Annual PlanetSteelers Board Mock Draft (2015 commentary thread)

[RuthlessBurgher]

Feel free trash talk each other, praise solid picks, make fun of crappy picks (within reason, of course...be respectful in your mocking of this mock draft). You can suggest trades to each other via PM, but you can make public that a certain pick is on the trade block on this thread if you'd like. Enjoy...

[RuthlessBurgher]

I got a PM from squidkid saying that some work unexpectedly popped up for tomorrow that will prevent him from making his picks as scheduled like he thought he would be able when he originally signed up for those teams. He said that he would send me a list of his preferences for those selections tomorrow, but would rather see if we could possibly somehow move up the pick order to get up to his picks today instead. This only effects me, SteelCrazy, and steelblood. I'm okay with going as far as well can today to accommodate him. SteelCrazy's Jets pick is up next, then I'll take Chicago, steelblood then has back-to-back picks with the Falcons and Giants that could both be made today instead of one today and one tomorrow, then as soon as those are posted, I'll add my Rams pick. SteelCrazy, if you are still around later this afternoon to make your Vikings pick today after all of that has happened (instead of waiting until tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.), then squidkid would be able to make both of his picks tonight. Hopefully this works out for everyone.

[RuthlessBurgher]

We have our first trade! Jacksonville moving up to #22 for the top RB, giving their 2nd and 3rd round picks to Pittsburgh, has been in my sig mock for a while now. Since I own both teams in this mock, I make that a reality here.

To JAX 1.22 (780 pts)
To PIT 2.36 (540 pts) + 3.67 (255 pts) = 795 pts

[steelblood]

Hey guys. Things got crazy today and I forgot about the draft. In apologize for missing Giants and falcons picks. Thx for taking care of them. And, I think they were solid choices.

[RuthlessBurgher]

The times for steeler_fan_in_t.o.'s Baltimore pick and brazilsteel's Denver pick have both elapsed. I can leapfrog both of them at this point, but since I will be the only one picking for the rest of the day then, I will just wait a few more hours and make the selections when I get home from work later this evening, giving them both an opportunity to hopefully get picks in, since no one else is being held up but me now. Plus, it gives me an hour-and-a-half to try to catch up on the actual work that I'm getting paid to do, so I might as well do some of that now. See you folks again in a few hours for some more picks from home!

[RuthlessBurgher]

And right after I finish making this post, it appears that brazilsteel was making his pick simultaneously. Go figure...thanks, man. Well, I'll still wait until after work just in case t.o. logs in for a Ravens pick in the mean time.

[brazilsteel]

And right after I finish making this post, it appears that brazilsteel was making his pick simultaneously. Go figure...thanks, man. Well, I'll still wait until after work just in case t.o. logs in for a Ravens pick in the mean time.

There was some traffic jam while I was getting home from class. Glad you gave us some time, let's hope t.o. shows up.

[brazilsteel]

The Oakland Raiders are looking for a trade down in the 3rd round (68th pick). Interested teams, PM me.

[RuthlessBurgher]

There was some traffic jam while I was getting home from class. Glad you gave us some time, let's hope t.o. shows up.

He missed his pick earlier today as well (but did not PM me like you did). However, I have seen him posting on other threads today. Perhaps he forgot about this Board Mock entirely (maybe stickying the thread to the top makes it less likely rather than more likely for folks to notice it).

[Discipline of Steel]

Gotta tell you I would have preferred Heaths heir apparent in the second round. I mean Walford is the same all-around type of dude Heath is. Those TEs dont come around all that often....

[RuthlessBurgher]

Gotta tell you I would have preferred Heaths heir apparent in the second round. I mean Walford is the same all-around type of dude Heath is. Those TEs dont come around all that often....

Yeah, you can see in my sig mock that I was hoping he'd fall to us in the early 3rd.

[Discipline of Steel]

Yeah, you can see in my sig mock that I was hoping he'd fall to us in the early 3rd.

Well hopefully the Steelers front office notes this result ... lol

[Slapstick]

If the Steelers were somehow able to come away from days 1 & 2 of the draft with Harold, Rollins and Carter, I wouldn't be unhappy...

[RuthlessBurgher]

I have a trade to announce. RuthlessBurgher trades Houston's third round pick (#82), fifth round pick (#152) and seventh round pick (#235) to brazilsteel for Arizona's third rounder (#86), fourth rounder (#123) and sixth rounder (#198 ).

According to draft trade calculator:
Trade Totals
Trade A Value: 213.7
Trade B Value: 222.2

Gain/Loss %
Trader A: +3.98%
Trader B: -3.83%

[pfelix73]

Thanks Ruthless for backing us up when we couldn't make a pick....

