:

http://www.steelcityunderground.com/...elers-defense/

[hawaiiansteeler]

OUTSIDE LINEBACKER -- ILB Jordan Zumwalt made a great point when asked if he was trying to improve his OLB skills to add to his reportoire. "We have so many outside backers right now that I don't even think that's a consideration," Zumwalt said. "We're stacked." While the Steelers are still trying to find one great pass-rusher to follow in James Harrison's footsteps, there's no doubting they have depth at the position. Jarvis Jones and Arthur Moats will enter training camp as the starters and Harrison and first-round pick Bud Dupree are likely rushers in the team's sub-packages. Behind them are Howard Jones, who spent last season on the practice squad; rookie sixth-rounder Anthony Chickillo; Shawn Lemon, who had 13 sacks and eight forced fumbles in the CFL last year; and Shayon Green, whom the Steelers signed at Miami's pro day after he had sat out a year, a la Johnson at WVU a few years back.

INSIDE LINEBACKER -- Lawrence Timmons might be "The First Son," as Heyward joked during an interview, but just because Tomlin drafted Timmons upon his arrival as coach didn't mean he would stop there. The Steelers drafted four inside backers in the three years previous to last draft and they're all still with the team. Behind "Law Dawg" Timmons and Ryan Shazier are Sean Spence and Vince Williams, leaving Zumwalt to battle third-year man Terence Garvin on the third team.

http://www.scout.com/nfl/steelers/story ... -the-brink

[hawaiiansteeler]

PRE-CAMP ANALYSIS: LBs

Bob Labriola
Steelers.com

At LB, there's going to be a difference between making the team and making an impact.

There will be 14 of them at Saint Vincent College when training camp opens, and four of those 14 entered the league as No. 1 draft picks. Clearly the Steelers have invested in this important position, and it’s time for that investment to start paying dividends.

Like the situation at so many other positions, the Steelers go into this 2015 training camp with a pretty good idea of ‘who’ their linebackers will be, but it’s the ‘how much’ will they contribute to the defense that’s going to end up telling the tale. The starters when camp opens are going to be Arthur Moats, Lawrence Timmons, Ryan Shazier, and Jarvis Jones, and it would help if those four got to spend a lot of time on the practice fields together this summer. Shazier had his development as a rookie slowed by a training camp injury.

“Well, when I talked to Ryan he was disappointed with last year, not playing a lot,” said inside linebackers coach Jerry Olsavsky. “He has to realize it's a different game than college, and he's not head and shoulders above everyone athletically. There are a lot more people closer to him in terms of ability. So we're working on things, keeping his legs clean. He got hurt because he got rolled-up twice. If you don't get rolled up, then you don't get hurt.”

And if you don’t get hurt, the rhythm that develops from repetitions together begins to show itself in games.

Like Shazier, Jones is a former No. 1 pick who has had his development slowed by injury. There were some nicks during camp in 2013, but the big injury for him was the dislocated wrist in the third game of the 2014 season. At the time he was hurt, Jones had two sacks plus a pressure in five halves of football.

“I thought Jarvis was playing good last year until he got hurt,” said outside linebackers coach Joey Porter, “so it doesn’t bother me on how it ended last year with Jarvis.”

When Jones came to the Steelers as the 17th player drafted in 2013, he was coming off two seasons at Georgia where he led the NCAA in sacks both times, where he had 28 sacks in 26 games. It’s believed Jones will be productive in the NFL, because he has shown a knack for being around the football. This Steelers defense is going to need a big dose of that.

“I’ve been encouraged with Jarvis,” Porter said. “I think Jarvis has had a good offseason. He’s getting stronger. He’s doing some things that he knows he needs to do to get better for this year. He’s not naive to know what he’s done so far. It doesn’t meet his standards, and he knows there’s a lot more in there.”

The development of Jones and Shazier, both as individuals and as components in their defensive unit, is a box that must be checked off during this training camp. Timmons is the third No. 1 pick among the starters, and he turned in a Pro Bowl season in 2014. Arthur Moats figures to open the season as the starter at left outside linebacker, with the hope being that 2015’s No. 1 pick – Bud Dupree – can become a contributor in situations as the season progresses...

to read rest of article:

http://www.steelers.com/news/article...4-f581185fc288