Steelers at Portland St.

[steelerkeylargo]

2 p.m.: The Steelers took their search for a tight end to Portland State on Wednesday, according to NFL.com.

The Steelers went there to see Julius Thomas, a converted basketball player who looked like a great developmental prospect at the combine. At Indianapolis, the 6-4.5, 246-pounder ran a 4.68 40 and a 6.96 3-cone drill. His vertical jump of 35 1/2 was second best at his position. Thomas had a position-low 16 bench reps, but then again he'd only been on the football team for one season.

After establishing himself as one of the best basketball players in school history, Thomas moved to football last spring and went on to make the All-Big Sky first team by catching 29 passes for 453 yards and 2 touchdowns.

As a basketball player, Thomas played in more games (121) and more winning games (78) than anyone in school history, and he set school records for single-season (.671) and career (.663) field-goal shooting percentage.

Thomas was a four-year letterwinner in basketball and played in the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and 2009. As a power forward, he averaged 10.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game as a senior.

Thomas played football his freshman year in high school before rejoining the sport as a college senior. His light

[Oviedo]

Looking at lots of TEs. I hope that we see them at the Tennessee Pro day looking at Luke Stocker.

Obviously they are either looking to upgrade at the position or putting up one really big smokescreen

[papillon]

Looking at lots of TEs. I hope that we see them at the Tennessee Pro day looking at Luke Stocker.

Obviously they are either looking to upgrade at the position or putting up one really big smokescreen

Getting a good (or better) second tight end wouldn't be horrible, but I'm hoping for the smokescreen option.

Pappy

[steelerkeylargo]

As much as I hate to say it. You are gonna see alot of teams look to copy the Cheatriots gameplan with the 2 young TE's they took last year. Hernandez & Gronkowski.

[Oviedo]

As much as I hate to say it. You are gonna see alot of teams look to copy the Cheatriots gameplan with the 2 young TE's they took last year. Hernandez & Gronkowski.

It worked. I'm a huge proponent of using TEs much more than we have. I'd like to see Heath get 75 catches in a season instead of being over-used as a extra OT. You can wear down a defense that way and open up deeper routes for WRs. Where we have the advantage is that we have the deep threat that the Patriots were lacking.

[steelerkeylargo]

As much as I hate to say it. You are gonna see alot of teams look to copy the Cheatriots gameplan with the 2 young TE's they took last year. Hernandez & Gronkowski.

It worked. I'm a huge proponent of using TEs much more than we have. I'd like to see Heath get 75 catches in a season instead of being over-used as a extra OT. You can wear down a defense that way and open up deeper routes for WRs. Where we have the advantage is that we have the deep threat that the Patriots were lacking.

I don't mean to say that I disagree with the strategy. I just hate the fact that Belicheat is starting what could be a trend that many teams may follow.

[Chadman]

Starting to look like we should all add a TE to our mock drafts somewhere...

[hawaiiansteel]

Starting to look like we should all add a TE to our mock drafts somewhere...


yup, it sure does seem that way. the three TEs the Steelers spoke with at the Combine were Lance Kendricks, Luke Stocker and D.J. Williams...

[Dee Dub]

As much as I hate to say it. You are gonna see alot of teams look to copy the Cheatriots gameplan with the 2 young TE's they took last year. Hernandez & Gronkowski.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have never been influenced scheme wise by any other football team.

[steelerkeylargo]

As much as I hate to say it. You are gonna see alot of teams look to copy the Cheatriots gameplan with the 2 young TE's they took last year. Hernandez & Gronkowski.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have never been influenced scheme wise by any other football team.


Right! BA invented the 2 TE set :roll: I guess Bill just knows what to do with it!!

[NJ-STEELER]

if they are going to use the 2 and 3 TE set so much, a better receiving option then spaeth would make us less predictable and more dangerous. and it wont be hard to find an equal to him as a blocker.

although, i'd prefer they look at one no sooner then the 3rd/4th round

[focosteeler]

i wouldn't mind having a jermichael finley type player on the team...i got nothing against heath but i wouldn't mind a faster more agile TE

[Blockhead]

i wouldn't mind having a jermichael finley type player on the team...i got nothing against heath but i wouldn't mind a faster more agile TE
agreed completely.

[Chadman]

As much as I hate to say it. You are gonna see alot of teams look to copy the Cheatriots gameplan with the 2 young TE's they took last year. Hernandez & Gronkowski.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have never been influenced scheme wise by any other football team.


