Did the Steelers trade away a top 5 pick?
- Thread starter HailtoPitt
- Start date
Pittsburgh sports fans are in for a repeat of the 80s. It's going to get ugly across the board.
I didn't want to say this but you are correct!
Just wait as this rock rolls downhill.
I think most fans would have been giddy the past two years on draft day if they were told they would be drafting Bush and Fitzpatrick in consecutive years.
Top 5 doubtful, but maybe top 10.
I don't mind the trade because their 1st round picks haven't been good. Last 5 have produced Watt. And no, I'm not high on Devin Bush. Fitzpatrick is a known quantity.
I don't mind the trade because their 1st round picks haven't been good. Last 5 have produced Watt. And no, I'm not high on Devin Bush. Fitzpatrick is a known quantity.
Based on what I saw from him today, Fitz may be as good, or better than whatever they may have drafted next year.
Even if they did, the Steelers acquired a guy who they and others had as a top 5 pick last year. And he had already proven himself.
So they gave up 1 year under his entry level contract but saved a big salary cap hit and got a proven talent that would have went top 5 last year except for all the teams reaching for QBs
So they gave up 1 year under his entry level contract but saved a big salary cap hit and got a proven talent that would have went top 5 last year except for all the teams reaching for QBs
I do have a problem with the trade. They are banking on doing something this year. They are 0-3 with a rookie QB taking over. The problem is, they don't seem to be able to draft and develop players on defense and have to rely on other teams. What if the Steelers go 4-12? They could. That is a top 5 pick. And your second pick isn't too far from where their normal 1st rd pick is.
So you are saying you would rather see Tomlin and Colbert draft a player than have a player who yesterday had an interception and caused a fumble. Can you say Artie Burns!
Imagine if the Steelers drafted Marino in 83. Stage was set perfectly. Stoudt started in, but stunk out the place; Marino comes in relief to save the 1983 season. With the talent still on the team, they probably are able to win 83 & maybe more super bowls.
Kevin Colbert has been absolutely elite with 1st round picks since he became GM. He's not perfect, but I challenge you to find a better GM than this:
2000 8 Plaxico Burress
2001 19 Casey Hampton
2002 30 Kendall Simmons
2003 16 Troy Polamalu
2004 11 Ben Roethlisberger
2005 30 Heath Miller
2006 25 Santonio Holmes
2007 15 Lawrence Timmons
2008 23 Rashard Mendenhall
2009 32 Evander Hood
2010 18 Maurkice Pouncey
2011 31 Cameron Heyward
2012 24 David DeCastro
2013 17 Jarvis Jones
2014 15 Ryan Shazier
2015 22 Bud Dupree
2016 25 Artie Burns
2017 30 T. J. Watt
2018 28 Terrell Edmunds
2019 10 Devin Bush
He's had 2 picks in the top 10 in 19 drafts. His average first round pick is #23. 23! Do you know how many HoF players have been drafted between picks 20-32? A total of 4.
I supported the trade because we're bad at drafting DBs (probably because most of the good ones are gone by #23) and Fitzpatrick is the real deal. But it's ridiculous to suggest that Colbert hasn't gotten it done at the top of the draft.
The SF game wasn't pretty, but Pittsburgh always sucks going out to California, the 49ers D is solid and I think Rudolph will improve with action and better play calling.
I think they miss the playoffs, but still end up 7-9 or 8-8. Their division is bad and the still have Arizona and the Jets to play. That would put their pick in the 12-16 range, where they wouldn't be able to take a top QB anyway. I can live with it since they plugged a huge hole at safety. Frankly they just need to ride with Rudolph at QB to see if he is the 1st round talent they thought. They still have issues at WR and need to get younger talent on the line and at corner. So that should be their focus.
I think they miss the playoffs, but still end up 7-9 or 8-8. Their division is bad and the still have Arizona and the Jets to play. That would put their pick in the 12-16 range, where they wouldn't be able to take a top QB anyway. I can live with it since they plugged a huge hole at safety. Frankly they just need to ride with Rudolph at QB to see if he is the 1st round talent they thought. They still have issues at WR and need to get younger talent on the line and at corner. So that should be their focus.
I always laugh when I hear people crapping on the Steelers drafting success because of Jarvis Jones or Ziggy Hood. Just about any team in the league would take their success rate on 1st rounders. DBs have been like kryptonite, but for a team to draft where they do, they have gotten a lot of star players on the 1st day.
Ask them who they would have taken instead.
