mesaSteeler
05-10-2010, 10:28 PM
Setting The Table: 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers Draft Review
http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2010/5/10/1465497/setting-the-table-2009-pittsburgh#storyjump
by David Banks
***********
SETTING THE TABLE FOR THE DRAFT
The tough, blue-collar tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers has been around for about as long as the team has participated in the NFL. Rugged Bill Saul, who played middle linebacker for the Steelers in the 1960s, said, "Teams may beat us on the scoreboard, but they pay the price physically. Teams often lose the week after they play us. There's a reason for that." For decades, a high level of aggression on the field was about all the joy Steelers' fans could expect every season and every Sunday.
The championship tradition of the Steelers did not begin until head coach Chuck Noll was hired 40 years ago. One of the first - and most important - orders of business for Noll was to strongly advocate the selection of defensive tackle Joe Greene from North Texas State University with the fourth overall selection of the 1969 NFL Draft. Greene was undoubtedly the gem of that draft, but it also produced defensive end L.C. Greenwood and offensive tackle Jon Kolb. Over the next five drafts, culminating in 1974 with the selection of four future Hall of Famers in the first five rounds (Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster), the Steelers completed the foundation for the Steel Curtain and a dynasty unequalled in modern NFL times. Using that prolonged period of success evaluating talent, the Steelers drew up the blueprint for building championship teams and have been the league's most faithful adherent to it, through good times and bad.
Times are good once more, with the Steelers winning Lombardi Trophies five and six in the last four years. As was the case during the dynastic years of the ‘70s, and to a lesser extent during the ‘90s, there is a direct correlation between success at the draft table and success on the field - and not just in terms of successfully drafting talent, but also in how the organization approaches scouting and player development.
There is a Steeler way of doing things - an often imitated but never recreated combination of toughness, talent, heart and high football IQ. Those selected to don the black and gold are trained to reflect Steeler traditions established by the consistency of only three coaching regimes in 40 years and a single and involved presiding ownership family. Simply put, the formula works.
"I like to describe being drafted by the Steelers as getting accepted in a graduate school program," said former NFL scout, assistant coach and administrator Pat Kirwan, now a respected senior analyst at NFL.com. "They are going to teach you how to play the ‘Steeler way' before they ever ask you to perform."
That proven formula didn't stop Director of Football Operations for the Steelers, Kevin Colbert, from raising the stakes as he prepared for his 10th draft this past April as the final voice for the organization's personnel decisions. On the surface, the Steelers seem set. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is just now entering his prime years, with two Super Bowls already on his resume, and a growing reputation as a big-game player in the mold of Terry Bradshaw. There are plenty of weapons around him. The defense is dominant. Mike Tomlin, one of the league's youngest coaches, has already proved to be a unique motivator, teacher and team-builder. He needed just two years to win a Super Bowl and, in doing so, became the youngest head coach ever to hoist the Lombardi Trophy at just 36 years of age. His coaching staff doesn't want to leave and his players leave it all on the field, every week.
This past off-season the Steelers lost two players to free agency. Cornerback Bryant McFadden and No.3 wide receiver Nate Washington were both key contributors, but the Steelers seem confident in William Gay and Limas Sweed as replacements at the cornerback and wide receiver positions, respectively. They waited until the day before the draft before signing their first free agent from another team, former Indianapolis backup cornerback Keiwan Ratliff.
So Colbert undoubtedly took many people by surprise when, a few days before the Draft, he said: "We need for it to be a special Draft. We lost a couple of guys in free agency off a good team. We get the majority of our players back, but we have to account for some of the guys that are no longer with us and further deletions ... as our cap situations continue to move forward and evolve."
What happened last season, from the Steelers' perspective, is already in the past. "That special group of men in that locker room at the end of that game - that's gone forever," Tomlin said the day after beating the Arizona Cardinals. "There will be a new 53-man (roster) ... nothing stays the same in this game."
