Sure hope the front office knows something that we don't!

[StillCurtains]

Hello All!

Well, I understand picking a RB to help spell Bell. I even understand that type of RB that was picked being that we picked up Davis in free agency being a different type of back.

I understand picking a WR due to what we witnessed in the AFCCG. We don't know if Bryant will shape up. We don't know if Coates can get back to form as he was in the beginning of last season or if his fingers are healed. Pretty important being that he already has iffy hands.

We know Rogers is only a slot guy. We know Hey Bey is truly only a complimentary fill in depth guy. We know Hunter is probably a stop gap depth guy. Ayers shows flashes but most likely will be on the practice squad and only a slot guy. Hamilton will either be on the practice squad or totally released.

We needed a backup plan for a #2 WR that has hands if our #2 options don't pan out or suffer an injury. I get it! I really do! We picked up Watt as the first pick. We needed an edge rusher. The other top edge rushers were taken. This was our greatest need due to both lack of talent and depth.

Watt has huge upside and not taking him in this spot could have been disasterous due to a significant falloff in talent at that position in this draft. Watt was the right pick here. The corner position was deeper to be picked in the later rounds.

I'm not sure if the Steelers attempted to move up in Round 2 or not. No matter, I understand not reaching for a corner in this round being that the best value Round 2 corners were taken. This is where I would have selected another edge rusher at Round 2 value.

We not only need more depth at OLB but also we need good value. The way Round 2 played out, this would have been my pick here. As I stated, I understand the dilemma at WR, but it was too high! I feel that JuJu would have been there in round 4.

Sutton was a good pick for them in Round 3 the way the draft fell. The second pick in Round 3 though? I would have gone ILB. This is the other position that we need not just depth but value. Vince Williams is solid, but we also know that he's not the long term answer. Even though RB needed to be addressed, I feel Conner or even someone like him would have been there in the 5th round.

Not getting their philosophy right now, but I hope that they're right.

[ALLD]

Steelers know how to pick WRs better than almost anybody, their only weakness is picking them in Rd 2. Hopefully the Juju pick will make up for Sweed.

[GBMelBlount]

Great post.

I think the FO feels the key to winning the Superbowl is for Ben to have every weapon possible.

The defense should be better this year with the addition of Watts and Sutton plus last years crop should be markedly improved.

[Steelheart]

Your breakdown is similar to what I was thinking as the draft progressed. With 1 big disagreement. I think Vince Williams is a fine long term answer at the position.

There is 1 knock you can put on Vince Williams and that is he is not great in coverage but lets be real here, how many LB's really are? Timmons was solid at it last season and Shazier is just okay but showing improvement. On the flipside, Vince Williams is probably the best tackler on our entire defense and missed tackles have been a big problem for us. Shazier isn't a great tackler, Mitchell isn't a great tackler, and Sean Davis had quite a few misses as well but again, improved as the season went on. And an underrated aspect about Williams is that he isn't a bad blitzer either. When he got a chance to start last season he went back to back games with sacks.

Just to give some perspective on what Williams is capable of:

Williams best game: 16 tackles and 1 sack. 14 of those tackles were solo (2016)
Shaziers best game: 15 tackles 1 sack, and 1 FF. 11 of his tackles were solo (2015)

Am I saying Williams is better than Shazier? Not at all, but the guy is completely capbale of handling that spot and I don't think there would be even a little drop of from Timmons to him this season. Give him this season to start and I bet he has a great season. If not, then we can talk about finding his replacement.

[Born2Steel]

Let the Sweed pick die already. How many WR picks have been successful since then? It was not a bad pick, Sweed just could not handle the pressure of the NFL.

[st33lersguy]

I agree, them spending half their selections in the first 3 rounds on a backup RB and backup WR considering defense still wins championships and defense was still the weaker unit was a mistake. If they felt they needed to spend a first 3 round selection on offensive skill, should have been on a TE who can get open and block

[Edman]

I agree, them spending half their selections in the first 3 rounds on a backup RB and backup WR considering defense still wins championships and defense was still the weaker unit was a mistake.

