RECONSIDERING THE STEELERS 2012 FINAL MOCK DRAFT

  I had an epiphany today.  I figured out that I should have stuck to my initial thought process from many months ago re: our pick at 24.  That pick then was either Kevin Zeitler, OL Wisconsin or Cordy Glenn, OL Georgia.  At the time I looked at our roster (all prior to the 5 vet departure) and found that the 3 positions where we have very limited depth is at OT, LG and NT.  FWDD a few months and sure enough, Hoke, Smith and Hines retired.  Kemoeatu and Farrior were released.  4 out of 5 were starters.  And 1 was the primary depth.

  So I looked into their positions deeper, 1 by 1, and held true to "The Steeler Way".  In case you're unfamiliar, The Steeler Way is to fill any open positions from within first.  Then, if unsuccessful, fill thru the draft.  Finally, if all else fails, look for lower cost free agents.  Here is my analysis below:

Hines- Wallace (pending FA?), Brown, Sanders, Cotchery, and 6 other young future contracts.  According to The Steeler Way, this is not a pressing need.  Hines moved down the depth chart in 2011, so the Young Money Family are prepared.  Whether or not that will include Wallace past 2012, no one knows.  But the position is deep behind him.

Smith- Hood, Heyward, Keisel, McLendon, and 3 other future contracts/practice squad players.  With drafting Hood and Heyward already in the 1st round, theres no way we do it a 3rd time.  Especially in a 30 front defense.

Hoke- Hampton, McLendon, Weston.  Steve isnt a real NT though.  He does fill in ok on passing downs where his primary goal is to pass rush, but he is nowhere near stout enough to be an every down NT.  Weston is a practice squad traveler.  Hampton is much older, coming of an ACL tear.  This is a primary need in a high round, 1 or 2.

Farrior- Timmons, Foote, Slyvester, Ivy and 2 other future contracts.  Farrior's time was split with Foote and some with Sly in 2011.  Sylvester will be expected to take over at the Buck LB position.  A recent interview shows he is ready for the challenge as he has changed his workout regimen and lost 15 pounds.  Once again, according to The Steeler Way, this is not a pressing need as we are filling the position from within.

Kemoeatu- Legursky, Foster, Essex.  Bruno and Ramon were RFAs and recently signed their 1 year deals.   They are also both UDFAs.  Mr. Rooney said at the end of the 2011 season that Ben needs to change his game, that we need to protect him better, and we need to have a more sound running game.  Pouncey cant hold down the interior of the line alone.  I like Ramon, and I think this year will get him a 3 year deal with us.  Bruno has the right attitude, but he is very small, and can be overpowered easily.  He is also the primary backup center.  Essex has played well filling in for Pouncey when he was injured, but this was only required because we didnt have anybody else to play the LG spot.  This is a primary need in a high round, 1 or 2.  That chaos to filling in for injured olinemen (Pouncey, Starks and Colon... again) was total horrible.  But Coach Kugler again managed to use a mess of duct tape and coaching and gave us a decent, aching, oline.

Colon/Starks- Max was released at the beginning of the year due to coming into camp out of shape.  or maybe his cap hit was too great.  Either way, he was released.  Colon injured himself again at the start of the year, just like he did the year before.  Over 2 years Colon has played in only 1 game.  Johnathan Scott was initially tried at LT and failed.  Tomlin would have loved to move Gilbert to LT but couldnt because we lost Colon as well.  So, we reinserted Max.  And he did well.  Until he too was injured.  That means our OT depth is Max- older, weight issues, injuries.  Colon- 1 game in 2 seasons.  Jonathan Scott- decent backup, but best suited for the right side.  And Gilbert- 2nd round pick in 2011, and will start at LT in 2012.  Thats it.  yeah, we did resign Essex, but he's essentially a poorer version of Scott.  His best work is inside.

  As you can see, OT, LG and NT are the key positions that we need to address high in the draft.