Far away from the bright lights and glory of Super Bowl-winning press conferences, off-season television appearances, movie premieres and celebrity golf tournaments, the Steelers acknowledged there were numerous areas that needed to be addressed if they wanted to continue to compete for another championship in the immediate future. The defensive line is stout but aging, with all three starters and all but one of the three top backups over 30 years of age. The much-maligned offensive line contributed to Roethlisberger being sacked 46 times. The renowned Steelers' power running game struggled all year, culminating in Tomlin opting to kick a field goal early in the Super Bowl, despite the goal line being just inches away. Sweed's struggles in limited appearances left the team with no proven depth behind starters Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward. The departure of McFadden and the not-too-distant retirement of veteran Deshea Townsend left the team in need of cornerbacks. The Steelers were returning kickoffs with a fullback (Carey Davis) and a short-yardage specialist (Gary Russell). Unless Holmes was on the field, a positive punt return was a fair catch.
Perhaps most importantly, the Steelers' front office is looking ahead to a difficult 2010 off-season filled with free agent veteran starters, as well as costly contract renegotiations with young stars LaMarr Woodley and Holmes within a very tight cap framework. The process of finding and grooming replacements, as well as lowering the overall team salary structure to allow the re-signing of the most important free agents, had to start this year. They needed new talent in specific areas, but it had to be talent that fit into a 40-year Steeler tradition.
"How much are you willing to be seduced by talent?" Tomlin replied to a question about the Steelers' approach to the draft. "One of the things we've talked about, quite frankly, is that we're not going to allow that to happen ... The things you can't measure - the character, the toughness, the smarts - we're more inclined to be seduced by those things."
DAY ONE AT THE DRAFT TABLE - ZIGGY'S NEW NEIGHBORHOOD
If there was one thing Steeler fans could be reasonably sure of when the 2009 NFL Draft kicked off, it was that the team's first-round pick would be a solid player. Colbert has not missed on a first-round pick since taking over in 2000. Whether by trading up, trading back or waiting patiently for the best player available, each of his picks from 2000-06 (Plaxico Burress, Casey Hampton, Kendall Simmons, Troy Polamalu, Roethlisberger and Heath Miller) became a starter by his second season. All but Burress - the lone first-rounder lost to free agency in Colbert's tenure - were starters when the team began the 2008 season. The 2007 first-rounder, linebacker Lawrence Timmons, split time with Larry Foote last year and will start in 2009. The 2008 first-rounder, running back Rashard Mendenhall, started one game in his rookie season as an injury replacement for Willie Parker. Mendenhall didn't make it out of that game, suffering a shoulder injury on a train-wreck of a hit from Ray Lewis, but will likely share running back duties with Parker this year.
"If you miss on a first-rounder, to me that's inexcusable," said Colbert, who has not had to try to make any excuses for first-round selections.
However, at No. 32 overall, thanks to the Super Bowl victory, there was no clear indication of who that first-round pick would be. Most draft prognosticators finally settled on a trio of centers with the versatility to play guard or center: Alex Mack, Eric Wood and Max Unger. Mack was considered to be the best pure center, Unger the most versatile and Wood the most physical at either guard or center. Defensive lineman Evander (Ziggy) Hood, an energetic one-gap tackle from Missouri who didn't necessarily leap out as a 3-4 defensive end prospect, seemed unlikely to last to the 32nd pick. At least half a dozen other candidates at offensive tackle, cornerback and wide receiver sprouted up in mock predictions.
The three key teams in determining the Steelers' pick were Cleveland, Indianapolis and Buffalo. The Browns traded down three times in the first round before selecting Mack 21st overall. The Colts, in need of a defensive tackle, selected running back Donald Brown of Connecticut 27th overall. The Bills, in need of help all along the offensive line and with Mack already gone along with the four top offensive tackles, chose Louisville's Wood at No. 28. The Tennessee Titans, having lost defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth in free agency, might have also been considering defensive line at No. 30. Perhaps encouraged by rookie Jason Jones' performance (three and a half sacks) as Haynesworth's replacement in a late-season game against the Steelers, the Titans opted for wide receiver Kenny Britt.
