Steelers Draft and Mel Kiper sucks thread!!

Woodley was a steal in the 2nd round until he got paid and soft. He was the man in the playoffs. Of course, Harrison would still be retired if Woodley hadn't disappeared and I love watching Deebo.

 

I think Timmons will retire as a Steeler, especially being Tomlin's first draft pick, but who knows. Timmons is playing really solid and he's got some more big plays in him.

 

As far as McCaffrey, it's a copycat league. We've come full circle to teams having success with running the ball.
RB/WR combos are in demand so I expect him to be long gone.
He'd be a great asset though.

 

I'll look up what his cap hit would be if they don't resign him

 

15,131,250 I'm not sure because of the way is written. This number could have been 2016 or its 2017.
I thought he only got 8 in 2016 but...

 

That was his 2016 cap hit. His salary in 2016 was $8.75M but he had a prorated signing bonus hit of $6.381M that made up the rest of his cap hit. Timmons is an unrestricted free agent next year. He has said he wants to retire a Steelers and that he plans to play next year, so it wouldn't surprise me to see a 3 or 4 year deal that is reasonable for him. Something in the $4-5M/year range is about right I think.

 

Mano, what you think about Foster if he was BPA?

 

Obviously we would want Myles Garrett ,Jonathan Allen or Tim Williams but they will be long gone IMO.

Speaking of Alabama, their TE Howard is a potential 2 or 3rd Rd puck that the Steelers should look at.

 

Like we have done in the past, we should, whomever is willing, set up teams to scout some of these positions.
I started a thread to try to bring everyone back to this here to help/ participate.
This a bit of work but fun and educational.

 

To be completely honest breed, I haven't spent any time at all looking at draftable players this year. Other than watching a handful of college games and even then only parts of them, I really don't have a clue about these guys at this point.

Having said that, I watched the Championship game and thought Foster was impressive but I think he would need to prove that he can play coverage for him to be an effective Steelers ILB. From the base stats, it doesn't look like Alabama asked him to do that very much. No INTs in his career and no passes defensed. Its important for all Steelers linebackers to be comfortable dropping into coverage.

All of that was based solely on a single game of watching and a quick look at his career stats, so take it for what its worth...which isn't very much! Haha.

As for drafting a potential replacement for Timmons, I think its close to that time. Timmons has played great this year, though, and is only 30, so he could have 3 or 4 good years left. I honestly thought he was done at the end of last year and the extension of Williams, along with not extending Timmons, signaled to me that the team thought so too. Reportedly, Timmons took his diet and training more seriously and is in better shape than ever. If that's the case and he can play another 3 or 4 years, it might not be time to use a 1st round pick on a guy to potentially replace him.

My preference at the end of the first round is an edge defender (OLB/DE type), a TE that can stretch the field or another CB to pair with Burns.

 

http://www.rotowire.com/football/player.htm?id=8970

This is Williams you can also see Shazier and all defensive players

 

Here's Fosters bio
He is concidered by some to be the the best ILB in college

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_Foster

 

J.J. Watt's younger younger brother, T.J. Watt, has declared for the draft and is rising up boards, probably out of reach of us in the 2nd round, else I'd nominate him as a prime candidate to fit in on the right side. He too is well balanced and plays with power - may not be as good a player as his brother (who was a late riser as well back in 2011), but he plays a lot like him in an OLB's body.

I think our best chance may lie with Charles Harris in the first. Known as a pass rusher, he's better against the run than his size would indicate. Taco Charlton also wouldn't be terrible, but he's lost weight recently - I thought he was once a 3-4 DE candidate, but at a trim 272 he's now looking more like a Justin Tuck-type player. Don't be surprised to see the Giants show strong interest in him along with other 4-3 teams in the 20s and 30s.

It's difficult to pin down a definite fit for us at OLB in the first three rounds. Almost all the guys I really like will probably get drafted ahead of us (Garrett, Thomas, Barnett, and Tim Williams), so we better hope someone like DeMarcus Walker or T.J. Watt rises into our first-round range and no higher to justify the pick without it being a reach. Having said that, we have a front office now that isn't afraid to reach for a player if it considers the need for a position big enough *coughArtieBurnscough,* but I'd love for us to go with someone like O.J. Howard if all the good OLBs are gone.

Christian McCaffery would play kind of like Bell-lite, which would be fine, but I'd really love to see them target someone who runs with more power. Having said that, the power backs will probably all last a while - we might be able to land D'Onta Foreman in the fourth round, for instance, or Samaje Perine in the third. Also worth considering is James Conner, recently diagnosed with Hodkin's lymphoma, would make a fantastic storyline if he found success in the NFL. Besides that though, Conner has no breakway speed, so he'd be the definition of a short-yardage back, especially after dealing with a torn MCL in the 2015 season opener.

 

Foster is one of those guys that jumps out of the screen at me when I watch him. I would expect somebody is going to snag him before the Steelers pick.

Timmons will hopefully accept less money than he will get on the open market to retire with the Steelers. He's been a rock the second half of the season.

This draft is rich with corners and running backs.

 

Melvin Ingram and Nick Perry are both very good OLB that know how to sack the QB and good in run protection.
Both are FA IMO the Steelers should go after one of these guys if they reach the open market.
Brandon Williams and D.Poe ( NT )are also FA
Brandon would cost but I bet Poe would be somewhat reasonable.

 

I'd also take a good hard look at safety. Don't like Golden or Shamarko Thomas. Depends on BPA when the Steelers pick. The Giants and Packers (or Redskins?) took a safety in the 1st round a little while ago and they are game changers. Not as good as Polamalu but who is? How long is TE Green signed for? I think Green and James are suitable for the time being. Green can stretch the field and James can catch and get open. The only downside is their blocking. Don't like Coates either. Bryant will be back and Hamilton and Ayres better. I'd look for a DB, LB, DE. Dupree also seems to be getting it figured out, Jarvis Jones needs to go also....In the later rounds I'd look long and hard for a backup QB to develop......

 

So far Sean Davis looks like a stud but Mitchell will be 30 in June so a safety shouldn't be out of question.

 

Walker cant play OLB....hes best suited in a 4-3 and play DE and mayb kick inside on obvious passing downs

 

There's a name ^^^^^ we don't see too often.
Thanks for your input.

If walker is 280 he will certainly have to lose a few lbs to be successful at OLB.
one s it has him at 6-2 which makes him a meatball lol but another lists him at 6-4.
The production is there as far as pass rushing but can he drop back into coverage?
Either way he's a late 2nd or 3rd rd pick

 

280 and and needs to lose a few pounds??? Do you know how hard it is to lose 30 lbs. or more? It took me a year to lose 25 lbs. I was working out 3 times a week and look more normal.. I'd like to lose about 12 more lbs. considering I was never fat and 162 used to be my normal weight for ages. It also takes in what you eat, is a big consideration. If he does it everyday it can be done. But you have to stick to the plan......#not easy