Overdue Draft Thoughts

The Blog has been on hiatus the past few days, much like the Pittsburgh Baseball Club until Ryan Doumit’s power stroke made a comeback during the final two days in Milwaukee. I, at least, have an excuse since I have a real job that pays my bills and have been traveling for it, unlike the Pirates whose job it is to play baseball. Anyways…over the next couple of posts we will have to catch up on all that is happening around the world of sports, starting today with some overdue draft thoughts. It might be a day late and a few over-the-top analysis words short, but here are some of my thoughts on the Steelers’ 2010 Draft:

• I was pushing for and hoping the Steelers would take a corner in the first round of the draft as I thought it would be the most impactful position for the 2010 Steelers. With Kyle Wilson and Kareem Jackson on the board, Mike Tomlin and company still selected center/guard Maurkice Pouncey from Florida. The more that I thought about the pick, the more that I really liked it. Pouncey is going to start right away and hopefully sure up the interior of a line that has struggled a bit in recent seasons. That will be just as impactful as a cornerback, and could solidify the center position for the next ten years as well.

• One reason that I started to really like the Pouncey pick is that from the outside, you cannot tell what management and the coaching staff thinks about their own players. Maybe the Steelers had confidence in William Gay to rebound from a tough year to perform at the level he did in 2008. Maybe they really like Keenan Lewis and Joe Burnett and think each could be a solid contributor this year. When the Steelers passed on Golden Tate in the second round, I started to think that maybe Tomlin and the coaching staff still have confidence in Limas Sweed and that maybe Hines does have 2-3 good years left in him. And then…

• The Steelers drafted Emmanuel Sanders from SMU in the third round at WR and traded for Bryant McFadden to return to Pittsburgh after a year in the desert at cornerback. I am not criticizing these actions on their own merit, Sanders may turn into a very good slot receiver and McFadden offers depth and insurance in the secondary and basically cost the Steelers nothing but a few extra dollars. What it does tell me, however, is that the Steelers do not have confidence in their secondary as currently constituted and do not believe Limas Sweed is ever going to offer them much. Wide receiver and cornerback will definitely be the big question marks for the Steelers as they enter training camp in a couple of months.

• As for the rest of the Steelers draft, I was not overwhelmed. After the Sanders pick in the third round, I wish they would have pulled the trigger on Golden Tate in the second and see if they could have landed Worilds or a similar player in the third. I think Tate could be a dynamic player in this league and could have been groomed to take over for Ward in a couple of years. The linebackers the Steelers took, three in total, will all be projects while contributing on special teams in the meantime. It is impossible to assess a draft class until a few years down the line, but that will be doubly true for this Steelers’ draft class as most will not be expected to contribute for a few years, except for Maurkice Pouncey of course.