The Steelers wasted no time picking Ziggy Hood, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the selection of Joe Greene by taking another defensive lineman from Texas (Amarillo). Yes, the physical talent and athletic measurables of the 6-3, 300-pound Hood were seductive. He had been outstanding not only on the field at Missouri against the pass-happy offenses of the Big 12, but also at the Senior Bowl and the Combine. The Steelers were ultimately seduced by the character, toughness and intelligence he had demonstrated at every stage of his four-year college career and postseason evaluation.
"We liked him from a football standpoint when we saw him play in the fall," said Colbert. "It was exciting to see him available when we were picking at 32. He was just somebody that we felt good about from the first time that we scouted him until when we saw him at the Senior Bowl. When we met up with him at the Combine, everything kept adding up that this is a high-quality player and person."
"Ziggy Hood is a Steeler type of player - there are no holes in this guy," added Tomlin. "He is a high character guy. He plays; he has a hot motor. He loves the game of football. He is a captain, leader and good football player."
Hood says he is ready to take on the challenge of being a Steeler.
"You're on a pedestal to perform, especially in a city like this that prides itself on its football team," says Hood, whose nickname was given by his grandmother. "You have to live up to the history, what the team produces, and all the great D-linemen that came out of here. I am going to give it everything I've got, and hustle is going to be my No. 1 priority. I may not be the biggest, strongest, fastest guy out there. But I'm going to give everything I've got and I won't ever quit on a play."
Defensive line coach John Mitchell has already seen that on the tape.
"Here is a guy who can run and plays with a good motor," said Mitchell. "This guy stays on his feet. He is going to give you 60 minutes of football. He is a strong guy; he is very intelligent. He is not going to have any problems coming in here learning our scheme. The things that he has done at Missouri are very similar to the things that we are going to ask him to do here."
At the draft table, the Steelers were waiting, wondering and then hitting the phones before determining what to do with their second-round pick. Colbert admitted some interest in trading up (reportedly for Unger, who went 49th overall to Seattle), but didn't find the right partner at the right spot. The Steelers' draft board started to show there was more value in the third round. When Denver expressed interest in moving up, Colbert went into action, trading the 64th pick and the Steelers fourth-rounder to the Broncos for two third-round picks (79th and 84th overall).
"It was a chance to pick up some extra picks," explained Colbert. "It was a nice group of guys left and rather than just taking one of those guys, I think we will have a good chance at getting three. We got to the point were we looked at what was left in the second round and thought this was the better option, the Denver deal."
DAY TWO AT THE DRAFT: EIGHT MORE IS ENOUGH
For diehard Steelers' fans, Day Two of the Draft was like going through a supermarket with a grocery list of eight items and finding them all in Aisle One. It was beautiful to watch, with need meeting value like clockwork and Colbert addressing each area of team concern with logical (and fan-friendly) picks.
