Steelers 1999 Draft Picks

Steelers Take Receiver

(4/18) When the Arizona Cardinals took WR David Boston with the 8th pick overall in today's NFL draft, the Steelers lost the player they really wanted. After Boston was off the board, Pittsburgh was left with several options. John Tait, the big tackle from BYU was still available, but the Steelers didn't want to spend their first pick on an offensive lineman after signing Wayne Gandy. Jevon Kearse, the LB from Florida, was also still around, but the Steelers had to go offense, since that was their most glaring problem last season. So they still took a WR, and it was Troy Edwards from Louisiana Tech. The best way to assess this pick is with pro's and con's, so let's start with the con's. Edwards wasn't supposed to go as high as 13th, and the reason why is because he's small. That seems to be his worst quality. He's listed at 5-9, 190 lbs, but may be even smaller than that. He's not the prototype size for an NFL receiver. Think about it, and you'll realize that most of the small guys who've made it as WR's in this league have done so as return guys. That doesn't mean he's still not going to be good of course, but Boston had better size and pass-catching ability (Edwards tends to drop passes). Ok, so he's small, but there are some good things about this pick. First, it gives the Steelers a needed return guy. Second, he's can make things happen after the catch. That's something that will really help if Kordell Stewart is struggling. If we can dump off short passes to him and he can turn them into 15-20 yard gains, it'll really boost the offense. Plus, he's a hard worker and not as big a jerk as David Boston on the field, even though he does talk trash sometimes. Also he was saying on the local news that he is the best player in the draft, so maybe he is a jerk. The Steelers just felt they had to take a WR no matter what. They have nobody right now who can play the position. Courtney Hawkins, David Dunn, Will Blackwell, and Alex Van Dyke - that's our receiving core! Edwards would've been a better pick if we were 19th, not 13th, but it's still a decent move.

In the second round, the Steelers traded down with the Minnesota Vikings and picked up another third round pick along with a fifth rounder from the Vikes. That gave the Steelers three third round picks. With their second round pick, the Steelers took DB Scott Shields from Weber State (no surprise there). He's a big guy (6-4) and he'll play safety. In the third round, they got a DL\LB - Joey Porter from Colorado State. I'm sure he'll play linebacker on our team. They also finally addressed their offensive line concerns with UCLA tackle Kris Farris, a guy that several months ago was supposed to be our first round pick! However, the big surprise of the first day was the late third round selection of "Famous" Amos Zereoue, the RB from WVU. I couldn't believe that one. This is a guy that has haunted us Pitt fans for years, and now he's a Steeler! I guess we finally got sick of Richard Huntley fumbling every other play. Zereoue has the same handicap as Troy Edwards - he's too small. I was kind of hoping that he'd be a bust in the NFL, but I guess I gotta pull for him now. Still, to get a guy like him with the 95th pick in the draft is a steal.

On the second day of the draft, the Steelers continued to stockpile good players. They took DL Aaron Smith in the fourth round. This guy could be a sleeper pick, and was projected by some to go as high as the second round. The Steelers then took TE Jerame Tuman from Michigan. He may be converted into an h-back. With their last couple picks, the Steelers went to the big-name schools for talent. They took a big WR, 6-4 Malcolm Johnson from Notre Dame, another defensive lineman, Antonio Dingle from UVA, and two players from Nebraska, LB Chad Kelsay and PK Kris Brown. The drafting of Brown is interesting, because Norm Johnson is still unsigned. Could this guy actually be our kicker next year? Overall, the Steelers filled some needs. The only disappointment was not getting Boston in the first round. There has certainly been mixed reaction to the selection of Troy Edwards. Many people around here seem to think he won't really make an impact because of his size, but only time will tell. The Steelers made out well by getting a big safety in the second round, the offensive lineman they wanted months ago in the third round, a steal in Amos Zereoue, and some solid second day picks.

So this concludes another NFL draft. We saw some interesting things, like Mike Ditka giving up his entire draft for Ricky Williams. We also saw a lot of QB's go early, and we saw the Steelers go with a somewhat controversial pick in the first round. We also saw the Steelers recover nicely after getting screwed out of the guy they wanted in the first round. What does all this tell us about these guys? Pretty much nothing. That's the important fact you have to remember about the draft - that there is absolutely no way to predict if your team did really well for the future or not. You never know how these picks are going to pan out until later. A great example of this is the 1992 NFL draft. In the second round that year, Bill Cowher and the Steelers were all set to draft LB Mark D'Onofrio from Penn State, who by good fortune had fallen far enough for the Steelers to get with their 38th overall pick. However, right before the Steelers were going to pick, the Green Bay Packers made a trade to move one spot in front of Pittsburgh and they stole D'Onofrio. Cowher had to instead settle for some linebacker from Clemson. That linebacker's name was Levon Kirkland, so you see, you just never know how these things are going to pan out.

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