Well, the 2010 NFL Draft is in the books. What have we learned? Tampa and Baltimore need MOAR DEFENSIVE TACKLES. MOAR MOAR MOAR. Pete Carroll sucks. Jacksonville doesn’t even know what’s going on anymore.
Overall, I think the Steelers had a successful draft. They addressed a few needs, added depth, and the team on paper leaves little to be desired right now. After the jump, we’ll take a look at the draft by position, and what the Steelers are thinking with their moves.
Offesnvie Line: The Steelers finally answered our whims of seasons past and drafted an interior lineman in the first round. I love the pick of Maurkice Pouncey, and I’m hoping he’s the center we’ve been looking for since Hartings retired. The center position has had some storied names in Pittsburgh. Ray Mansfield gave way to Mike Webster, whose Hall of Fame career was followed by that of Dermontti Dawson. Dermontti Dawson left and Jeff Hartings paved the way to a Superbowl win. Each center has paved the way for a legendary running back. Webster blocked for Hall of Famer Franco Harris. Dawson and Hartings opened the holes for future Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis. Will the tandem of Maurkice Pouncey and Rashard Mendenhall someday carry that same glory? It’s a lot to ask for, but it’s definitely something to hope for.
In other news, a mid round pick was spent on Chris Scott, a tackle that will likely spend the year on the practice squad and mysteriously disappear.
Wide Receivers: This is a position I didn’t think the Steelers needed to target, despite the departure of Santonio Holmes. I would have been fine with Golden Tate as the eventual replacement for Hines Ward, but instead the team got Emmanuel Sanders. I don’t hate the pick, but he’ll likely struggle to get on the field. Antonio Brown will pad the practice squad and be released, I assume. Though I have little to no confidence in the Antonio Brown pick, he was a late pick and at that point in the draft, you just take whatever player has the most potential.
Running Back: I don’t know who Jonathan Dwyer is, but the rest of Steeler Nation is freaking out about the guy. Mendenhall is the legitimate starter and Mewelde Moore his backup, so Dwyer will spend training camp competing with Frank Summers and Isaac Redman for the power back role. My only concern is whether the offensive line will be improved enough to sustain a power running game when they need to.
Defensive Line: Ziggy Hood was the first round pick last year, and that helped plug an enormous hole behind an effective but aging defensive line. That said, one player can’t replace three, and Doug Worthington, should he make the team, will hopefully be able to become a mainstay once the current starters are officially past their prime. At the very least, he can at least rotate in and give some of the older guys a rest now and then.
Linebacker: The impression I heard from fellow Steeler fans after the draft was that they didn’t need to take so many linebackers. I disagree. For one thing, I’m linebacker happy and I would be perfectly fine if Mike Tomlin announced tomorrow that the defense was switching from a 3-4 to a 2-5. My own bias aside, the current backups behind Woodley and Harrison are Andre Frazier and Patrick Bailey. That’s pretty unacceptable if you ask me, and the additions of Jason Worilds, Thaddeus Gibson, and Stevenson Sylvester should help shore up the linebacking corps on the edges. While all of them can’t possibly see that much playing time, the ones who don’t crack the defensive rotation should hopefully be able to contribute on special teams.
Cornerback: Well, the Steelers did end up deciding to take a cornerback in the draft to appease their critics. Crezdon Butler doesn’t seem like he’s going to take the Steelers by storm, but do you know who is?
Bryant McFadden is.
The Arizona Cardinals decided to move up and grab some QB on whom ESPN had a disturbing amount of footage. The Steelers’ asking price? Just Bryant McFadden. Many people saw it as a mistake to get him go in free agency and throw William Gay into the fire, and when those people turned out to be right, the team rectified the situation and brought back the man who defended passes alongside Ike Taylor in 2008 en route to a Superbowl title.
No rookie corner was going to come in and make a difference in the secondary, so instead the Steelers spent a pick on a proven player who has already had success in LeBeau’s system. Couldn’t have asked for a better situation.
Speaking of players returning to the Steelers, the Jets have released Alan Faneca. The team already brought back old friends Foote and McFadden, but it’s unlikely Faneca will rejoin the team this season. I would be happy to have him back, but that’s just bias as he was my father’s favorite player while he taught me how to watch football as a youngin’. In all fairness, the Jets must have cut him for a reason, and for a team that isn’t shy about spending big money on superstars, letting go of a guy like Alan Faneca says something. Tomlin said in an interview during the draft that the team wasn’t pursuing him, so I think we can already put that rumor to bed.
The draft is over, and now we enter the worst time of the year to be a football fan: Summer. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep putting out some interesting material for the next few months, and all the while we’ll be eagerly awaiting training camp and then preseason.
Here We Go
