MOS,
I read the article and what I take is this. We have no depth behind Allen and Brown. ONe of the four in the article might step forward. McFadden has ties to the Steelers and a limited amount of NFL experience, but he has bounced around and never really stuck. I don't think Tomlin gives the 7th rounder more reps than an UFA, depends on who Carnell Lake thinks will emerge from the scrap heap to make the 53 man. IF that is Frederick, Carter, or they bring in a vet, not sure. Anthony Madison is always an option if he is not attached to a team, I am not sure of his status.
What I see is that the draft in the later rounds depleated the CB pool, that is why the Steelers picked who and when they did. The only round that did not follow this heavy CB trend was round 2. Teams looking to defend the pass snatched up pass rushers rather quickly as well. A pivotal round was ROund 3, 5 CB's came off the board, then in the 4th round another 4 came off the board. WHen round 5 started, 13 Conrebacks had been taken out of 135 picks, just about 10% which forced some teams into taking a late round prospect in the 5th round, before the pool was dry. (6 CB taken in round 5). We ended up with a steal in rounds 1,2,4 and I am warming up to Sean Spence. Chris Rainey has speed and knows how to win, hopefully Todd Haley ecorporates his talents into the play calling. TGhe value was simply not there for a CB in any round other than the 7th is my point.
By moving up for Ta'amu we gave up our 6th rounder and could have ended up with Tommy Streeter, Brandon Washington, or Marvin McNutt. Washington fell off the map, once considered a late first round pick. STreeter has size but he was hard to judge because the 'Canes Offense was lead by a Jamoke named Jacori Harris, who goo bloats. THe other options would have been Matt McCants but although I liked him, his lower leg strength or anchor was exposed at the Senior Bowl, to be honest with myself, Kelvin Beachun might be the better prospect. McNutt was very productive and had great hands, however at the NFL level I think he might struggle to get seperation, he might be another Freddy Barnes. Back to Ta'amu, NTs do NOT GROW ON TREES. Instead of jumping on the Donario Poe bandwagon, or the Mount Cody train, Colbert waited for the right value to take the right player.
Round 7 was where we took Tony Clemmons, a diamond in the rough. He has a legitiamate shot to make this team, just has to learn routes and hold onto the ball, but he has size, speed, and talent. Beachun was a solid pick for round 7 and Terry Frederick may or may not work out. By the time we picked the former Aggie, 23 CB's had come off the board, again juist under 10% of all picks were corners in the 2012 NFL draft.
I was calling Dennis Paulson Camp Fodder, but the more I read about Weslye Saunders and his inability to shake off pain before running to the trainers, he might already have a foot out the door. Leonard Pope might just surprise us and is one of the best FA signings for stability. I think the best signing was the LB from the Bengals, Brandon Johnson. They got him cheap, ST player that is an experienced backup, love the move.
THe guy I liked in the middle rounds was Coty Sensabaugh, I saw something, he went to the Titans in round 4, and for the umpteenth time, Ta'amu was a steal mid 4th swapping with the Red4skins.
HEre is a neat article on the young man out of Clemson that I thought had NFL talent, great story, hope he plays well, except against Pittsburgh. He has shot at a starting job with Cortand INstigatgor moving onto the Rams.
http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/sto
ry/2012-04-28/nfl-draft-2012-twelve
-years-after-a-shattering-loss-clem
son-cb-coty-sensabaugh-f
nyb
These reports of yours from camp have become legendary. For those of us who can't get there, it's very important to know those who are reporting are solid football men. and yes, I'm still jealous !
) as soon as pads get on and hitting begins.We have no depth behind Allen and Brown. This scares me. It's why I asked if you guys thought we were as good as it seems we were on paper in defensive back field. I know it's a stretch to ask, but your opinion matters, even if too early. I'm not afraid of starters, just worried about injury and who gets the nod then.
Back to Ta'amu, NTs do NOT GROW ON TREES. Instead of jumping on the Donario Poe bandwagon, or the Mount Cody train, Colbert waited for the right value to take the right player.
Can I assume this means you think the Steelers won't be keeping Wallace?
