A case for the Steelers to not draft an inside linebacker in the first round

[hawaiiansteeler]

2019 NFL Draft: A case for the Steelers to not draft an inside linebacker in the first round

Everyone wants the Steelers to trade the farm to pick an ILB in the upcoming draft. But what if them avoiding this would be beneficial?

By F. S. "Flip" Fisher Apr 15, 2019

No doubt many of the BTSC faithful will be shocked at reading this headline and seeing the article comes from me. I have thundered the boards for years for the Pittsburgh Steelers to draft an inside linebacker high in the draft. General manager Kevin Colbert keeps dashing my hopes year after year and the Steelers defense pays the price. Tight ends, running backs and slot wideouts keep getting easy yardage against the Steelers poor covering inside linebackers.

So what has changed? The situation with the Steelers current inside linebacker crew, and it is not because I love them.

Inside linebacker Ryan Shazier, after struggling early in his career in coverage, was finally rounding the corner when he was hurt in 2017. His paired mate at linebacker, Vince Williams, has always been a liability in coverage and was torn to shreds last season. Pittsburgh asked Williams to play over 80% of the snaps in seven of the 14 games he played in.

Jon Bostic and L.J. Fort played their fair share of coverage snaps and neither was consistent enough to be counted upon. Bostic remains in a backup role, while Fort has moved on.

Rolling into 2019, the Los Angeles Rams cap casualty, Mark Barron looks to solidify the inside linebacker role. While his recent Pro Football Focus grades and tape are ugly, his salary should prohibit Pittsburgh from sitting him in 2019 or cutting him or having him as a backup in 2020. Just like Williams, The duo may end up being the starters, through thick and thin the next two seasons.

Even if one of the Devins are available at pick No. 20, which most “draft experts” do not think will happen, how does Colbert justify restructuring Williams and signing Barron to deals that make them too expensive to be backups in 2019 and too expensive to cut?

to read rest of article:

https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.co...rst-round-news

[Mojouw]

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/pittsbur...k-barron-9817/

Barron's dead money makes him easily cuttable in 2020. His 2019 cap charge is only 1.5 million more than they Steelers paid Burnett to do not too much last season.


https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/pittsbur...illiams-12488/

A little more complicated for VW, but he is still 1 million cheaper to cut than to pay in 2020. 2021 it gets even more in the team's favor.

Looking at the same #'s, I do not think either the VW or Barron contract is ANY barrier to drafting an ILB or 3 in the draft. After all, in 2018 they signed Burnett and drafted 2 SS, one in the first round.

But that is just me. I may be missing something.

[steelreserve]

Since rookie contracts are cheap, that removes any and all cap obstacles to drafting someone at a given position.

The entire premise of this guy's argument is that because you spent a lot of money on someone's contract, you have to stick with them no matter what. Clearly he does not understand the concept of sunk costs, or of throwing good money after bad.

I mean, hopefully the Barron signing improves ILB anyway and this is a non-issue. Or maybe he's right that this was their plan all along and ILB is less of a priority now. But "player X is highly paid so we shouldn't try to find anyone better" is the kind of thinking that loser organizations use.

[pczach]

2019 NFL Draft: A case for the Steelers to not draft an inside linebacker in the first round

Everyone wants the Steelers to trade the farm to pick an ILB in the upcoming draft. But what if them avoiding this would be beneficial?

By F. S. "Flip" Fisher Apr 15, 2019

No doubt many of the BTSC faithful will be shocked at reading this headline and seeing the article comes from me. I have thundered the boards for years for the Pittsburgh Steelers to draft an inside linebacker high in the draft. General manager Kevin Colbert keeps dashing my hopes year after year and the Steelers defense pays the price. Tight ends, running backs and slot wideouts keep getting easy yardage against the Steelers poor covering inside linebackers.

So what has changed? The situation with the Steelers current inside linebacker crew, and it is not because I love them.

Inside linebacker Ryan Shazier, after struggling early in his career in coverage, was finally rounding the corner when he was hurt in 2017. His paired mate at linebacker, Vince Williams, has always been a liability in coverage and was torn to shreds last season. Pittsburgh asked Williams to play over 80% of the snaps in seven of the 14 games he played in.

