A few years of bad drafting left the Steelers in an unusual position this spring: They had to fill holes via free agency. That’s incredibly unusual for this franchise, and while it’s a deviation from the norm, it’s actually pretty exciting. Rather than replace departed and underachieving players with relatively unknown youth, this year we’ll see established NFL players from other teams don the black and gold. So let’s take a look at where Kevin Colbert has patched some holes and what’s left for the draft.
1. Veteran Running Back Depth
Coming into the offseason, the RB depth chart consisted of Le’Veon Bell and three dudes no one has ever heard of. Enter LeGarrette Blount. After hosting Maurice Jones-Drew for a free agent visit, the Steelers ultimately went with Blount. The 27-year-old power back is coming off a good season with the Patriots and still has plenty of gas left in the tank. He’ll help Bell handle the load of being the feature back, and I would still expect a rookie to come in the later rounds of the draft.
2. Wide Receiver Depth
Another position that was incredibly weak to start free agency was that of the wide receivers. With Emmanuel Sanders departing for Denver and Jerricho Cotchery signing in Carolina, the Steelers had Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton, and Derek Moye ahead of practice squad guys. Colbert addressed this in a big way during free agency, signing former Saint Lance Moore and former Colt Darrius Heyward-Bey. Are they upgrades over Sanders and Cotchery? Maybe, maybe not. But with a cemented #1 receiver in Brown, the receiving depth looks better with Moore and Heyward-Bey giving Wheaton competition for playing time.
3. Tight End
Heath Miller has slowed down recently, and while he’ll still be relied upon to start, a changing of the guard is in the future. David Paulson has been serviceable and Matt Spaeth is hanging around, but youth is going to be needed soon at that position and the Steelers are in position to find a tight end of the future in this year’s draft.
4. Defensive Line
Things get murky on defense. Cameron Heyward and Steve McLendon are your returning NFL-level players with Ziggy Hood moving on to Jacksonville and Brett Keisel moving on to the Canadian Rockies where his beard can feel at home. This underachieving unit was bolstered slightly by Cam Thomas, a mountainous defensive tackle formerly of the San Diego Chargers. There’s still a lot left to be desired on paper, and perhaps we’ll see that addressed in the draft.
5. Linebacker
Jason Worilds-Lawrence Timmons-A bag of Doritos-Jarvis Jones. That’s your starting 4 at linebacker right now. Maybe that other middle spot is filled by Chris Carter. Maybe Sean Spence makes it ten minutes without a season-ending injury. Vince Williams and Kion Wilson have seen the field at one time or another. The only thing we can count on is Lawrence Timmons, really. Worilds is coming off a nice second half in 2013, but that’s the entirety of his career to date. Like, 7 games. Jarvis Jones has a high ceiling, but he couldn’t reach it in his rookie season, and he’s still an unknown going into his sophomore campaign. The front seven on defense has been hit harder than anywhere else by recent draft failures, and that will have to be corrected this year.
6. Defensive Backs
With the signings of Blount, Moore, and Heyward-Bey, it certainly seems like the plan is use free agency to prop up the offense and use the draft to acquire home-grown defensive talent. Except for Mike Mitchell. The veteran free safety was signed to replace Ryan Clark at Troy Polamalu’s replacement, and with Shamarko Thomas behind them, safety depth is mostly secured. The cornerbacks are a different story. 33-year-old Ike Taylor will retain his starting position, and as of now, William Gay looks to be his counterpart. Three years ago, we’d have been fine with that, but Ike has lot a step and Gay has always been streaky. I would argue that cornerback is the #1 priority on draft day, as they desperately need an infusion of young talent to keep up in the NFL.
So if you’re keeping track, my biggest needs going into the draft are cornerback, defensive line, linebacker, tight end, and running back, in that rough order. That sounds like a lot, but with the moves the Steelers have made in free agency, the needs at safety and wide receiver have been effectively eliminated and getting a running back or tight end could still be considered a luxury. Heck, you could even throw in punter if a decent one shows up late in the draft.
It may go against the Steeler Way (TM) but it has put the team in a much better position to win than they were a month ago. And shouldn’t that really be what the Steeler Way (TM) is about?
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