The Defense and Le'Veon Bell carried the Steelers all the way to the AFCC last year. I don't think they qualify as the "weaker" unit anymore.

If anything, it was the Offense that let the team down in the playoffs. Ben was less than spectacular, our WR's was weaker than we thought without Bryant, and we could only manage 18 and 17 against the Chiefs and Patriots. We got away with it against Alex Smith, but Tom Brady is another story.

Less than 20 points in back to back games. That's simply not going to cut it in the postseason.

[GBMelBlount]

I agree, them spending half their selections in the first 3 rounds on a backup RB and backup WR considering defense still wins championships and defense was still the weaker unit was a mistake.

If they felt they needed to spend a first 3 round selection on offensive skill, should have been on a TE who can get open and block

I wanted Njoku in the first but am very happy with the JuJu pick.

When you have a hall of fame worthy quarterback I think making sure they have every weapon possible is very important.

I would imagine with last years players developing and the new picks already, we could still have a top 10 defense too.

[Born2Steel]

There was a run on DBs before our 3rd round picks. We got Sutton, who we actually wanted based on time spent with him. We needed an UPGRADE at WR. Got that with Schuster hopefully. Needed to UPGRADE our RB corps. In comes Conner. Picks make sense, just have to let go of 'the guy/position you wanted, and look at the BIG PICTURE.

[polamalubeast]

I think the steelers have no confidence in Bryant, Rogers, Coates, etc. for different reasons.

I mean, our passing game in 2016 was mediocre for most of the time and it was because of our WR after Brown.Hamilton,Ayers,Rogers and Coates(after week 5) was mediocre.

The passing game must return to the level of 2014 and 2015.

[Born2Steel]

I think the steelers have no confidence in Bryant, Rogers, Coates, etc. for different reasons.

I mean, our passing game in 2016 was mediocre for most of the time and it was because of our WR after Brown.Hamilton,Ayers,Rogers and Coates(after week 5) was mediocre.

The passing game must return to the level of 2014 and 2015.

Exactly THIS.

[Edman]

Lets look at the RB's after Le'Veon Bell...

Toussaint
Knile Davis.

Yeah, can totally understand them Drafting Connor.

Lets look at the receiver core after Antonio Brown...

Martavis Bryant (coming off a year suspension)
Eli Rogers
Demarcus Ayers
Sammie Coates
Cobi Hamilton

Yeah, can totally understand drafting Juju.

[Born2Steel]

Lets look at the RB's after Le'Veon Bell...

Toussaint
Knile Davis.

Yeah, can totally understand them Drafting Connor.

And THIS.

[polamalubeast]

For the defense, the strength of the Pats in their offense is inside the number.One of the weakness of the steelers in defense was inside the number

Hopefully Sutton, Golson and others will help on that.

What I like about Sutton is that he can play man to man.

[fansince'76]

Lets look at the receiver core after Antonio Brown...

Martavis Bryant (coming off a year suspension)

And considering his Twitter comment about Coates, a guy who STILL clearly doesn't get it.

[tube517]

Does Juju return kicks/punts?

I see Knile vs D. Ayers battling for KR spot.

Unless they decide to put a slow ass RB in that spot, which has been their history.

[Edman]

The Steelers Pass Defense is always going to be a weak point. Even during its best days with Ike, Clark, and Troy, it wasn't dominant. The Steelers play a Zone Defense that is designed to force teams to take forever and eat up clock.

Unfortunately we play in an era where we have a Quarterback and an Offense that is specifically designed to beat the Zone Defense: Tom Brady and the Patriots.

The Pass D was what it was last year. Does it need to improve? Yes. Could we make more adjustments and play more man? Hell yes we do.

[st33lersguy]

If anything, it was the Offense that let the team down in the playoffs. Ben was less than spectacular, our WR's was weaker than we thought without Bryant, and we could only manage 18 and 17 against the Chiefs and Patriots. We got away with it against Alex Smith, but Tom Brady is another story.

Less than 20 points in back to back games. That's simply not going to cut it in the postseason.