1. Round 3 (79). Big nasty interior O-lineman? Check: G Kraig Urbik (Wisconsin; 6-5, 328).
2. Round 3 (84). Speedy receiver with return ability? Check: WR Mike Wallace (Mississippi; 6-0, 200).
3. Round 3 (96). Big cornerback? Check: CB Keenan Lewis (Oregon State; 6-1, 195).
4. Round 5 (168). Defensive back with return ability? Check: CB Joe Burnett (Central Florida; 5-9, 190).
5. Round 5 (169). Power runner? Check: RB Frank (The Tank) Summers (Las Vegas; 5-9, 240).
6. Round 6 (205). Defensive line depth? Check: DE Ra'Shon (Sonny) Harris (Oregon; 6-4, 298).
7. Round 7 (226). Interior O-line depth? Check: C A.Q. Shipley (Penn State; 6-1, 304).
8. Round 7 (241). Better run-blocking? Check: TE/FB David Johnson (Arkansas State; 6-2, 260).
http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2010/5/10/1465497/setting-the-table-2009-pittsburgh#storyjump
by David Banks
***********
SETTING THE TABLE FOR THE DRAFT
The tough, blue-collar tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers has been around for about as long as the team has participated in the NFL. Rugged Bill Saul, who played middle linebacker for the Steelers in the 1960s, said, "Teams may beat us on the scoreboard, but they pay the price physically. Teams often lose the week after they play us. There's a reason for that." For decades, a high level of aggression on the field was about all the joy Steelers' fans could expect every season and every Sunday.
The championship tradition of the Steelers did not begin until head coach Chuck Noll was hired 40 years ago. One of the first - and most important - orders of business for Noll was to strongly advocate the selection of defensive tackle Joe Greene from North Texas State University with the fourth overall selection of the 1969 NFL Draft. Greene was undoubtedly the gem of that draft, but it also produced defensive end L.C. Greenwood and offensive tackle Jon Kolb. Over the next five drafts, culminating in 1974 with the selection of four future Hall of Famers in the first five rounds (Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster), the Steelers completed the foundation for the Steel Curtain and a dynasty unequalled in modern NFL times. Using that prolonged period of success evaluating talent, the Steelers drew up the blueprint for building championship teams and have been the league's most faithful adherent to it, through good times and bad.
Times are good once more, with the Steelers winning Lombardi Trophies five and six in the last four years. As was the case during the dynastic years of the ‘70s, and to a lesser extent during the ‘90s, there is a direct correlation between success at the draft table and success on the field - and not just in terms of successfully drafting talent, but also in how the organization approaches scouting and player development.
There is a Steeler way of doing things - an often imitated but never recreated combination of toughness, talent, heart and high football IQ. Those selected to don the black and gold are trained to reflect Steeler traditions established by the consistency of only three coaching regimes in 40 years and a single and involved presiding ownership family. Simply put, the formula works.
"I like to describe being drafted by the Steelers as getting accepted in a graduate school program," said former NFL scout, assistant coach and administrator Pat Kirwan, now a respected senior analyst at NFL.com. "They are going to teach you how to play the ‘Steeler way' before they ever ask you to perform."
That proven formula didn't stop Director of Football Operations for the Steelers, Kevin Colbert, from raising the stakes as he prepared for his 10th draft this past April as the final voice for the organization's personnel decisions. On the surface, the Steelers seem set. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is just now entering his prime years, with two Super Bowls already on his resume, and a growing reputation as a big-game player in the mold of Terry Bradshaw. There are plenty of weapons around him. The defense is dominant. Mike Tomlin, one of the league's youngest coaches, has already proved to be a unique motivator, teacher and team-builder. He needed just two years to win a Super Bowl and, in doing so, became the youngest head coach ever to hoist the Lombardi Trophy at just 36 years of age. His coaching staff doesn't want to leave and his players leave it all on the field, every week.
This past off-season the Steelers lost two players to free agency. Cornerback Bryant McFadden and No.3 wide receiver Nate Washington were both key contributors, but the Steelers seem confident in William Gay and Limas Sweed as replacements at the cornerback and wide receiver positions, respectively. They waited until the day before the draft before signing their first free agent from another team, former Indianapolis backup cornerback Keiwan Ratliff.
So Colbert undoubtedly took many people by surprise when, a few days before the Draft, he said: "We need for it to be a special Draft. We lost a couple of guys in free agency off a good team. We get the majority of our players back, but we have to account for some of the guys that are no longer with us and further deletions ... as our cap situations continue to move forward and evolve."
What happened last season, from the Steelers' perspective, is already in the past. "That special group of men in that locker room at the end of that game - that's gone forever," Tomlin said the day after beating the Arizona Cardinals. "There will be a new 53-man (roster) ... nothing stays the same in this game."
