Steelers Draft and Mel Kiper sucks thread!!

I was beyond pissed, but only because there were 3-4 players I would MUCH rather have had at that pick, including Bryant. But what's done is done, and there's no denying his ability to change the face of a game so I'm fully on board now. Plus I'm pretty sure it's too late to do anything about it.

 

Why not Dri Archer?

Archer is fast there is no question. So why did I not pick him in my redraft. 13 fumbles in college. 4 his senior year. Of the 13 he lost 10. http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/players/playerpage/1691326/dri-archer Why the fumbles? Light body and small hands. http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/dri-archer?id=2543596 There is no denying the capability for highlight reel plays but at what cost? He compares to Jacoby Ford or Trindon Holiday. Ford had a good season his rookie year, had a great game against the Steelers. Since then his career has fallen off as injuries have cut in to his playing time. Holliday had a punt and kickoff returned for touchdowns in each of the past two season. He also had 6 and 5 fumbles. This year he starts for his 3rd team in 4 years. He signed for the league minimum.
Archer has little experience returning punts, it will most likely take him a season before he is above average as a returner.

 

That's a great point, but because most fumbles are allowed due to poor technique, maybe they figure he can be coached out of it. Antonio Brown had 1 fumble in 52 touches his rookie season, then 0 on 119 touches, then 4 on 100 touches, then 1 on 134 touches. Why did he have 4 fumbles his third year? He got sloppy and they had to coach him back into sound ball security.

Tiki Barber was a fumbling machine, but was still worth his slot due to great production.

 

I am only finding 3 fumbles. http://www.pittsburghsportingnews.com/antonio-brown-has-pressure-to-preform-for-steelers/ The 4th might have been a borderline fumble/recovery. One was on a punt return, that is bound to happen from time to time. Punt returns have the most fumbles followed by KR, then rushing then receiving. Archer had no such excuse his fumbles all came on rushes or receptions. He fumbled throughout his college career. He fumbled against MAC level defenders. All in all, these are issues that should drop your draft position. Otherwise Logan Thomas QB Virginia Tech would be a first round pick. He has ideal size, good speed (amazing for his size) and 1/2 the time he makes good throws. One could argue he just needs to be coached up. Yet he fell to #120. Needing to be coached up should have dropped his draft stock. I know some websites had him as a 3rd-4th round pick, but no one listed his fumble issues. I looked that up after seeing a bad fumble while watching game videos after the combine.

 

What's wrong with MAC defenders? There are some really good players on the defensive side of the ball.

 

James Harrison and Jack Lambert went to Kent State.... just sayin'

 

A fumble is a fumble is a fumble. In Brown's case, all those fumbles were due to poor technique and getting sloppy with the ball. I also agree that were I drafting, Archer would not have gone higher than the 5th round. But that kind of explosiveness is what the Steelers were looking for, so there you go.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BrowAn04.htm

 

So would they be the exception or the rule. It is easier to avoid start players on lower competitive teams. This is commonly why a player might suddenly become a star in the NFL, it's hard to evaluate in a vacuum.

 

I am with you on the 5th round.

 

Anyone else read the bull$hit coming out of Ike Taylor's mouth?

Le sigh.

 

About the being asked to take a pay cut to stay and how disrespectful that was? Yeah I read it. Kinda see where he's coming from but at the end of the day he did not have a good season and the team was cap strapped. And he's another year older, can't play forever.

 

Not even remotely concerned.

If your boss came to you after you had a bad year and said, "If you want to keep your job you have to take a 65% pay cut!", how would you feel? Pretty sure you would be pissed off too. And most likely, you would be out looking for another job.

I take Ike's comments as his motivation for this season. His way of finding a chip on his shoulder to have a great season and prove everybody wrong. Prove the Steelers wrong. GREAT! Hope it works for him!

He also said, "At the end of the day, I wanted to stay in Pittsburgh."

That is all I need to know about how Ike feels about the Steelers. I hope he has a great season, I really do. It will likely be his swan song and he deserves to go out on top. He has been a great player for this team for a very long time and he loves the team.

Nothin' but love for Ike from this Steelers fan.

 

I'm a big fan of Ike's too, glad he has had a great career here for as long as he has. I'm hoping for a good season from him because that should mean it was a good season for the Steelers. Whatever it takes for him to play up to the standard is fine with me. Rather be talking about this story about the team than the one coming out of Buffalo with Kiko Alonso...

 

No kidding king. Injuries are the great unknown. The Steelers need to stay healthy to compete. They have good depth in a few spots and could handle a couple of injuries, but they have precious little depth at some key spots like OLB and CB.

On offense, they are in pretty good shape for depth so long as Ben stays healthy. Its the defense that is lacking in quality depth right now. I LOVE the starters on that side of the ball, at least from a talent perspective (whether they all comprehend and execute their roles effectively is another matter), but if they start seeing major injuries to those starters, the team will be in trouble.

 

Same could be said for all teams, but especially for the Steelers. The last couple years the team got hit with the injury bug, especially at the OL positions. Last year outside of the center position they stayed relatively healthy and we saw how they improved. Pouncey doesn't get chopped maybe the Steelers earn a playoff spot. Maybe not, but this season add a healthy Pouncey, Healthy Miller and Munchek and it's really exciting.

Like mano said it's however the defense goes, really seems to be boom or bust. But the team did pretty well with a rookie at ILB last season, as long as Mitchell plays at least as well as Clark did last season the defense should be okay. Lots of speed out there, hopefully it translates into pressure and turnovers. They're going to be a relatively young bunch out there, there will be mistakes but there will also be big plays. OLB has good starters, but outside of Moats not much depth. Scary thing is Carter might still be on this team come the regular season. Never was very impressed with him, but maybe Joey Porter can get something out of him as well.

 

Eh, you guys are right. I probably overreacted.

Just line he said Like, I didn't show my loyalty? kind of ticked me off.

 

Yeah, this is something that I think we as fans take for granted. We expect players to be loyal when they are playing well but also feel no sympathy for them when they struggle. Alot of NFL players outplay their deals and have no choice but to play under a contract that pays them far less than their market value. Then, when its time to sign that new contract, every fan wants them to take a "hometown discount" out of loyalty to the team. If they don't take that team friendly deal and the team pays them market value, heaven help them when their skills start to decline and their contract is cumbersome to the team because no fan wants their team to pay a guy more than he's worth at that point.

 

Re-draft

Ross Cockrell CB Duke

Who was the second ACC player drafted after Sammy Watkins? Ross Cockrell 4th(#9). Duke went to their 2nd Bowl Game losing to Texas A&M. In the 5 previous seasons they won a total of 25 games. The arrow at Duke is pointed up. Their best player is Cockrell. He played press coverage but showed in the East-West Shrine game he could play off man. http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings/dsprofile.php?pyid=90864&draftyear=2014&genpos=CB He has good size 6' and 191 lbs. He has what the Steelers need most at CB, GOOD HANDS. In 49 games he had 42 passes deflected and 12 interceptions. Take a look at his combine and game film and please share your thoughts.

 

Dude you are full of sheet, Ebron was a first rd. pick from the ACC, and I am sure they had other players picked. Oh sheet the Pantehrs picked a WR from Florida State in Rd1.

 

If I was Ike Id be a bit pissed too but he knows why they asked and he also knows why he accepted. He said in his ranting that other players had been asked in prior years and decided not to take the cut and go elsewhere and it didnt work out well for those guys. Ike is smart enough to know staying put in Pittsburgh is his smartest move. Yeah maybe he could have kept it to himself about being mad but I don't fault him one bit for being upset at a pay cut.