People keep saying the offense was the reason they lost, but if they had randy moss, jerry rice, Barry sanders, and tony Gonzales with Bill Walsh as OC in that game against New England and they still would have lost probably by double digits, the defense was that bad against New England. Bell who missed most of New England game is back and Bryant has been training to get better for the first time in his career. They still need more work on defense including adding safety depth

[Born2Steel]

People keep saying the offense was the reason they lost, but if they had randy moss, jerry rice, Barry sanders, and tony Gonzales with Bill Walsh as OC in that game against New England and they still would have lost probably by double digits, the defense was that bad against New England. Bell who missed most of New England game is back and Bryant has been training to get better for the first time in his career. They still need more work on defense including adding depth

And we can hope Bell and Bryant are what we want them to be. Reality and history tells us Bryant will not last, and Bell is going to get injured. Maybe they make it thru this season, but it's coming.

[BlackAndGold]

JuJu was also drafted because of Coates hands. Heard his fingers are F'd up.

[polamalubeast]

JuJu was also drafted because of Coates hands. Heard his fingers are F'd up.

Maybe Martavis was right?!

[DesertSteel]

And considering his Twitter comment about Coates, a guy who STILL clearly doesn't get it.

And yet people still wonder why he left the NFL office without reinstatement and later only a conditional. My contention all along is that he said something stupid in his meeting. He's got the brains of Plaxico.

[Born2Steel]

JuJu was also drafted because of Coates hands. Heard his fingers are F'd up.

And because Bryant will most likely get busted again. There was a post on the success rate for players with multiple failed tests. "Outlook not good", to quote the Magic 8 Ball.

[BlackAndGold]

Maybe Martavis was right?!

If he continues his attitude he'll be wrong also.

[Dwinsgames]

And considering his Twitter comment about Coates, a guy who STILL clearly doesn't get it.

people will be flocking to Martavis twitter page to see the out-pour of bad tweets from yesterday and won't find a trace of them because he deleted them all , I suspect at some point today we will hear the claims of hacked account

[st33lersguy]

Lets look at the RB's after Le'Veon Bell...

Toussaint
Knile Davis.

Yeah, can totally understand them Drafting Connor.

Lets look at the receiver core after Antonio Brown...

Martavis Bryant (coming off a year suspension)
Eli Rogers
Demarcus Ayers
Sammie Coates
Cobi Hamilton

Yeah, can totally understand drafting Juju.

Considering Todd Haley never uses his backup RB when bell is on the field and since the RB was deep this year, better value was to be had at day 3. Also considering mike Mitchell who is inconsistent as a starter and since jordan dangerfield and robert golden are all that's behind them, that should have been addressed. And if we were dead set on getting offensive weapons, it should have been a the who get open, catch, and block in round 3 as green is less reliable than bell and Bryant and james could stand to be improved

[Born2Steel]

Considering Todd Haley never uses his backup RB when bell is on the field and since the RB was deep this year, better value was to be had at day 3. Also considering mike Mitchell who is inconsistent as a starter and since jordan dangerfield and robert golden are all that's behind them, that should have been addressed. And if we were dead set on getting offensive weapons, it should have been a the who get open, catch, and block in round 3 as green is less reliable than bell and Bryant and james could stand to be improved

Give a name of a DB that was not a reach at our 3rd round picks. It will happen. Patience.

[st33lersguy]

Give a name of a DB that was not a reach at our 3rd round picks. It will happen. Patience.

Pittsburgh hasn't drafted a DB in day 3 in a while that amounted to anything. WRs however, they have done much better with day 3 selections

[BlackAndGold]

I'm not seeing them reach for anyone.

JuJu: Ther was some talk of him going late first.
Sutton: Projected to be a late 2nd/early 3rd round pick.
Connor: Some teams value RB's different than other. Some want speed, change of pace back. Steelers didn't want that, they want a one cut runner(Look at their past FA signings with Blount, DWill). Marlon Mack was the RB they rated behind Connor. Before his cancer he was projected to be a round 2 pick. He started to look like his old self later in the college season after getting his football strength back.

As always, trust Colbert, and Tomlin.

[Psycho Ward 86]

And considering his Twitter comment about Coates, a guy who STILL clearly doesn't get it.

Oh no. What did he say?