Add Poe to list of 1st rounders visiting.

[phillyesq]

Zeitler might be a day 1 starter, but I just don't see Pro Bowl potential there (which is what I'm looking for in a 1st round pick). Perhaps a Kendall Simmons like career (if it weren't ended prematurely by diabetic complications and an Achilles tendon tear). To me, Zeitler has a high floor (not a huge likelihood of being an outright bust), but also has a low ceiling. Other day two guards like Amini Silatolu and Brandon Brooks appear to have a higher ceiling to me, but of course carry greater risk, since they come from smaller programs and did not face the talent week-after-week that Zeitler did playing in the Big Ten.

Even though I see OL as our biggest need like you do, if the choice at #24 came down to Zeitler or Hightower, I'd take Hightower and then target Silatolu or Brooks in round 2 (I see a bigger dropoff from Hightower to the next tier of ILB's than I do from Zeitler to the next tier of OG's). Even though I would be taking a risk that Silatolu or Brooks could be a bust, I think those guys have some intriguing upside if they are able to develop into legit NFL starters.

Well said, Ruthless. Ultimately, what I want at 24 is the guy with a best chance of being an impact player over the next decade. If the Steelers were in the last three or four picks of the first round, I'd like the idea of Zeitler much better, but at 24, I'd like more than just a solid prospect.

[Oviedo]

To me, Zeitler's value (or best quality) is the glue he provides to our O-line. That is--we need an injection of intelligence, leadership, and toughness in the middle of that line. So to me, it's not about him blowing people off the ball like Mike Munchak or something. It's about him just being a rock in there, solidifying the line. I'm not so sure I want him at 24 though.

Well said, but I would have no issue at #24 for all the reasons you stated. Consider any other possibility at #24 and say the same thing you just did about what Zeitler brings. Not sure you can.

[phillyesq]

Well said, but I would have no issue at #24 for all the reasons you stated. Consider any other possibility at #24 and say the same thing you just did about what Zeitler brings. Not sure you can.

I'm not a huge Hightower guy (would be ok with drafting or not drafting him) but I think you could say that he would bring intelligence and inject toughness into the middle of the defense.

[hawaiiansteel]

The key for Steelers? Picking, hoping

April 24, 2012
By Gerry Dulac / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Like a lot of teams in the bottom third of the NFL draft, the Steelers are not always sure which players will be available. And, with the 24th overall pick, they know most, if not all, of the so-called elite prospects already have been selected.

When the draft begins Thursday, that won't change for the Steelers.

If anything, identifying the top player for them might be even more precarious.

"The sure-fire, easy guys to evaluate and pick, there are not as many as there have been in the past," said general manager Kevin Colbert. "Once you get beyond the first seven to 10 guys, everybody is going to be picking and hoping. We are one of those teams."

Picking and hoping is not foreign territory for the Steelers, who are accustomed to drafting each year from near the bottom of each round. Succeeding is something to which they are accustomed, too, considering the quality of No. 1 picks they have made despite picking in the bottom half of the draft in eight of the past 11 years.

And that, Colbert said, is important for a team that relies on the draft, not free agency, to re-stock its talent and remain competitive.

"When you don't get the first-round guy right, that sets you back for probably four years because that is a slot you are going to try to fill at some point," Colbert said Monday at a pre-draft news conference at the team's South Side facility. "Yes, we are not big spenders in free agency and we will never be because we want to keep our own. But if we missed on a pick that we would want to be keeping as our own, it will set us back and distract us from what we need to be doing."

The Steelers would appear to have several immediate needs to address Thursday when the first round will be conducted. And it remains to be seen which position they might consider more urgent:

Inside linebacker, where defensive captain James Farrior was among several veteran leaders released in the offseason? Or nose tackle, where five-time Pro Bowler Casey Hampton is coming off major knee surgery and is in what is expected to be his final season with the team?

Those are the most likely positions to be addressed with the top pick, and the most likely candidates for those spots are Alabama inside linebacker Dont'a Hightower and Memphis nose tackle Dontari Poe -- if Poe is available.

Both players visited with the Steelers at the NFL combine in Indianapolis and their practice facility.

"Need is not a good word," Colbert said. "It's 'want.' We want players. We don't necessarily need. We try to add from within. The subtractions we made were substantial from a leadership standpoint. We talked about that before. That will be replaced -- we don't know by whom or how long [it will take].

"As far as the players released, we will try to replace them from within, the guys we already have. We can add to that with the young guys coming in and trying to compete for that playing time. Coach Tomlin will make a final decision of when a guy plays, but, quite honestly, there are not a lot of players in this draft that can come in and be immediate impact guys for us."

Colbert said one aspect of their draft evaluation has not changed: Wide receiver and cornerback are the deepest positions in the draft. But he added the situation with Pro Bowl receiver Mike Wallace, who has not signed his $2.7 million tender for 2012, will have no bearing -- "Not at all," he said -- on whether the team takes a wide receiver at some point in the draft.

Tomlin said he is not bothered about reports that say Wallace will not sign his tender and play for the Steelers this season. Wallace did not receive any offers from other NFL teams before Friday night -- the deadline for restricted free agents to sign with another team.

"There were reports he was going somewhere every day in restricted free agency and he's still here," Tomlin said. "So we'll deal with it day to day."

Colbert said the Steelers' goal remains the same: To sign Wallace to a contract that will keep him with the team for a long time.

"We said all along that the decision would be ours, and it remains that way. We want Mike to be here for the long haul, and he knows that, and we know that. Hopefully, at some point, we can get that done."

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/...hoping-632838/