Gazing Ahead: The Offseason as a whole
By now you have heard in intricate detail the pros and cons
of each draft pick and provocative analysis by the staff at Stillers.com. It�s
time to look ahead and see how the draft fits into the offseason as a whole.
First, the fact that the Stillers did not draft a TE should
not deter Kevin Colbert from cutting Mark Bruener. He is oft-injured and adds
very little to the passing game. The Stillers can probably find a RFA (Rookie
free agent) that is a yeoman blocker, as Bruener is often referred to, that
will cost much less. Tuman is coming into his own; he and Riemersma should
really be able to open the middle of the field and give the Stillers two good
tight ends. This will stop teams from being able to double HW and Plax.
Ivan Taylor is my favorite pick of the draft (with Polamula
coming in a close second). Obviously, he could be a bust, but his upside is so
tantalizing. If he pans out, it will give the Stillers four corners
(Washington, Scott, Taylor, Townsend) that have above average cover skills and
signal the end of Hank Poteat. Poteat�s only contribution was in the return
game but ARE, Mays and Taylor will be able to handle those duties just fine.
Taylor was also a bit of an animal at Louisiana Lafayette knocking four people
out of the game in 2002. He also had a terrific game against Texas A&M, for
those who don�t think he played against any stiff competition.
Kudos to KC for trading up to get Troy Polamula, and not
staying at 1-27 and signing UFA Sammy Knight. Polamula has two things Knight
does not have, youth and speed. Polamula will start on September 7th, however,
Cowher will not just give him the job but make him earn it in training camp.
Signing Kwame Lassiter makes even more sense now. By signing Lassiter, you have
Polamula and Logan at SS and Hope and Lassiter at FS. This would be a major
upgrade over what we had last year. Burnt Alexander would join HP on the list
of ex-Steelers, and Chidi whatever can battle with the RFA�s for the ninth DB
spot on the roster. (Unless Cowher only keeps 8, then it�s off to the practice
squad)
Interesting that the B&G did not draft a rb, I was not
against it in the later rounds. It�s just that if Bettis really has gotten in
shape he is a perfect complementary back to Zereoue. As hard as I�ve been on
Bettis, I�d love to see a healthy, in shape Bettis available in the playoffs.
However, he needs to be a backup and get no more than ten carries a game. Give
him 20 carries a game, and he will get injured by mid-season and not be a
factor in the playoffs. One thing to keep an eye on in training camp is Verron
Haynes pushing the oft-injured Fu for the job of 3rd down back now
that Kreider has a backup. (JT Wall FB, Georgia)
Brian St. Pierre may have been a waste of a pick, although
the B&G is set at QB with Maddox and Batch and KC (Kevin Colbert) can
afford to take a chance with this pick. Maddox has 3 to 5 years left and I
believe Batch is a capable backup. Past performance is usually the best
indicator of future production. Based on this assumption, I am willing to give
KC the benefit of the doubt on Alonzo Jackson, he could become a very good 3-4
OLB. He is a natural at rushing the passer, with huge hands and a quick burst.
They were talking about Michael McCrary and Kevin Gildon on ESPN. They were not
the fastest or most athletic guys, but had a knack at getting to the QB.
Coverage skills could be a minus, but he can�t do much worse than Gildong.
A note on rookies getting a case of the bench rot. If they
perform at practice and Cowher won�t play them, that is a problem. However, in
football you need to be a practice player like no other sport if you want to
play in the game. In baseball you have 162 games and very little meaningful
practice to evaluate talent once the season starts. In addition, you have a
farm system to evaluate young talent, and with so many games the GM can toy
with several lineups. In basketball and hockey, you also have much more games
than practices and good young players will have the opportunity to show what
they can do in a game situation. Football is unique in that you have about 35
meaningful practices versus 4 preseason games in training camp to evaluate
talent. In practice, football is one of the hardest sports to simulate the
chaos once the ball snaps in a real game. With only 16 games, it�s a big risk
to put in a rookie on a contending team that has not mastered the technique and
nuances of their position. This is true even if the rookie demonstrates greater
athletic ability in practice. To get on the field a rookie must be a very good
practice player. Now, this is not an excuse for keeping a player like Poteat on
for three years without figuring out he�s terrible. Then he gets on the field
and looks like he never had the talent in the first place and should not be on
an NFL roster. One thing that we have very little access to is watching
practice, unless you attend training camp on a regular basis. This is just a
difficult area to judge Cowher�s performance.
There have been several grades for the B&G�s draft, so
I�ll give Colbert a grade for the off-season thus far. He has earned a B grade,
mostly for his Riemersma signing and choosing to trade up for Polamula and end
talks with Sammy Knight. (Note, this grade could raise to an �A� by signing
Kwame Lassiter, cutting Mark Bruener and finding one RFA that can make a
significant contribution by making the roster and improving the special teams)