Steelers to sign former Packers safety Morgan Burnett

[Steeldude]

They have one in Bud Dupree who the coaches are happy with.

Haha. Dupree is a bust.

[steelreserve]

They usually pick up 5th year options sometime in April.

Well, let's hope they don't.

[Dwinsgames]

when healthy Burnett is just about all anyone could want / expect from a starting FS ....key words when healthy ...

hopefully he can stay healthy here ...

this should buy us a couple year of stability in the back end ( its as if they are trying to give ben what he needs to carry him through his window )

in Typical Colbert fashion we head into the draft with no MUST select pos. I would still like to see ILB if the right guy is on the board in round 1 ....

must be a solid run stopper and have good to great range with the ability to be a difference maker in the passing game .... those guys do not grow on trees and if anyone is expecting Ryan Shazier 2.0 I am not sure this draft class offers that prospect but there are a couple guys that may be able to fill the role to a large degree ..... question is will they linger 27 picks and be there at 28 ?

IDK .........

Lets pretend there is not worth ILB at 28 that fits the model we need ...( good chance that is a reality )

then what ? in no particular order

RB .... Bell clearly in his last year here ( will he even be on the field the first month ? )

QB .... Bens career is close to over do they go after his eventual replacement a year early ?

OLB.... Dupree has shown next to nothing ( other than hype ) and I believe next year he will be a FA ( could be wrong as I didnt check )

CB ... Burns hasnt set the world on fire and they could be close to giving up on him ever being the guy they expected to be drafting

any of these could be ( as I see it ) potential targets this could be the best opportunity for Colbert to walk away with a difference maker kind of player when the need is not driving the Bus in any one area much more than several others

will make it tough to mock for sure and the Steelers could be a wild card in this draft even being down a couple of picks

[Rotorhead]

Lets pretend there is not worth ILB at 28 that fits the model we need ...( good chance that is a reality )

then what ? in no particular order

RB .... Bell clearly in his last year here ( will he even be on the field the first month ? )

QB .... Bens career is close to over do they go after his eventual replacement a year early ?

OLB.... Dupree has shown next to nothing ( other than hype ) and I believe next year he will be a FA ( could be wrong as I didnt check )

CB ... Burns hasnt set the world on fire and they could be close to giving up on him ever being the guy they expected to be drafting

any of these could be ( as I see it ) potential targets this could be the best opportunity for Colbert to walk away with a difference maker kind of player when the need is not driving the Bus in any one area much more than several others

will make it tough to mock for sure and the Steelers could be a wild card in this draft even being down a couple of picks

I think it needs to be OLB, Dupree not being able to set the edge killed us last year, he gets little to no pressure when needed and is just ok in coverage. After that we need depth at ILB and S. I am not so worried about losing Bell, he is good (borderline great) but I think we can replace his running pretty easily honestly. We are stacked enough at WR that we can replace his WR ability that way. I am willing to bank it all for the next season or 2 with Ben to get a championship before we need to rebuild for a couple seasons.

[FrancoLambert]

when healthy Burnett is just about all anyone could want / expect from a starting FS ....key words when healthy ...

hopefully he can stay healthy here ...

this should buy us a couple year of stability in the back end ( its as if they are trying to give ben what he needs to carry him through his window )

in Typical Colbert fashion we head into the draft with no MUST select pos. I would still like to see ILB if the right guy is on the board in round 1 ....

must be a solid run stopper and have good to great range with the ability to be a difference maker in the passing game .... those guys do not grow on trees and if anyone is expecting Ryan Shazier 2.0 I am not sure this draft class offers that prospect but there are a couple guys that may be able to fill the role to a large degree ..... question is will they linger 27 picks and be there at 28 ?

IDK .........

Lets pretend there is not worth ILB at 28 that fits the model we need ...( good chance that is a reality )

then what ? in no particular order

RB .... Bell clearly in his last year here ( will he even be on the field the first month ? )

QB .... Bens career is close to over do they go after his eventual replacement a year early ?

OLB.... Dupree has shown next to nothing ( other than hype ) and I believe next year he will be a FA ( could be wrong as I didnt check )

CB ... Burns hasnt set the world on fire and they could be close to giving up on him ever being the guy they expected to be drafting

any of these could be ( as I see it ) potential targets this could be the best opportunity for Colbert to walk away with a difference maker kind of player when the need is not driving the Bus in any one area much more than several others

will make it tough to mock for sure and the Steelers could be a wild card in this draft even being down a couple of picks

Before the signings of Bostic and Burnett, ILB and S were the primary targets IMO. I'll go with your premise that they do not have a first round grade on an ILB or S when it's their turn to pick.

Now, I'd lean to picking a RB, this year's group seems pretty deep.... but, ONLY if they have a first round grade for that player.

