Sunday, February 22, 2015

Pittsburgh Steelers 2015 NFL Draft Needs

Defense, defense, defense! The Steelers need help on that side of the ball if they want to get back to the AFC Championship Game much less the Super Bowl!

The offense seems to be pretty set for the moment. Ben, Bell, Brown, Bryant, Heath as the main offensive weapons, and the offensive line is probably now one of the best we have ever put in front of Big Ben.

The Steelers defensive secondary is in shambles. Ike Taylor is likely gone, which isn't a bad thing with his play last year. Cortez Allen has talent, but he needs to show he can harness that talent and make plays on the field. William Gay is probably the best corner on the roster, and that's really not a good thing. He played well last season, and had six interception returns for a touchdown, but I don't expect a repeat of that to be honest.

Troy Polamalu needs to retire, in my opinion. He no longer has the speed or the range to be the impact player that he once was. If we are going to use a roving safety in the backfield, let Mike Mitchell do that...it's what he did in Carolina which is what got him his big contract. He came here and the Steelers wanted him to play "center field" which was the opposite of what made him a damn good player before.

I am not sure that Shamarko Thomas is going to be a starting caliber safety in the NFL. He's been hurt too much and I just haven't really seen any flashes from him. Good backup, good special teams player. I'd rather see Will Allen cover the back end next year while Mitchell roams around to be honest.

If the Steelers are honest with themselves, this should be their plan in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft:

1/2: CB or S - whichever one they don't take in the first round take the best available in the second round.
3. OLB - because even if we hit Worilds with the transition tag again (which would be stupid, he isn't worth that much money), I don't think he sticks around after next season. He's not going to suddenly produce 13+ sacks to be worth the money, but he likely won't want to sign with Pittsburgh for less than that either.

Here are some players that could be on the Steelers board from those positions.

Corner:

P,J. Williams, Florida State
Trae Waynes, Michigan State
Alex Carter, Stanford
Jalen Collins, LSU
Kevin Johnson, Wake Forest
Ronald Darby. Florida State
Jacoby Glenn, Central Florida
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Oregon

Safety:

Landon Collins, Alabama
Gerod Holliman, Louisville
Kurtis Drummond, Michigan State

Outside Linebacker:

Markus Golden, Missouri
Jordan Jenkins, Georgia


No comments:

Post a Comment