  FWDD to today.  Recently most mock drafts have Donta Hightower to us at 24.  Some even have us drafting Dontari Poe.  Neither of these will be picked by the Steelers at 24.  Donta is a 2 down LB at best.  Even Pat Kirwan today admitted that his abilities actually do not fit today's NFL.  As far as Poe, Coach Tomlin shut down this option years ago when Tyson Jackson was the popular thought for the Steelers to draft in 2009.  After the draft, Tomlin made it known, yet again, "we dont draft gym rats".  If you recall Tyson made his fame on YouTube jumping out of a swimming pool flat footed.  And now today, re: Poe, he had a jaw dropping combine.  But Tomlin has said again "he has to show us his play on the tape".  The Combine is known as "the Underwear Olympics".  And recently, his own former Head Coach said in numerous interviews that he admits he might not have used Poe in the proper way.  However if you watch the game tape you see him being lazy, overpowered, and having too high of a stance.  Poe isnt supported by either Tomlin comment.  Scratch Hightower and Poe from the board.

  We are now almost 24 hours from the draft.  Lets take a quick moment to look at 1 of the key additions to the Steelers staff that might be having an impact on this pick.  Todd Haley.  While as the Head Coach of the Chiefs, Haley had an affinity for using "smokescreens" in the draft, especially in the 1st round.  In 2010 he selected Eric Berry, and in 2011 he picked Jonathan Baldwin.  The Chiefs worked out neither player.  Not one peep was mentioned if the Chiefs had any interest.  This may have been the doing of the Chiefs GM at the time, Phil Emery, or it could have been the combined effort of both men.  Could Haley have brought this idea to Pittsburgh?  I think that's a strong possibility.  But there was another addition to a Pittsburgh football team's staff that could also allow this to work.  Coach Chryst.  The former Wisconsin Offensive Coordinator is the new Panthers Head Coach.  His office is probably right down the hall from Coach Tomlin's.  Would you really need to workout a player when you have his entire history right next door?  Probably not.  Would this allow the smokescreen to be completed?  Yes.  We invite Donta and Poe, as well as some OTs like Adams and Massie (I like Massie) only to all but ignore the likes of Glenn and Zeitler.  The most information I could find re: the Steelers attending the Wisconsin pro day was a general "all 32 teams present".  And the only proof i have that we were at the Georgia pro day was our interest in their kicker.  No mention of Tomlin, or Colbert (who has gotten around a lot this year) or even Kugler.  Why?  Smokescreen.

  I addressed a comment that both Tomlin and Colbert have been saying over the past few months when speaking about this draft class "the OG position is very deep".  I broke down the reasons behind that and verified it to be true.  And its maybe not so much that the draft is deep with OGs, but more so its light in regards to OTs.

  This is why I had my "final mock" with us drafting Bobby Massie at 24.  He can play both OT positions, and possibly even RG if needed.  He fits Tomlin's tendencies when drafting olinemen to a T.  He's a junior, he's over 6'5 300 pounds, he has position flexibility, and icing on the cake- he played in the SEC.  As of this morning I was set with that mock.  But even Massie would be a reach.  17 spots to be exact.  The furthesT Tomlin has reached in the 1st round was 13 spots for Pouncey.  17 isnt too much further, but it jumps the likes of Zeitler, Konz, and Adams.  I can see Massie having more value than Adams, but to fill the LG spot we'd have to have Massie start at RT, finally move Colon to RG and Foster to LG.  Thats 3 moves to insert 1 player.

  However, if we were to draft Glenn or Zeitler, then they could play LG day 1.  I do agree with Mike Mayock that Glenn is probably best suited at RT.  So the movement above may be the case either way.  But giving him the shot at LG is at least an option due to the fact that he started there in Georgia.

  Or there's the option of drafting Zeitler at 24.  He would start at LG day 1, no other moves needed.  That seems to make sense.  The problem here would be the lack of options at OT after drafting Zeitler at 24 and Mike Martin (a lock) at 56.  Refer back to the Steelers HQs comments "this draft is deep at OG".  So if its deep, then we should wait on it and address the OT spot first; especially when the pick is familiar with playing the LG position as well as LT/RT.

  So what does this long-ass story mean?  It means I think the smokescreen we have set is to disguise our interest in both Glenn and Zeitler.  Though I do think that Glenn is the primary target.  Colbert said this week he will begin calling teams re: trading up or down (dont get me started on trading down... that would absolutely be the best thing to happen).  Now we just need the Chargers, Bears, Bengals, Browns and Lions to look the other way, and let Glenn fall.