In my opinion though, the Carolina Panthers are/ will be picking Justin Hardy WR out of ECU. Possibly 3rd round. Everyone's boards have him as like the 8th or 9th WR but he is clearly one of the top WR's, and higher than that in this draft. Maybe even the best. Carolina sees it, and will draft him and get a bargain out of him.

He was a workhorse while at ECU and led the nation in receptions. He had some awesome acrobatic catches last year that don't show up on the stat sheets.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Thanks Ruthless for backing us up when we couldn't make a pick....

In my opinion though, the Carolina Panthers are/ will be picking Justin Hardy WR out of ECU. Possibly 3rd round. Everyone's boards have him as like the 8th or 9th WR but he is clearly one of the top WR's, and higher than that in this draft. Maybe even the best. Carolina sees it, and will draft him and get a bargain out of him.

He was a workhorse while at ECU and led the nation in receptions. He had some awesome acrobatic catches last year that don't show up on the stat sheets.

I forgot about your PM to me when I made that pick! Got the position right though. Greene was my highest rated wideout available, so I made the move. The next tier after him included your boy Hardy and Tre McBride from Tomlin's alma mater.

[Discipline of Steel]

Ruthless, what made you change your mind about Peters??

[RuthlessBurgher]

Ruthless, what made you change your mind about Peters??

I posted the following rambling justification in another thread:


I've decided to make my final mock the day before the draft, and I'm actually going with some fundamental changes. Basically, I've been hoping beyond hope that one of the top 5 pass rushers in the draft falls to us. I was projecting a pass rusher to us in the first (if one of the big 5 dropped) and then a corner prospect who might also play FS in the pros in round 2 (or if one of the top 5 didn't fall, then trade down to get an extra day two pick, grabbing a second tier pass rusher and double down on early round DB's).

Now it looks like because of off-the-field issues, one or two of those elite-level pass rushers might actually fall into our laps. However, looking back earlier in this process, I basically ruled out red flag players like Marcus Peters and Dorial Green-Beckham, because I wanted more of a sure thing with our top pick...draft risk-reward types later, not with prime picks. However, now that Randy Gregory, Shane Ray, and Jalen Collins all could be dropping because of outside concerns, why not take a look again at another guy like Peters as he would compare to Gregory and Ray, for instance. Which of these potential top-ten talents would I be least worried about drafting at #22 if he was available to us?

If Ray only had the toe issue, I would have no problem taking him at #22 if available. If Ray only had the pot issue, I would have no problem taking him at #22 if available. But with both issues at the same time? I'd still probably take him, but I'm starting to re-evaluate whether or not there would be a better pick there instead. Gregory is also dealing with the pot issue (and also potentially an intelligence or addiction issue) because you have to be stupid or an addict to fail a drug test that you know is coming. Plus although Gregory looks to be a dominant pass rusher (something that we need desperately), he is so thin that he cannot anchor against the run whatsoever. Didn't Melvin Gordon rush for over 400 yards against Gregory's Nebraska D this year? That's nuts, and the undersized Gregory was not able to set the edge.

So that brings me back to Peters, who I haven't really thought about in depth for a while. Comparing his indiscretions to those of Ray and Gregory...what am I (and more importantly, Steeler brass) more likely to be able to stomach? Peters was an immature, emotional powder keg of a kid. He went to Washington to play for Coach Sarkisian, and when Sark left, new Coach Petersen brought in more of a disciplinarian style than he was used to, changed the style of defense he preferred, etc. and yeah, Peters acted like a petulant child. Add in the fact that he was also going through his girlfriend's pregnancy and dealing with becoming a father at a young age while all of this other upheaval in his life was going on at the same time, and the kid snapped when his coaches were admonishing him following a personal foul penalty. He has since admitted that he was at fault, made things right with the Washington coaches that they allowed him to return to the school for his Pro Day, and has seemingly grown up throughout this ordeal. He's an extremely passionate, extremely energetic, extremely competitve kid, and those traits can be amazingly positive in the right situation (and could obviously blow up in the wrong situation, as we have seen). Apparently, Peters, who is a coach's son, which is certainly a plus, will run through a wall for a coach if he fully trusts him, so having dinner with Tomlin, Lake, Butler, etc. could allow the Steelers coaches to develop a rapport with him, and if all went well during their time together at the Combine, Pro Day, Visit to the Team Facility, etc. then the team might have no problem whatsoever making this pick. People grow. They mature. It happens naturally, and it could certainly be facilitated by having the thing that he loves the most being taken away from him once already. If our coaches are satisfied by what they have learned from Peters during this process, then I am willing to re-think all that I pre-judged about him early on in this process. I'm making an unexpected change at the top, the day before the start of the actual draft.

[Discipline of Steel]

Yes, he experienced adversity and did not respond well. Sounds like he did grow some though and I would love a tough guy with All-Pro ceiling at CB.
In fact, I wouldnt cry if they traded up a few rounds to get him....1st and 3rd is the most id offer...