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Everyone else on the internet is grading the draft, but we all know the real experts are here at SU. What’s your grade of the Steelers’ draft?
I’m giving it a B+ based on the strength of the first four picks. Obviously the final grade will rise or fall with Pickett’s performance. For now, I’m giving that pick a vote of confidence based on the fact he was possibly the most evaluated QB prospect in the history of the draft.
I'd honestly give the first 2 picks a B+ the rest of the draft seems like a wash for me. Guys that'll churn the practice squad and likely never make a meaningful contribution.
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A
I'm not a Pickett stan but the pick makes absolute sense and if I had to grab one this year it's him;
Pickens was an absolute steal
Leal was an absolute steal, I was unsure of his fit at first but the more I look at he's perfect to develop and Tuitt insurance
Austin was a steal and will bring explosiveness to the middle of the fields
Heyward I'm not sold on but it's the sixth round, contributes to the family atmosphere, and he may be able to round out our TE/HB depth
Robinson with some upside at ILB and a project Flores wanted to take on, can't argue
Oladokun I'm not sold but they see something in him and if he latches to QB3 it frees up $4mm we can do something else with
Solid C.
With tons of room for immediate grade inflation if Heyward and Austin find a role in whatever Canada cooks up.
B+
qb and wr were addressed and seems we’re in good shape there. We have d line depth too. We still don’t know who our starting center is, and we seem thin at safety. Not to mention no one reliable behind Najee
I know some of this can still be addressed later on but the Conner pickup is a head scratcher to me, the 7th round pickup of oladokun seems like a waste too
B-
This feels like a very safe draft with no real standouts.
C
I like the Pickens and Austin selections. After that...meh. Never liked Kenny, he had one good season in a weak division of a weak league. And a LOT of the very good season had to do with Jordan Addison. Heyward and the 7th round selections are all head scratchers. And we didn't address CB or OT. Very strange draft, IMO.
Love Pickett pick and think they hit it out of the park with the wr's picks, The others who knows but a B+ for me.
Dong picks by Colbert the dog humper, F-
Impossible to tell.
They filled needs at WR, QB, DL. Still need help at OL and CB. Based on that,I would give them a C+ to B-.
Will have to wait and see how these players turn out over the next couple/few seasons.
Originally Posted by Dwinsgames
This seems about right. They had a solid A, then the last three picks destroyed their average. The last pick was moronic with Carson Strong still out there.
at this point the two best selections play the same position rd 2 and rd 4 , I also think Leal is a pretty solid pick other than that it pretty much sucked IMO
not sure how to put a letter grade on that to be honest ..... Austin could wind up being the steal of the draft
Kenny Pickett is who I though he was .. Eagles problem now
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Let's just both hope that you are as right about Pickett as you were TJ. That will make us both happy!
A. The Steelers had a historically bad offense the last couple of seasons and they addressed that. Pickett will be a great QB, the Steelers added weapons for Pickett/Trubisky and a DL for help with clogging up the rushing lanes. It looks like a total Offensive overhaul and that's just what the Dr ordered
With the NFL being a different type of game than college, it usually takes a few year's for a 'draft' pick to pan out. Now, I personally don't see a absolute stand out draft pick standing out and I'm not really familiar with some of the picks. So I'm going to sit this year draft pick score out and see what pan's out in a year time and who is still on the Black / Gold come season end. I was mainly concerned with fixing our pathetic offense and defense lines and I'm not sure we solved anything in those areas. Sorry, just my opinion. Leaning toward BELOW average draft pics. D's to C minuses.
Last edited by Moose; 05-02-2022 at 12:14 PM.
C for me.
Not a fan of Pickett. Hopefully he proves me wrong.
Not as high on Pickens as some others. I believe he will have problems creating separation much like Claypool, but he does does have great body control. I don't see the catch radius being spectacular. He only posted a 33in vertical.
Leal could develop into nice depth. Can play a few different positions and has very strong hands.
Austin is definitely who I am most intrigued by. He can fly and can really create a lot of separation, but the kid is tiny. He has to put on some weight if he's going to survive in the NFL. If he does put on 10-15 lbs then we may have our own version of Tyreek Hill.
The rest of the picks are meh. I'd like to see the QB taken in rd 7 knock Rudolph off the roster. The rest will be destined to the PS more than likely.
Last edited by RunNGun; 05-02-2022 at 04:40 PM.
I'd take that ............. look I would be glad to be wrong , I just do not believe I am and have seen nothing to make me lean towards that
Kenny Pickett is who I though he was .. Eagles problem now
Do you still feel Sam Howell is a better pick than all the other QBs out there?
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PG-13
I'm more than a little surprised we didn't draft an OT.
I'm worried that we didn't draft a DB.
I feel we improved the run game.
I feel we improved the passing game.
I think we improved on ST.
Honestly Howell and Pickett were my 2 top QB prospects. I know you arent a Pickett fan based upon 1 year of production, but I like what he has put on tape and whether it was the "weaker armed Derek Carr" or "Matt Hasselbeck" comparisons, I can see both of them. The intangibles of leadership and the ability to get thru his progressions are things that scouts liked, so I'm gonna be hopeful that the Steelers got a good QB.
Leal could be boom or bust, but I was looking at some Senior Bowl tape and at that time, Bucky Brooks had Leal going to the Packers at the bottom of R1 in his Mock draft. I think some Combine and pro day numbers hurt Leal's status, but Teryl Austin said they had a good grade on Leal, so again I'm gonna trust the Steelers scouts and be hopeful they got a good D lineman and that Loudermilk is better in year 2.
Curious as to how you think we improved the running game through the draft?
yes
Kenny Pickett is who I though he was .. Eagles problem now
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Little Ironhead, Pickens and Austin can get downfield quickly so safeties can't stack the box, 2 mobile QBs.
Why do you think he lasted until the 5th round and after all the other guys (Willis, Ridder, Pickett, Corral)?
Agreed. I don't see little Iron head making the 53, but Austin should get some respect from safeties.
I can't speak to their evaluations I can only speak to the tape I watched , interviews I heard ...
But ya know what Mac Jones was the 5th QB taken last year and thus far he has played as well or better than the rest ...
Dak was the 8th QB taken in his draft class ....
Derek Carr was the 4th taken in his class
Cousins was the 8th ( 2nd by his team at the time )
Brady was the 7th in his draft ....
needless to say in every one of these examples they ended up being the best of their class ...
why did they go so late / after so many others ??
Last edited by Dwinsgames; 05-02-2022 at 07:05 PM.
Kenny Pickett is who I though he was .. Eagles problem now
Because he’s Baker Mayfield but not as good. Strong arm is only attribute IMO. A short slow QB is going to get killed in NFL. I realize you asked D but watching Howell and Pickett play, I don’t get why you’d want a slower, shorter, less accurate passer to lead your team just because his velocity a little better. Pickets arm is fine anyway. Pretty soon people will stop talking about his small hands and instead about his leadership, work ethic and play. The nose tackle from Georgia will run Howell down and has 80 pounds on him.
I see him making the 53. He does too many things to not make the roster IMO. Runs the ball, blocks, blitz pickup, H-back/TE, catches the ball well and plays special teams. His 40 time of 4.72 isnt blazing, but it was the 6th fastest of the TE group.
I had another look at Demarvin Leal's combine and he shows nice change of direction, bend and athleticism. Sure he is just a shade under 6'4", but hass 33.25" long arms, so can get to O linemen pads on the interior. The fact that he only did 17 reps on bench press , which I found on a Giants site, could be a cause for concern. I think the top 4 picks can be solid players and Heyward is just a grinder that makes the team better.
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