Actually not really, I was impressed with Keenan Allen, kid is really talented and has the size Ben has been asking for since Plexiglass left. The teams going to the Super Bowl usually have 3-4 good WR and their 5th guy could start somewhere else and plays on Special Teams. (Jericho Cotchery). This kid Tony Clemmons could be a diamond in the rough, Wallace I think Colbert gets a deal done, this is more like Woodley than Faneca. HIs agent is controlling the shots, even though MIke flashed some immature and diva traits, he is nothing like Santonio Smokesum Bones. The other first round pick I liked was TJ McDonald, but I looked at the Safety depth, and the WR pool is deeper. How this works is that David DeCastro fell to PIttsburgh at 24 because the OG talent in 2012 was exceptionally deep. As another example, Safety was a very week class and both Mark Barron and Harrison Smith were drafted much higher than their National Ranking. Both Minnesota and Tampa Bay NEEDED safety help. THe problem with that strategy is that he deviates from BPA.
IMHO the Bucs should have taken Keuchely, Gilmore, or Cox. The Vikings should have taken Cordy Glenn or Stephen Hill. I also think Coby Fleener was over-graded and is a direct result from the sucess of Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham. Another thing to think about is the success of the teams with two tight ends creating mismatches in the secondary. (New England, Baltimore, New Orleans). The Colts not only drafted Fleener to give Andrew Luck a comfortible target to succeed, they took the best TE in the draft, Dwayne Allen with the next pick.
I did not like the Patriots second round pick of Safety Tavon Wilson, my gut tells me he would have lasted until round 3. My sleeper Saftety was Christian Thompson, whom the Ravens took as a comp pick the end of round 4, possibly be Ed Reed.s replacement.
So in other words, you think Allen is better than the 32nd best player (Steelers pick), but will fall to them because of WR depth?
So in other words, you think Allen is better than the 32nd best player (Steelers pick), but will fall to them because of WR depth?
I think it's a realistic approach, you also have to look at rosters. For the last 5 drafts teams have been stock-piling QB's, LT's, and WR's. At some point the rosters become saturated as well as the talent pool itself becomes a factor. If you are team X and you are picking 20th, you look at the board. If you don't take TJ McDonald who is left and where do they fall. Are you willing to gamble that over the next 32 picks everyone but 2 teams will pass on Safety, probably not. But let's say you look at Keenan Allen, but there are 3-4 other good WR behind him that grade just below his late first round grade. However if you pass on TJ McDonald, would you be happy with Robert Lester or Tony Jefferson and that is IF they are still available at pick 52.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/
prospectrankings/2013/FS
Now at 20, maybe Keenan Allen is there, maybe he is not, even though I suggested he could go later in round one. My point is that behind him are Terrance Williams, Marquess WIlson, Aaron Millette, not a HUGE drop off.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/
prospectrankings/2013/WR
Teams that passed on David DeCastro knew full well that in round two you had Cordy Glenn, Amini Silatolu, Keleche Osemele, and Jeff Allen available. True DeCastro was better than these guys, but that second group was good enough where most of them are going to be NFL starters, in theory. The FS pool drops off quick, where the WR pool thare are players with similar ranking. If you break down the top rated 125 players, yes it's early, but basically if you need a FS and a WR you can wait on the WR and here is why.
Overall Player rankings for 2013 FS 10,25,64,88,117 5 players availabe through round 4.
OVerall Player rankings for 2013 WR. 5,12,15,25,43,45,55,71, 73,82,92,94,97,105,107,122 16 players available through round 4.
Now you see what I look at and study, I look at depth of the class, and then team needs. Again this is why Tampa Bay and Minnesota got a safety in 2012, because they were few and far between, literally both this year and next.
For the last 5 drafts teams have been stock-piling QB's, LT's, and WR's.
It's especially mind-boggling because, more often than not, the prospects themselves are average at best. Blaine Gabbert was a 3rd rounder in 2011 before Andrew Luck decided to go back to school and the draft suddenly became starved for a bonafide franchise QB. This picking a QB just for the sake of picking a QB has got to stop for the sake of my sanity as a football fan and for the sake of these STUPID TEAMS who will never climb out of the basement until they get firetrucking GMs and not PR-obsessed balless wonders who are practically controlled by the media's and the fanbase's demands.
