Steelers 2012 Mock Draft vers 1.0

[MDSteel15]

Originally Posted by Dalarin

Anyone who knows Colon's history has been asking for that for years

^^^^

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Originally Posted by devin7558

my bad, he officially "started" 29 games but played in every game from day one on campus
my point with that is that he played and produced and was durable. he wasnt a 1 year wonder
and he improved every season he was there. and 107 tackles in college is a hefty total.

I did watch the tape of him. (mostly top conference opponents like USC, Stanford, Oregon) and he was all over the field. the only player i ever saw "engulf" him was David DeCastro from Stanford and it was rare. Against USC on one play he rushed the passer and blasted matt kalil backward off the ball into the pocket only to have the ball dumped by the QB to the flat. he disengaged from kalil and chased the RB down from behind...the result was like a 2yd gain.

i do see your point with the dpoy not equating to being a stud at the nfl level but it doesnt hurt the chances either...

You seemed to be implying that he played 53 games at Cal and all at ILB. He only played last season at ILB and in 2010 he was an OLB in their 3-4 defense.

I'm not saying he isnt a good player, but do find it amusing that very few people knew about him prior to the combine and those that did seemed to think he was probably a better OLB pass rush specialist.

Watch this video vs Stanford and you see Kendricks hopping in the middle and waiting to diagnose run plays. He doesnt read the play and move forward. In the first 2 minutes you see him flat footed waiting for the play to develop and DeCastro finds him downfield.
- Then at 2:08 you see Tyler Mabry #77 of Stanford block off Kendricks for a TD.
-at 5:01 you see Cameron Fleming #73 of Stanford just swallow him up and take him for a ride 10 yards out of the play.
- at 5:51 you see him on 3rd and 1 waiting 5 yards deep for the ballcarrier.




Kendricks is a great athlete. A lot of O linemen are of the caliber of David DeCastro in the NFL and a lot are much better than Tyler Mabry and Cameron Fleming are. Kendricks is a bigger term project than many combine watchers think.

[devin7558]

Originally Posted by El-Gonzo Jackson

You seemed to be implying that he played 53 games at Cal and all at ILB. He only played last season at ILB and in 2010 he was an OLB in their 3-4 defense.

I'm not saying he isnt a good player, but do find it amusing that very few people knew about him prior to the combine and those that did seemed to think he was probably a better OLB pass rush specialist.

Watch this video vs Stanford and you see Kendricks hopping in the middle and waiting to diagnose run plays. He doesnt read the play and move forward. In the first 2 minutes you see him flat footed waiting for the play to develop and DeCastro finds him downfield.
- Then at 2:08 you see Tyler Mabry #77 of Stanford block off Kendricks for a TD.
-at 5:01 you see Cameron Fleming #73 of Stanford just swallow him up and take him for a ride 10 yards out of the play.
- at 5:51 you see him on 3rd and 1 waiting 5 yards deep for the ballcarrier.




Kendricks is a great athlete. A lot of O linemen are of the caliber of David DeCastro in the NFL and a lot are much better than Tyler Mabry and Cameron Fleming are. Kendricks is a bigger term project than many combine watchers think.

point taken sir! ^^^^theres some good points in there
i told you im just a straight up fan of kendricks. i think he has all the main tools, a good attitude and a very high ceiling potential wise. I look at him more from a standpoint of: what could LB's Coach Keith Butler and Coordinator Dick Lebeau turn him into in a season or two?? He could be scary.

(Not to mention the fact that the NT/DT's at Cal couldnt command double teams EVER and a lot of the time Kendricks was playing face up to a guard...he maybe able to just attack gaps in a Steeler 3-4)

His ability as a pure run stuffer is indeed just average. But he brings other important skills to the table to compensate. I just dont see a huge dire "need" to replace Farriors "run stuffing ability" as he only had 78 tackles last season. Most LB's anywhere could replace that production.

Maybe the "need" at ILB isnt as bad as we assume it is and waiting to select it is a better idea??

[devin7558]

im going to work on a revised version 2.0 and possibly 3.0 mock leading up to this draft simply for specualtion on here. i may adjust some of the "need" picks we all assume the steelers are aiming at and pick with a little less personal bias this time around.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Originally Posted by devin7558

point taken sir! ^^^^theres some good points in there
i told you im just a straight up fan of kendricks. i think he has all the main tools, a good attitude and a very high ceiling potential wise. I look at him more from a standpoint of: what could LB's Coach Keith Butler and Coordinator Dick Lebeau turn him into in a season or two?? He could be scary.