Jon Bostic and L.J. Fort played their fair share of coverage snaps and neither was consistent enough to be counted upon. Bostic remains in a backup role, while Fort has moved on.

Rolling into 2019, the Los Angeles Rams cap casualty, Mark Barron looks to solidify the inside linebacker role. While his recent Pro Football Focus grades and tape are ugly, his salary should prohibit Pittsburgh from sitting him in 2019 or cutting him or having him as a backup in 2020. Just like Williams, The duo may end up being the starters, through thick and thin the next two seasons.

Even if one of the Devins are available at pick No. 20, which most “draft experts” do not think will happen, how does Colbert justify restructuring Williams and signing Barron to deals that make them too expensive to be backups in 2019 and too expensive to cut?

to read rest of article:

https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.co...rst-round-news

The problem with what he said here is....what if the Steelers plan on playing Barron strictly as the dime backer? What if they plan on replacing Vince Williams with Barron? Then drafting an ILB makes perfect sense.

The other thing is that if a rookie ILB is drafted and he's an absolute stud, of course he's going to play ahead of them at some point during the season.....and maybe immediately. I don't understand what he's thinking. TJ Watt came in and played immediately because he was just better. It doesn't matter who's in front of them if they are clearly better than anyone else on the roster. This is football 101. Put the best players on the field and figure everything out later. How much someone makes shouldn't matter.

[Mojouw]

Ok. So it wasn't just me. Good to know that I haven't gone completely around the bend....just most of the way.

[teegre]

That is flawed logic.

There are indeed legitimate reasons to not “reach” for an ILB in R1, but none of those reasons are because we signed Mark Barron.

[steelreserve]

That is flawed logic.

There are indeed legitimate reasons to not “reach” for an ILB in R1, but none of those reasons are because we signed Mark Barron.

Well, it could be if we think Barron is the guy who will make the position "good enough" to concentrate on other things. Who knows if he will, we won't see until the season starts. But it could be true that that is now our plan for ILB and we might skip it because we think we have enough starting talent. The way this guy put it is dumb, though, basically that existing contracts are why we can't do it.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

The way this guy put it is dumb, though, basically that existing contracts are why we can't do it.

I agree. That is dumb logic.

The #20 pick this year will likely garner a 4 year $12 million contract, as last year the same pick received a 4 year $11.7 million contract. Its hardly a number that is going to impact the team salary with the ILB contracts that will expire in the next couple seasons.

If an impact guy like Devin Bush is still there, I say draft him. If there isn't, then take another guy at a position of need. I read a comparison that said Hockensen isn't at all impactful as Gronkowski, as some build him up to be, but he is more like Heath Miller or Hunter Henry in skillset.

[EzraTank]

If one of the Devin's is still there at #20 (assuming they don't trade up) you HAVE to take them.

[steelreserve]

If one of the Devin's is still there at #20 (assuming they don't trade up) you HAVE to take them.

Nah, just draft an edge rusher with obvious problems.

"Incredible raw talent, needs coaching to develop his game at the pro level."

[EzraTank]

Nah, just draft an edge rusher with obvious problems.

"Incredible raw talent, needs coaching to develop his game at the pro level."

[Born2Steel]

I can already see that whoever the Steelers draft is going to be an immediate bust and the forum is going to be covered in “what they shoulda had did”. Get it out here now. Don’t wait, we need the answers before the draft. Tell us all now what exactly the first round pick needs to be so we get a for sure Hall of Famer out of the gate.

And go....

[hawaiiansteeler]

Is LB Devin Bush A 2019 Version Of Ernie Sims? The Similarities Are Scary

By Dave Bryan
Posted on April 20, 2019

The 2019 NFL Draft will get underway Thursday night in Nashville, TN and Michigan linebacker Devin Bush is expected to be selected somewhere in the first-round, and possibly even within the first 10 picks. Bush, who declared for this year’s draft as an underclassman, is considered to be a little undersized for the position that he plays after measuring in at this year’s scouting combine at 5110, 234-pounds. Based on those measurables, and assuming that Bush is ultimately selected in the first-round Thursday night, it will mark the first time that an off-the-ball linebacker measuring in at under 6-feet at the combine has been selected in an opening round of a draft since 2006. That was the year that the Detroit Lions selected underclassman Florida State linebacker Ernie Sims 9th overall.

