Top to bottom I love our draft.
1. Edmunds is athletic, has pedigree and the versatility to play LB.
2. Washington...playmaker, great ypc, great conditioning, character, work ethic, lunchpail, may stretch the field.
3. Rudolph is arguably a round 1 talent and has great intensity, attitude and can take command.
3. Okorafor - Huge Potential Oline beast and who better to mold him than Munchak?
5. Edmunds is a great value, versatile and can play LB too.
5. Samuels is big, crazy talented, and can play anywhere on offense and great value.
Whole draft, all I see is talent, value, versatility, heart and character.
~Homer
Technically, the Pittsburgh Steelers did not select an inside linebacker during the 2018 NFL Draft. That obviously came as a surprise, considering the fact that the team lost Ryan Shazier for the 2018 season as he continues to recover from spine stabilization surgery. Tyler Matakevich, who is slated to compete for a starting job alongside Vince Williams, underwent shoulder surgery earlier this offseason.
While the team's technically draft an inside linebacker, it was quickly realized that part of the reason why the Steelers drafted rookie safeties Terrell Edmunds and Marcus Allen was the versatility each player displayed during their time at Virginia Tech and Penn State, respectively.
During a recent interview with Steeler Nation Unite, Tomlin confirmed that he expects both Edmunds and Allen to see time at inside linebacker during the 2018 season.
"The awesome thing about both of those guys is that I saw them in package play on their college video, particularly Edmunds," Tomlin said. "He played strong safety, free safety. He played linebacker, some subs packages. I saw similar things from Marcus, particularly at the sub package linebacker level. Their physicality, size and athleticism is gonna provide us a lot of flexibility.
"And I think it’s reasonable to expect those guys -- as they get their feet on the ground relative to their first job which is safety — for them to quickly establish themselves at secondary positions that are somewhat situational. That’s gonna be an exciting part of team development to watch that unfold."
Tomlin was hoping to see a great deal of communication between Edmunds and Allen during the team's rookie minicamp. That's exactly what he got, as Edmunds and Allen did enough to receive some praise from their new coach after working together throughout the weekend.
“The way that you stand out at this juncture is just simply communicating, or willingness to communicate," Tomlin said. "I like to hear a lot pre snap chatter. Both (Edmunds and Allen) are providing that. It shows you a lot of things. It shows that they’re into it, they’re situationally aware. The safety is a communicating position, so that’s a job requirement. It also shows that they’re capable of learning things that we’re presenting to them in the classroom and taking it out to them on the field. So, less evaluating in terms of what they’re doing physically. I like what I hear from them prior to the ball being snapped. It’s an indication of this being a good weekend for them.”
(Continued)
https://247sports.com/nfl/pittsburgh...ILB-119458363/
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Originally Posted by st33lersguy