If not, go BPA at any position.

Bell's gone after this year and I don't want to sort between Conner, Touissant, and whomever to find my RB that can impact a game.

[Dwinsgames]

I think it needs to be OLB, Dupree not being able to set the edge killed us last year, he gets little to no pressure when needed and is just ok in coverage. After that we need depth at ILB and S. I am not so worried about losing Bell, he is good (borderline great) but I think we can replace his running pretty easily honestly. We are stacked enough at WR that we can replace his WR ability that way. I am willing to bank it all for the next season or 2 with Ben to get a championship before we need to rebuild for a couple seasons.

you might be right .... that is the beauty of this draft and the way the team has set itself up to this point .... they have the ability to go in several different directions in the first two rounds and not be out of line in doing so giving hem the chance to get BPA and that piece help the team

[Mojouw]

I think it needs to be OLB, Dupree not being able to set the edge killed us last year, he gets little to no pressure when needed and is just ok in coverage. After that we need depth at ILB and S. I am not so worried about losing Bell, he is good (borderline great) but I think we can replace his running pretty easily honestly. We are stacked enough at WR that we can replace his WR ability that way. I am willing to bank it all for the next season or 2 with Ben to get a championship before we need to rebuild for a couple seasons.

Actually, it didn't. If anything it was TJ Watt's performance in the run game coupled with Artie Burns' missed tackles.

From this article: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/dl

This second table lists each team's Adjusted Line Yards in each direction listed in official NFL play-by-play, along with rank among the 32 teams. Only five directions are listed because research so far shows no statistically significant difference between how well a team performs on runs listed middle, left guard, and right guard. These runs are from the perspective of the OFFENSE, so a run listed as LEFT TACKLE is actually at the RIGHT defensive end.

		LEFT END		LEFT TACKLE		MID/GUARD		RIGHT TACKLE		RIGHT END
	TEAM	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank
1	PHI	2.44	2	2.82	4	3.04	1	3.24	10	3.28	10
2	CLE	3.05	4	3.14	7	3.49	2	3.04	7	2.07	3
3	ARI	3.72	14	2.61	3	3.81	8	2.76	3	2.38	4
4	DEN	3.19	9	3.30	10	3.54	3	1.90	1	3.92	16
5	CAR	2.77	3	2.36	2	3.93	10	4.15	21	3.31	11
6	NYJ	3.62	13	3.99	16	4.11	15	2.87	5	3.19	8
7	BAL	1.07	1	4.50	25	3.80	6	4.22	23	4.36	21
8	HOU	3.08	6	3.05	5	3.80	7	3.85	18	6.04	32
9	GB	3.42	12	5.02	28	4.62	29	3.41	12	1.53	2
10	MIA	4.85	27	4.69	27	3.61	4	3.23	9	5.88	31
11	DAL	3.12	8	4.01	17	3.99	11	4.73	29	3.90	15
12	PIT	6.27	32	4.25	22	3.82	9	3.28	11	4.02	18

I really don't understand why we have to keep having the same conversation over and over and over again. The defense was TWICE as effective at stopping the run on the Heyward/Dupree/Shazier/Haden/Davis side of the formation than they were on the Tuitt/Watt/Williams/Burns/Mitchell side of the formation. IF I GOT THAT BACKWARD IN MY HEAD -- I APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY NOW!!

Also despite calls for the reinsertion of a massive NT into the line-up, the Steelers were not exactly gouged up the middle.

While this does not mean that Dupree is totally fine and doesn't need improved upon - it means that many of the broad brush and overly simplified criticisms that get repeated over and over around the defense are more complex than first appearances. For 2 years running now, the Steelers have been absolutely terrible on outside runs. That coincides with Burns and Davis entering the line-up far more than Dupree. There was also a drop over on Watt's side of the defense as he took over from Harrison. If anything, Dupree improved his side. I realize it is all related as team defense is really important in dealing with the run, but it appears that the #'s say it is more on the DBs taking terrible containment angles and missing tackles more than any one LB getting blown off the ball - which of course happens at times as well.

Interestingly enough, the Steelers were #1 last season in covering TEs - something that had traditionally just killed them! But they were crap against covering RBs against the pass. I would love to see where that # went before and after Shazier's injury. So again, we see something to address either with players or scheme -- why do RBs just kill this defense in the passing game? I suspect it was the late season play of the ILBs. Hopefully something that Bostic and Burnett go a long ways towards correcting.

Further the team is not "stacked" at WR. After this season the only known quantities on the roster project to be AB and JuJu. Bryant almost certainly leaves for greener pastures and Eli Rogers is not currently a Steeler. DHB isn't really a WR anymore and Marcus Tucker is a PS guy. That's 2 wideouts on a team that likes to go 5-6 deep at the position.