That is a bold & hugely innacurate statement... :D

[steelz09]

I would be satisfied if we didn't draft a tight end at all. The only offseason move that should involve "movement" of a tight end should be releasing David Johnson and replacing him with a full back that knows how to block.

[hawaiiansteel]

Still crucial to offenses, tight ends MIA in this draft

By Len Pasquarelli
The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com
March 13, 2011


There has been at least one tight end selected in the first round of the draft, and 16 chosen in all, in each of the past 11 lotteries. But that streak definitely could come to a screeching halt this year, many scouts agree.

"The kid at Notre Dame [Kyle Rudolph] has a chance, and there could be some other guys [emerge] in the next month. There are probably some people who could deserve first-round grades ... but, yeah, I'd agree that the position is thin overall," Atlanta general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. "It looks like the thinnest group in the past few years."

Not since 2002 -- when Jeremy Shockey, Daniel Graham and Jerramy Stevens all went off the board in the opening stanza -- has the first round of the draft included more than two tight ends. Shockey and Graham were released earlier in the month (the former signed a one-year contract with Carolina as a free agent and the troubled Stevens is out of the league).

Still, despite the preponderance of three- and four-wide receiver formations in the NFL, especially in third-down situations, the tight end position has re-emerged of late as crucial to many franchises' passing attacks. In the 2010 season, there were 13 tight ends with 50 or more receptions and a dozen with at least 600 receiving yards. The first round of next month's draft, though, doesn't figure to produce any players to supplement that kind of output.

At least not immediately.

Said one NFC college personnel director: "There are still (seven) weeks to go, so we'll see. But right now, the way we've got our board, I can't see any (tight ends) in the first round."

The position hasn't been shut out of the first round since the 1999 draft.

Rudolph is generally regarded as the best of a pedestrian class, and is the No. 37-rated overall prospect by NFLDraftScout.com. But the former Fighting Irish star is still rehabilitating from hamstring surgery that prematurely ended his '10 season and he didn't participate in combine drills. He has scheduled to participate in Notre Dame's April 7 pro day, which figures to play a critical role in whether he can crack the top 32 selections.

Virgil Green of Nevada was a combine standout, with a time of 4.64 and a 42 1/2-inch vertical jump, but most clubs don't regard him as a first-rounder; NFLDraftScout.com has him as the No. 4 tight end in this class and projects him as a third-round prospect.

It's tough to project any of the other top tight ends -- Luke Stocker (Tennessee, No. 2 tight end by NDS), D.J. Williams (Arkansas, No. 3 and an H-Back prospect), Rob Housler (Florida Atlantic, No. 5), Jordan Cameron (USC, No. 6) or Lance Kendricks (Wisconsin, No. 7) -- sneaking into the first round. Julius Thomas of Portland State, a former hoops player with only one season of college football experience, has created some buzz among NFL scouts. But Thomas is a middle-round pick at best.

Of the 13 tight ends with 50 or more catches in 2010, nine were former No. 1 picks. Seven of the tight ends who notched 600 yards last season entered the NFL as first-round selections. But notable is that when former first-round pick Dallas Clark was lost for the season to a wrist injury, undrafted free agent Jacob Tamme assumed the starting spot in Indianapolis and registered 67 catches.

Certainly the position is one not given to fast results. Not counting Kellen Winslow and Benjamin Watson -- former first-round picks whose rookie seasons were all but wiped out by injuries -- first-round tight ends since 2000 averaged 32.2 receptions, 351.6 yards and 2.3 touchdowns as rookies. Only three of the players -- Jermaine Gresham, Dustin Keller and Shockey -- had more than 40 receptions as rookies. Shockey was the only one with more than 600 yards in his first season.

The history of the position is that it usually takes a while even for first-rounders to develop. Or teams are usually better off using a later pick on a tight end. The top two tight ends in receptions in 2010, Jason Witten and Chris Cooley, were both third-round choices. The same two ranked among the top three tight ends in 2010 in receiving yards.

Bill Belichick used first-round picks on Graham (2002) and Watson (2004) in New England and neither proved worthy. On the flipside, he invested just second- and fourth-round picks on Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, respectively, in 2010, and the pair combined for 87 receptions, 1,109 yards and 16 touchdowns.

"You'd like to get a guy in the first round if he's got that kind of grade, but the history is that you can still get good tight ends a little later," said Miami tight end coach Dan Campbell, who played the position in the league for 11 seasons, despite entering the NFL as a third-round selection.

That, indeed, might be the case this year.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/stor ... this-draft (http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/story/14807190/still-crucial-to-offenses-tight-ends-mia-in-this-draft)