Sims, according to multiple sources on the internet, measured in at the 2006 scouting combine slightly taller than Bush did this year at 5111. Like Bush did this year, Sims also put on a little bit of weight ahead of him arriving in Indianapolis for the combine as records showed he weighed in at 231-pounds. Looking back the 2006 combine results, Sims performance in Indianapolis that year closely resembled what Bush registered this year at the annual Underwear Olympics. How close? Just look at the table below. The resemblance of all the measurables listed below is very scary.

to read rest of article:

https://steelersdepot.com/2019/04/is...ies-are-scary/

[BlackAndGold]

Gut feeling the Steleers will be Greedy in round one or maybe feel like a Savage.

[teegre]

Gut feeling the Steleers will be Greedy in round one or maybe feel like a Savage.

My gut has told me for a while now that it will be Chase Winovich at 20.

[BlackAndGold]

My gut has told me for a while now that it will be Chase Winovich at 20.

I wouldn't rule it out but the age thing makes it's a lower possibility. I'm a fan of Winovich though, I would be extremely happy if they could get him in round 2 after getting his Wolverine teammate Devin Bush in round 1.

[st33lersguy]

My gut has told me for a while now that it will be Chase Winovich at 20.

I was thinking Winovich, but what is coming out about his personality I think leads me to think they will avoid him after dealing with Bell and AB

[teegre]

I wouldn't rule it out but the age thing makes it's a lower possibility. I'm a fan of Winovich though, I would be extremely happy if they could get him in round 2 after getting his Wolverine teammate Devin Bush in round 1.

As I said (somewhere) I'd be in favor of an all "blue & yellow" draft (Wolverines & Mountaineers):

R1: Devin Bush, ILB
R2: Chase Winovich, OLB
R3: David Long, CB
R4: David Long, ILB
R5: Gary Jennings, WR
R6: David Sills, WR
R6: Travis Wesco, TE
R7: Dravon Askew-Henry, S

- - - Updated - - -

I was thinking Winovich, but what is coming out about his personality I think leads me to think they will avoid him after dealing with Bell and AB

I have not heard anything about this. Really. Do tell.

[hawaiiansteeler]

I have not heard anything about this. Really. Do tell.

"Winovich is known to have a strong personality, and teams feel that he seems to relish media attention. His social media presence and relationships with other celebrities have teams wondering how his personality will fit in their locker rooms and how he will mesh with NFL coaches. There are a lot of teams that need to acquire young pass-rushing talent, and following a few productive years at Michigan, Winovich should be in demand in a draft class that does not have good pass-rushing depth for the second day of the draft. However, Winovich's personality issues are hurting him, and sources from multiple teams that need to get more pass-rushing help are pushing him lower because of the concerns about how he will mesh in their locker room.

From surveying five teams, there was a big range for grades on Winovich. The highest that one team source said was they thought Winovich would go in the No. 50-75 range, which would make him a late second-round or early third-round pick. A few other teams said they graded Winovich in Round 3, and the lowest was one team that had him as a fourth- or fifth-rounder."

http://walterfootball.com/nflhotpres...Chase-Winovich

[86WARD]

I wouldn’t want anything to do with him if that report is accurate...

[teegre]

"Winovich is known to have a strong personality, and teams feel that he seems to relish media attention. His social media presence and relationships with other celebrities have teams wondering how his personality will fit in their locker rooms and how he will mesh with NFL coaches. There are a lot of teams that need to acquire young pass-rushing talent, and following a few productive years at Michigan, Winovich should be in demand in a draft class that does not have good pass-rushing depth for the second day of the draft. However, Winovich's personality issues are hurting him, and sources from multiple teams that need to get more pass-rushing help are pushing him lower because of the concerns about how he will mesh in their locker room.

From surveying five teams, there was a big range for grades on Winovich. The highest that one team source said was they thought Winovich would go in the No. 50-75 range, which would make him a late second-round or early third-round pick. A few other teams said they graded Winovich in Round 3, and the lowest was one team that had him as a fourth- or fifth-rounder."

http://walterfootball.com/nflhotpres...Chase-Winovich

Very interesting...