Stillers 2013 Draft Looksee
The Stillers will embark on one of their most critical drafts in recent memory. Holes abound all over, not dissimilar from the Titanic. Needs are prevalent and, well, this roster is quite needy.
I shall reiterate what I often say each year...you must draft the BPFA -- Best Football Player Available. Not merely best athlete, but best football player. This is caveated a bit with a needs-based analysis; you may need to examine needs if 2 draftees are equal, and, of course, you may need to avoid spending a 1st rounder on a position that might be very deep. Of course, never do a rabid reach simply for need. This is what produces the likes of Jamain Stephens.
I see two viable BFPA available for the Stillers at #17 -- Safety Kenny Vaccaro, or TE Tyler Eifert. OLB Jarvis Jones is also a plausible candidate, but his medical condition of spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal, is a large concern.
I like Vaccaro’s size and athleticism at safety. Many articles and experts have referred to Vaccaro has a future replacement for Troy Pola. Screw that. He ought to be a quick replacement for Ryan Clark, a slow-footed, unathletic FS who makes a play on a passed football as often as Big Ben rips off 20-yard runs. A major problem with this softee, slowpoke defense is that they have such few playmakers and no balhawking, and Clark is a major culprit.
I’m really high on Eifert, and if the Stillers think highly of him as a BFPA, he must be considered if available. This is a player who literally will come in and START from day 1, because there’s no way Heath Miller, coming off late-season ACL surgery, will be 95% any time before mid-October. We all know that Matthew Speath sucks, and Paulsen is a standard #2 TE. David Johnson sucks elephant gonad. Even if, or when, Miller returns, Eifert -- who can flex into the slot or out wide -- would give Ben a 2-TE look that would give defenses immense matchup problems. Eiefert is also an adequate run blocker, which is enormously critical, due to the youth and lack of depth on this O-line, as well as the supposed renewed emphasis that will be placed on the ground game. Thus, a TE like Eifert will be a key cog in 45-plus snaps a game., either as a receiver or a blocker.
Jarvis Jonesie may be an adequate pick. I have concerns, both with his medical condition, plus his gawd-awful, slower than pond-water 40-time. The other concern is Momlin and LeBeau’s assaholic insistence on serving an apprenticeship. Keenan Lewis rotted and rotted....and then played just ONE season before departing as a free agent. Big LaMarr rotted his rookie season behind a very mediocre, non-descript OLB in Clark Haggans. The list is nearly endless.
(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close….)
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