(Not to mention the fact that the NT/DT's at Cal couldnt command double teams EVER and a lot of the time Kendricks was playing face up to a guard...he maybe able to just attack gaps in a Steeler 3-4)

His ability as a pure run stuffer is indeed just average. But he brings other important skills to the table to compensate. I just dont see a huge dire "need" to replace Farriors "run stuffing ability" as he only had 78 tackles last season. Most LB's anywhere could replace that production.

Maybe the "need" at ILB isnt as bad as we assume it is and waiting to select it is a better idea??

Compare the tackles of the players that played ILB in 2011, vs the Steelers ILB's from 2010. You will see less production by the ILB's in 2011........part of that could be that Hampton was not as effective in keeping linemen off the ILB's last season.

Also, take a look at Ryan Clarks tackles, I believe they were up which might indicate that our FS needed to make more tackles, because our ILB's were getting blocked and RB's were getting to the secondary.

I think the needs in the middle of the defense, specifically upgrading Hampton and Farrior , are necessary. Especially since our run defense declined last year.

Kendricks is fast, can jump high, but doesnt take a good first step to the ball and does not engage O-linemen well in run support. I like his skill set, but think he is a bit of a project that is really over rated right now.

[pancake]

Round #2 (57) ILB Mychal Kendricks California

This is the best video on him that I found. He wift on several tackles and got swallowed up by OL several times, but this guy does hustle, just not sure he is 2nd round material...

[devin7558]

I agree with all those points for the most part. Personally I see NT as a much bigger need and so is OG/T simply to keep ben healthy for these next 5 years so we can keep contending. Ball games are won in the trench's. I would not mind seeing them use a pair of picks on those spots early in this draft. The problem is that we are so cap-strapped we need depth all over the place.

I think something worth noting is that back when the steelers selected Hampton in 2001 he was rated the #8 DT on kipers list. so the general consensus (outside of cowher and colbert) is he was not a 1st round type guy that year. we may see another NT selection that goes that way as well.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Originally Posted by pancake

Round #2 (57) ILB Mychal Kendricks California

This is the best video on him that I found. He wift on several tackles and got swallowed up by OL several times, but this guy does hustle, just not sure he is 2nd round material...

I agree. I think he is a guy with huge "potential", but potential doesnt always pay off.

Originally Posted by devin7558

I agree with all those points for the most part. Personally I see NT as a much bigger need and so is OG/T simply to keep ben healthy for these next 5 years so we can keep contending. Ball games are won in the trench's. I would not mind seeing them use a pair of picks on those spots early in this draft. The problem is that we are so cap-strapped we need depth all over the place.

I think something worth noting is that back when the steelers selected Hampton in 2001 he was rated the #8 DT on kipers list. so the general consensus (outside of cowher and colbert) is he was not a 1st round type guy that year. we may see another NT selection that goes that way as well.

Not exactly true. I remember that draft vividly and there was a lot of talented DT's on that list. Gerard Warren, Marcus Stroud, Richard Seymour, Kris Jenkins, Shaun rogers, Ryan Pickett, etc. Hampton was a late 1st rounder, in a group with a lot of talent and probably the best NT on the board at the time.

Mel Kiper also said the Steelers would regret not taking Chad Pennington over Plaxico Burress in the draft............................dont always trust Kiper is the learning point there.

[devin7558]

yeah, that 2001 draft was very deep with DL talent...i remember seeing hampton graded anywhere from a late late 1st rounder to a possible early third rounder but a lot of that was based on scout preference as it usually is...

I always heard Colbert /Cowher saw Stroud and LB Dan Morgan taken and they didnt want to reach at #16 on Hampton. So they traded it to the Jets and moved back to #19 (plus a 4th and 6th). They discussed moving back again but instead took the 3rd highest guy on their board still available in Hampton. Worked out pretty well.

Colbert also moved up in the 2nd Rd and selected Kendrell Bell. Draft day trades in the 1st and 2nd round are somewhat rare for the Steelers but Colbert placed heavy value on that NT/ILB combo. Maybe he will be willing to wheel and deal to get what he wants at those spots over a decade later.