[SteelMember]

Morgan said you don't have to clutter up his thread with all this LB talk... He'll make everyone better.

[BlackAndGold]

Off topic:

Is Steelers Depot working for anyone else? says "page not found"

[SteelMember]

Off topic:

Is Steelers Depot working for anyone else? says "page not found"

Hot link from our main page went right through...

http://www.steelersdepot.com/

[BlackAndGold]

Hot link from our main page went right through...

http://www.steelersdepot.com/

I just fixed the issue. Thanks though.

[BlackAndGold]

Further the team is not "stacked" at WR. After this season the only known quantities on the roster project to be AB and JuJu. Bryant almost certainly leaves for greener pastures and Eli Rogers is not currently a Steeler. DHB isn't really a WR anymore and Marcus Tucker is a PS guy. That's 2 wideouts on a team that likes to go 5-6 deep at the position.

Reason why I have a WR in my mock going early.

Wonder if they look to sign a WR in FA? Hopefully better than Hunter. I wouldn't mind a reunion with Mike Wallace if the price is right.

[hawaiiansteeler]

I wouldn't mind a reunion with Mike Wallace if the price is right.

I think that bridge is burnt...

[Mojouw]

Reason why I have a WR in my mock going early.

Wonder if they look to sign a WR in FA? Hopefully better than Hunter. I wouldn't mind a reunion with Mike Wallace if the price is right.

With the WR market slowing down now, I think they wait until after the draft. Draft might have a big impact on the rest of the roster "shaping" that goes on.

If you draft a safety, does that mean that Wilcox and his 3 million cap hit take a walk? If you draft a WR or two does that mean DHB goes off the books? How about drafting a CB and cutting Sensabaugh?

I'm not really saying that the team should pass up moves prior to the draft, but depending on the draft -- they might have more cap space later.

[BlackAndGold]

With the WR market slowing down now, I think they wait until after the draft. Draft might have a big impact on the rest of the roster "shaping" that goes on.

If you draft a safety, does that mean that Wilcox and his 3 million cap hit take a walk? If you draft a WR or two does that mean DHB goes off the books? How about drafting a CB and cutting Sensabaugh?

I'm not really saying that the team should pass up moves prior to the draft, but depending on the draft -- they might have more cap space later.

I could see them waiting. Either way if they sign anyone it'll be cheap.

I do wonder if they did anything to Wilcox contract, or plan to. Would be kinda surprising if he is kept at that price tag as a back up.

[86WARD]

Round One will be BPA and it could come from the RB, QB, WR, OLB, ILB, CB, S variety. All could use help this year for depth and most likely next year for larger contributions.

[86WARD]

If you had the opportunity to sign Mitchell back (say in August) as a depth player. Pay him in the neighborhood of $2.25M (give or take 250k) would you entertain the idea?

[Dwinsgames]

If you had the opportunity to sign Mitchell back (say in August) as a depth player. Pay him in the neighborhood of $2.25M (give or take 250k) would you entertain the idea?

no thanks

[Fire Goodell]

I think that bridge is burnt...

Sure it can.. "One year, vet minimum."

[teegre]

This Burnett signing is great and all.

But... what do all of you think of Marcus Gilbert???

[Shoes]

[QUOTE=teegre;637518]This Burnett signing is great and all.

But... what do all of you think of Marcus Gilbert???[/QUOTE]

I think he likes "Slurp juice."

[Craic]

If you had the opportunity to sign Mitchell back (say in August) as a depth player. Pay him in the neighborhood of $2.25M (give or take 250k) would you entertain the idea?

Absolutely.

I still believe he gets scapegoated too much around here. Nevertheless, I would agree he is not a starting safety in the NFL. However, if we had the ability to bring in veteran depth and do so while avoiding the "scheme learning" curve while having to fill in depth, we'd be foolish not to do it. I can't think of a FA in August that would be better equipped to contribute than someone like him. Note the highlighted word. Free agent in August.

[GBMelBlount]

So do we have any more room for another quality FA signing or are we tapped out with regard to picking up additional players of this caliber?

Great question GB.

It looks like we are done unless we do some more restructuring.

http://www.pennlive.com/steelers/ind...rt_river_index

[pczach]

no thanks

Hey man, what's up? Glad to see you here.

I'd be alright with Mitchell coming back at a good price. It would also free them up to have a safety that could come in and play either safety position if there is an injury that knows the system and can communicate the defense to the secondary.

I know his overexuberance isn't appreciated by many, but it does make a ton of sense to have someone that familiar with the system that can lay the lumber. I still believe he is best suited to play SS. I like him a hell of a lot more coming off the bench or as a box safety than I do as a starting free safety.

[tube517]

Sure it can.. "One year, vet minimum."

Don't want him back but just wanted to use this smiley