Steelers 2010 Draft Board

Strangest Draft Yet

The week leading up to this year's NFL Draft could not have been any more tumultuous for the Steelers. First, the Ben Roethlisberger suspension came down (6 games, 4 with good behavior). Then after the Steelers traded a 7th round pick to re-acquire QB Byron Leftwich, rumors started flying that the team would stupidly trade Ben for a top ten pick. This made no sense from a football persepctive, not to mention Art Rooney II's talk of working to help Ben pick up the pieces of his life. Fortunately, the trade talk seemed to be nothing more than a smokescreen. Ben will remain a Steeler and Pittsburgh sat tight with the #18 overall pick. It came as a surprise to no one when they selected Florida center Maurkice Pouncey, who was projected on almost everyone's draft board to go to Pittsburgh.

At first glance, there would appear to be no tie-in between Pouncey and the Roethlisberger/Holmes mess. But on second look, the Steelers had to select a guy like Pouncey. By all accounts, he is a stud player. He won the 2009 Rimmington Trophy, given to the nation's top center. His fundamentals are sound, he run blocks well, and he has experience blocking for a QB in Tim Tebow who, like Ben, doesn't exactly stay in the pocket a lot (note that this is about the only similarity you will ever find between Tebow and Roethlisberger). But it's not just his on-the-field play that made him an attractive pick, it's his diligence off the field to working out and studying the playbook and doing well in the classroom. The Steelers couldn't afford to pick a guy with even the slightest hint of troublemaking. As SI's Peter King wrote, Pouncey is "the safest, surest player in this draft". I'm not disappointed. The Steelers need help on the o-line, where Pouncey will likely move to right guard. That position has been in a constant state of flux for the last two years, from Kendall Simmons to Darnell Stapleton to Trai Essex to Ramon Foster. If he can move back to center after that (as Dermontti Dawson did during his early years with the team), all the better.

While the first round pick looked nice, the next two were rather curious. In the second round, the team selected Jason Worilds from Virginia Tech. He is one of those undersized defensive ends who the Steelers will convert to a pass-rushing outside linebacker in the 3-4 defense, something they have had tremendous success doing in the past. That's all well and good, but don't we already have two all-pro outside linebackers? "In the eight years I've been here, we've never had a rookie linebacker start in our system," said linebackers coach Keith Butler. "We like to groom them for a couple years." Really? Your defense blew FIVE 4th quarter leads last year, and you're going to address that with a pass rusher who needs to be groomed for a couple of years? What about the hole at inside linebacker with James Farrior on the edge of being finished? What about the holes at corner? What about the rapidly aging d-line? Out of all the positions on defense, outside linebacker was the most secure. This pick just makes no sense to me right now.

The third round was no better. The Steelers took WR Emmanuel Sanders from SMU. Again, the kid looks like a decent player. He's fast, can return kicks, and caught 98 balls last year. But is that a pressing need? I realize we dumped Santonio Holmes, but we also signed Antwaan Randle El and Arnaz Battle, and there is still a chance - albeit slim - that Limas Sweed could still work out. I just don't see why you wouldn't address needs first. I also cannot believe we went offense with two out of our first three picks. This has been the pattern the last six or seven drafts, and it's the biggest reason why the defense crumbled last year. They are getting old and need to start rebuilding now while the veteran guys still have a year or two left in them. I'm really disappointed with the first three rounds as a whole.

On day 3, the head-scratchers continued. In the 4th round, the Steelers picked up ANOTHER outside linebacker in Thaddeus Gibson from "the" Ohio State University. Great, just in case Harrison AND Woodley suffer some crazy career-ending injury, we have two guys groomed to take their place. If I were a life insurance salesman, I'd be hitting up Kevin Colbert ASAP because he looks ready to buy. After the Steelers picked up tackle Chris Scott to kick off the 5th round, things started to again get interesting.

As a result of the Holmes trade, the Steelers had three 5th round picks. They traded the second of those picks to the Arizona Cardinals for.... (wait for it).... CB Bryant McFadden! Are you serious? We got McFadden back?! For a 5th round pick??? That's awesome! There is no doubt that McFadden's departure helped tank the Steelers secondary last year. It's great to have him back in the fold. I can't understand why Arizona gave him up so easily when he was their star free agent signing last year, but I know no one is complaining that we didn't draft a cornerback anymore. This is nuts - the Steelers have brought back everyone from the Super Bowl teams this offseason. If Alan Faneca and Joey Porter ended up on our opening day roster, I don't think I would be the least bit surprised at this point.

The Steelers rounded out the draft with CB Crezdon Butler from Clemson, LB Stevenson Sylvester from Utah (yet ANOTHER linebacker!), RB Jonathan Dwyer from GA Tech, WR Antonio Brown from Central Michigan, and another guy from Ohio State in DT Doug Worthington. It was disappointing that they waited until their final pick to finally take a d-lineman. On the other hand, the Dwyer kid is a big back who may actually find some quality playing time depending on how he looks (although be careful - we said the same thing last year about Frank the Tank Summers). All in all, the trades evened this draft out for the better. We'll see how these guys develop, but I still think the Steelers are missing the boat by not drafting more defensive players.

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