Bruce Davis released Thadeus Gibson signed

[steelerkeylargo]

Raiders/Texans respectively.

[Steelers>NFL]

ehh. former no bodies...

[SteelTorch]

Still can't believe we wasted a 3rd round draft pick on Davis! We could have gotten a decent O-lineman or helped any other area that was of greater need. Instead we reached for a guy who wasn't even remarkable to begin with. 2008 was definitely one of our worst drafts in recent years.

[JUST-PLAIN-NASTY]

What compounds it even more is I remember who I liked better as a DE converting project (Since they picked one there.) being that I watched alot of Big Ten football & being a PSU fan....I wonder how Cliff Avril would have turned out as a 3-4 OLB in the Steel City? :HeadBanger

Easy to do now but I often look back on this misses & look at a what if....

1 DUANE BROWN LT
2 RAY RICE RB
3 CLIFF AVRIL OLB
4 JOSH SITTON OG
5 CARL NICKS OG
6 AHTYBA RUBIN NT
6 PIERE GARCON WR

Anyone else feel sick? What would an OL of Brown-Nicks-Pouncey-Sitton-Colon have produced? Like I said..."what if".

[steelerkeylargo]

What compounds it even more is I remember who I liked better as a DE converting project (Since they picked one there.) being that I watched alot of Big Ten football & being a PSU fan....I wonder how Cliff Avril would have turned out as a 3-4 OLB in the Steel City? :HeadBanger

Easy to do now but I often look back on this misses & look at a what if....

1 DUANE BROWN LT
2 RAY RICE RB
3 CLIFF AVRIL OLB
4 JOSH SITTON OG
5 CARL NICKS OG
6 AHTYBA RUBIN NT
6 PIERE GARCON WR

Anyone else feel sick? What would an OL of Brown-Nicks-Pouncey-Sitton-Colon have produced? Like I said..."what if".

I was pounding the Carl Nicks drum pretty hard. I am sure he didn't make our board because of an alcohol related arrest.

[aggiebones]

Still can't believe we wasted a 3rd round draft pick on Davis! We could have gotten a decent O-lineman or helped any other area that was of greater need. Instead we reached for a guy who wasn't even remarkable to begin with. 2008 was definitely one of our worst drafts in recent years.


Wait, everyone said that was gonna be our best?

Draft Picks:
1) RB Rashard Mendenhall - Alot of talent. But he won't be worth his next contract. Bargain now though :)
2) WR Limas Sweed - What a bargain!? It would have been better had he never played for us at all. His devastating plays were just that.
3)OLB Bruce Davis - ugh
4) OT Tony Hills - Former TE, not enough manhood to play OL
5) QB Dennis Dixon - We were gonna rehab him and trade him for a first rounder :)
6a) LB Mike Humpal - scrap heap
6b) S Ryan Mundy - Dollar for dollar best value......and that's sad.



I love the Steelers FO and they have the BEST long term track record in the business, so I can walk away from this gaff.
They need to stay away from texas u. That team is soft and has proven so time and time again. Yes, they have studs that rise on their own like Hampton Orakpo, etc. But by and large, it is stoner U.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

In other news, Alonzo Jackson and Troy Edwards have been working out, and are primed to make comebacks...

[Pahn711]

I wonder what made the Steelers covet Davis so early, I guess his 29 sacks in college, his combine results didn't seem that great. Or maybe his pedigree had a lot to do with it.

[phillyesq]

What compounds it even more is I remember who I liked better as a DE converting project (Since they picked one there.) being that I watched alot of Big Ten football & being a PSU fan....I wonder how Cliff Avril would have turned out as a 3-4 OLB in the Steel City? :HeadBanger

Easy to do now but I often look back on this misses & look at a what if....

1 DUANE BROWN LT
2 RAY RICE RB
3 CLIFF AVRIL OLB
4 JOSH SITTON OG
5 CARL NICKS OG
6 AHTYBA RUBIN NT
6 PIERE GARCON WR

Anyone else feel sick? What would an OL of Brown-Nicks-Pouncey-Sitton-Colon have produced? Like I said..."what if".

It's always easy to second guess and what-if picks, but in this case, the Steelers brought in Avril for a pre-draft visit. Had they taken Avril, it could have made a huge difference in a number of areas.

First, he would be a solid pass rusher and backup on the outside, and not unemployed like Bruce Davis. With that need filled, there is no need to take Worilds in the second last year, and instead, the Steelers would have likely taken Sean Lee, who they had rated as a first rounder.

Woodley - Timmons - Lee - Harrison, with Avril and likely one of Farrior or Foote in reserve, would be a real impressive group.

As for some of the rest, Brown was considered a reach where he was taken. I'm not a huge Mendenhall fan, but he's been a capable starter, which isn't bad. As for Sweed and Hills, the potential upside was tremendous, as was, obviously, the downside, and sometimes you swing and miss chasing upside. I can live with that.

[hawaiiansteel]

In other news, Alonzo Jackson and Troy Edwards have been working out, and are primed to make comebacks...


and Jamain Stephens is going to be re-signed to solve our OT problems... :D

[Shoe]

Wait, everyone said that was gonna be our best?

Draft Picks:
1) RB Rashard Mendenhall - Alot of talent. But he won't be worth his next contract. Bargain now though :)
2) WR Limas Sweed - What a bargain!? It would have been better had he never played for us at all. His devastating plays were just that.
3)OLB Bruce Davis - ugh
4) OT Tony Hills - Former TE, not enough manhood to play OL
5) QB Dennis Dixon - We were gonna rehab him and trade him for a first rounder :)
6a) LB Mike Humpal - scrap heap
6b) S Ryan Mundy - Dollar for dollar best value......and that's sad.

I'm proud to say that I never bought into the Limas hype that most Steeler fans ate up. (I thought that his precipitous fall was a red-flag. You don't fall like that, if you are as "talented" as he was made out to be. i.e. He was never that talented.)

phillyesq made some great points. EASY to second guess after the fact. But he illustrated just how damaging a wasted pick can be (like Davis, who I'm sad to say, I thought would be making plays for us to this day). One bad pick means you never fortified a position you felt the need to draft, making you address it again when you could use it to solve another need. It shows why scrub teams like Cincy or CLE stay scrub teams.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

Draft Picks:
1) RB Rashard Mendenhall - Alot of talent. But he won't be worth his next contract. Bargain now though :)

I remember well the excitement at the time when we were able to get Mendenhall. He was rated as the second best back in the draft and everyone had him going to Carolina at 13. The hope was that Jonathan Stewart would then fall to us but there were a couple of teams who might be looking for a back including the Cowboys right in front of us.

The Panthers chose Stewart and, as the story was told, a huge roar went up in the Steelers war room when Jerry Jones went for the second RB from his alma mater - Felix Jones. The top back from Arkansas was McFadden who went fourth overall to Oakland. It was huge huge reach from an idiot owner who chose heart over head and the Steelers couldn't get their draft card up to the podium quickly enough.

What a coup!! The second best back in the field at 23.........I did not even hear a mention of the kid picked at 24......Chris Johnson.

Others mentioned were Duane Brown who went at 26, but he was considered a 3rd - 4th rounder except that there was a huge run on OTs (5 went between picks 15 - 21 who were not considered to be first rounders by most) but we just needed any OT and looking back Brown is a good one.

Kenny Phillips - FS Miami was heavilly pimped here by some - see: Dub, Dee.