Far away from the bright lights and glory of Super Bowl-winning press conferences, off-season television appearances, movie premieres and celebrity golf tournaments, the Steelers acknowledged there were numerous areas that needed to be addressed if they wanted to continue to compete for another championship in the immediate future. The defensive line is stout but aging, with all three starters and all but one of the three top backups over 30 years of age. The much-maligned offensive line contributed to Roethlisberger being sacked 46 times. The renowned Steelers' power running game struggled all year, culminating in Tomlin opting to kick a field goal early in the Super Bowl, despite the goal line being just inches away. Sweed's struggles in limited appearances left the team with no proven depth behind starters Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward. The departure of McFadden and the not-too-distant retirement of veteran Deshea Townsend left the team in need of cornerbacks. The Steelers were returning kickoffs with a fullback (Carey Davis) and a short-yardage specialist (Gary Russell). Unless Holmes was on the field, a positive punt return was a fair catch.
Perhaps most importantly, the Steelers' front office is looking ahead to a difficult 2010 off-season filled with free agent veteran starters, as well as costly contract renegotiations with young stars LaMarr Woodley and Holmes within a very tight cap framework. The process of finding and grooming replacements, as well as lowering the overall team salary structure to allow the re-signing of the most important free agents, had to start this year. They needed new talent in specific areas, but it had to be talent that fit into a 40-year Steeler tradition.
"How much are you willing to be seduced by talent?" Tomlin replied to a question about the Steelers' approach to the draft. "One of the things we've talked about, quite frankly, is that we're not going to allow that to happen ... The things you can't measure - the character, the toughness, the smarts - we're more inclined to be seduced by those things."
DAY ONE AT THE DRAFT TABLE - ZIGGY'S NEW NEIGHBORHOOD
If there was one thing Steeler fans could be reasonably sure of when the 2009 NFL Draft kicked off, it was that the team's first-round pick would be a solid player. Colbert has not missed on a first-round pick since taking over in 2000. Whether by trading up, trading back or waiting patiently for the best player available, each of his picks from 2000-06 (Plaxico Burress, Casey Hampton, Kendall Simmons, Troy Polamalu, Roethlisberger and Heath Miller) became a starter by his second season. All but Burress - the lone first-rounder lost to free agency in Colbert's tenure - were starters when the team began the 2008 season. The 2007 first-rounder, linebacker Lawrence Timmons, split time with Larry Foote last year and will start in 2009. The 2008 first-rounder, running back Rashard Mendenhall, started one game in his rookie season as an injury replacement for Willie Parker. Mendenhall didn't make it out of that game, suffering a shoulder injury on a train-wreck of a hit from Ray Lewis, but will likely share running back duties with Parker this year.
"If you miss on a first-rounder, to me that's inexcusable," said Colbert, who has not had to try to make any excuses for first-round selections.
However, at No. 32 overall, thanks to the Super Bowl victory, there was no clear indication of who that first-round pick would be. Most draft prognosticators finally settled on a trio of centers with the versatility to play guard or center: Alex Mack, Eric Wood and Max Unger. Mack was considered to be the best pure center, Unger the most versatile and Wood the most physical at either guard or center. Defensive lineman Evander (Ziggy) Hood, an energetic one-gap tackle from Missouri who didn't necessarily leap out as a 3-4 defensive end prospect, seemed unlikely to last to the 32nd pick. At least half a dozen other candidates at offensive tackle, cornerback and wide receiver sprouted up in mock predictions.
The three key teams in determining the Steelers' pick were Cleveland, Indianapolis and Buffalo. The Browns traded down three times in the first round before selecting Mack 21st overall. The Colts, in need of a defensive tackle, selected running back Donald Brown of Connecticut 27th overall. The Bills, in need of help all along the offensive line and with Mack already gone along with the four top offensive tackles, chose Louisville's Wood at No. 28. The Tennessee Titans, having lost defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth in free agency, might have also been considering defensive line at No. 30. Perhaps encouraged by rookie Jason Jones' performance (three and a half sacks) as Haynesworth's replacement in a late-season game against the Steelers, the Titans opted for wide receiver Kenny Britt.