The 2009 draft was hot garbage. We could have had Patrick Chung but we were set at safety with Polamalu and Clark. No one between picks 32 and 41 made a single Pro Bowl during their whole career.
2013 was a better draft insofar as there were some good players taken after Jones but we desperately needed pass rushers. Lamar Woodley was washed and had 4 sacks (2013 was his last year with the Steelers) and Worilds had 5. People thought Jarvis Jones was a potential top 10 talent. Eric Reid, Desmond Trufant, or Xavier Rhodes would have been ideal with the benefit of hindsight. But again, there were 4, 3-4 OLB prospects with a 1st round grade. 3 of them were top 5 picks. We got the one who wasn't. We can only draft the guys in the pool. What do you expect him to do? Invent a pass rusher out of thin air?
Sorry but you make that trade every day and never look back. Best case, they do draft top 10 and get the next franchise QB but there's a better chance they don't.
My only gripe is when they tends to draft need over best player. Taking DeCastro when he dropped was awesome. A lot of fans bitched about drafting "another linebacker" when they took Shazier but he was a great addition.
I do know this....going back in Steelers history....
1988 15th overall Huey Richardson. OLB Florida
1996 72nd overall Steven Conley. OLB Arkansas
2001 39th overall. Kendall Bell. ILB Georgia (good pick but Inside)
2003 59th overall. Alonzo Jackson OLB Florida.
2013 17th overall. Jarvis Jones OLB Georgia.
2015 22nd overall. Bud Dupree OLB Kentucky.
The Steelers should NEVER, EVER take another SEC OLB in the top 3 rounds again.
1988 15th overall Huey Richardson. OLB Florida
1996 72nd overall Steven Conley. OLB Arkansas
2001 39th overall. Kendall Bell. ILB Georgia (good pick but Inside)
2003 59th overall. Alonzo Jackson OLB Florida.
2013 17th overall. Jarvis Jones OLB Georgia.
2015 22nd overall. Bud Dupree OLB Kentucky.
The Steelers should NEVER, EVER take another SEC OLB in the top 3 rounds again.
Zo Jackson was a Nole, not a Gator.
Maybe they should only draft Kent State linebackers?
I hated the bush pick, or should I say I hated the what it took to get him. I remember reading that one draft guru was saying that he would have been the 5th best ilb had he come out the year before but he was being pushed up by the lack of quality ilb. Steelers were to stupid to pick a ilb the year before when the glut of ilb pushed guys like Leonard down. It's been a shit show with this organization makes by a few great players and a good but aging ol
Problem with that list is at the bottom 6 years, not counting bush as it's way to early to judge him.
J jones complete bust
Shazier good pick but injury
Dupree bust not as bad as jones but a bust
Burns complete bust
Watt good pick
Edmund's incomplete but signs pointing to a dupree like career
So 4 out of the last 6 have been bad that's not good
Won't argue there, but again, it's hard to find good DBs and pass rushers when you're picking #21 (the average of those picks).
2015 - Dupree: We needed pass rushers or DBs because Jones wasn't the answer. Once again, the good pass rushers are off the board in the top 8 (Fowler and Beasley) and there are no more 3-4 OLBs except Dupree. I liked Byron Jones who went 27 but we really, really needed pass rushers. Picks 22-50 had literally 2 good players
2016 - Burns: Bengals jump in front of us and draft my guy William Jackson III. We needed DB help badly. The next few picks were gross for everyone. Around 34 it gets interesting with Jaylon Smith but we couldn't take him in the 1st. Myles Jack and Xavien Howard would have been good but they went 12+ picks later. Didn't love Burns pick at the time but he had the measurables for a CB1 so I held out hope. Unfortunately it just hasn't worked.
2017 - Watt. We nailed this.
2018 - Edmonds: Hated the pick at the time but be honest, would you have wanted Lamar Jackson here to sit behind Ben for 3+ more years? I wouldn't. I liked Gesicki and Dallas Goedert but neither have really stood out in the NFL. Other than that, I don't see anyone who would have been better, and again, it's a position of need.
The real issue is that it's just hard to find pass rush/DB help late in the 1st. And that's where we pick every year. So it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy to waste those picks looking for difference makers at pick 21.
This year I would have liked Grant Delpit but I still don't think we pick in the top 5 which is where he's going. I'm not sure Bryce Hall or the CB from Ohio State are better than Fitzpatick. The PAC-12's best CB from Stanford got WORKED by UCF.
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