The Steelers wasted no time picking Ziggy Hood, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the selection of Joe Greene by taking another defensive lineman from Texas (Amarillo). Yes, the physical talent and athletic measurables of the 6-3, 300-pound Hood were seductive. He had been outstanding not only on the field at Missouri against the pass-happy offenses of the Big 12, but also at the Senior Bowl and the Combine. The Steelers were ultimately seduced by the character, toughness and intelligence he had demonstrated at every stage of his four-year college career and postseason evaluation.
"We liked him from a football standpoint when we saw him play in the fall," said Colbert. "It was exciting to see him available when we were picking at 32. He was just somebody that we felt good about from the first time that we scouted him until when we saw him at the Senior Bowl. When we met up with him at the Combine, everything kept adding up that this is a high-quality player and person."
"Ziggy Hood is a Steeler type of player - there are no holes in this guy," added Tomlin. "He is a high character guy. He plays; he has a hot motor. He loves the game of football. He is a captain, leader and good football player."
Hood says he is ready to take on the challenge of being a Steeler.
"You're on a pedestal to perform, especially in a city like this that prides itself on its football team," says Hood, whose nickname was given by his grandmother. "You have to live up to the history, what the team produces, and all the great D-linemen that came out of here. I am going to give it everything I've got, and hustle is going to be my No. 1 priority. I may not be the biggest, strongest, fastest guy out there. But I'm going to give everything I've got and I won't ever quit on a play."
Defensive line coach John Mitchell has already seen that on the tape.
"Here is a guy who can run and plays with a good motor," said Mitchell. "This guy stays on his feet. He is going to give you 60 minutes of football. He is a strong guy; he is very intelligent. He is not going to have any problems coming in here learning our scheme. The things that he has done at Missouri are very similar to the things that we are going to ask him to do here."
At the draft table, the Steelers were waiting, wondering and then hitting the phones before determining what to do with their second-round pick. Colbert admitted some interest in trading up (reportedly for Unger, who went 49th overall to Seattle), but didn't find the right partner at the right spot. The Steelers' draft board started to show there was more value in the third round. When Denver expressed interest in moving up, Colbert went into action, trading the 64th pick and the Steelers fourth-rounder to the Broncos for two third-round picks (79th and 84th overall).
"It was a chance to pick up some extra picks," explained Colbert. "It was a nice group of guys left and rather than just taking one of those guys, I think we will have a good chance at getting three. We got to the point were we looked at what was left in the second round and thought this was the better option, the Denver deal."
DAY TWO AT THE DRAFT: EIGHT MORE IS ENOUGH
For diehard Steelers' fans, Day Two of the Draft was like going through a supermarket with a grocery list of eight items and finding them all in Aisle One. It was beautiful to watch, with need meeting value like clockwork and Colbert addressing each area of team concern with logical (and fan-friendly) picks.
1. Round 3 (79). Big nasty interior O-lineman? Check: G Kraig Urbik (Wisconsin; 6-5, 328).
2. Round 3 (84). Speedy receiver with return ability? Check: WR Mike Wallace (Mississippi; 6-0, 200).
3. Round 3 (96). Big cornerback? Check: CB Keenan Lewis (Oregon State; 6-1, 195).
4. Round 5 (168). Defensive back with return ability? Check: CB Joe Burnett (Central Florida; 5-9, 190).
5. Round 5 (169). Power runner? Check: RB Frank (The Tank) Summers (Las Vegas; 5-9, 240).
6. Round 6 (205). Defensive line depth? Check: DE Ra'Shon (Sonny) Harris (Oregon; 6-4, 298).
7. Round 7 (226). Interior O-line depth? Check: C A.Q. Shipley (Penn State; 6-1, 304).
8. Round 7 (241). Better run-blocking? Check: TE/FB David Johnson (Arkansas State; 6-2, 260).