I showed you who the Steelers drafted with the Arians & Zierlein. The didn't draft any OL in the 1st or 2nd. As soon as Zerlein is removed Pouncey is picked. Koogs had Pouncey ready to play day 1 but there wasn't any talent there to field when Colon went down.They had to go out and sign Adams. Year two Gilbert is selected. Colon goes down again. Is there any left over Arians/Zeirlien talent ready to go? No...Koogs has a rookie ready to go. The talent pool Arians created was so poor...Castoffs like J Scott & Meredith that Koogs are familiar with are brought in for depth. One year later Arians is removed and Decastro & Adams are pick 1-2. I can blame Arians when Koogs arrived and give Arians no credit after. It wasn't a secret what transpired when Zierlien was removed and Koogs hired. Arians was on the hotseat because of the OL production or should I say lack there of. It was no surprise what happened after Koogs showed he could get rookies on the field early over the vets that Arians & Zerlein has so much confidence in. Confidence in them is evidence by not addressing them.
The in-house evaluation of roster comes from the position coaches & coordinators input to Tomlin. This comes from the coaches in the locker room. The end of season meetings contain discussions on coaches performance and personnel depth issues that need to be addressed in the offseason and draft. The input is also necessary in contract & FA issues. The offseason process involves many personnel evaluation procedures and the in-house has it's chain through coaches. They are all part of the process and that is why they have success. If acoordinator receives concern that a position needs to be addresses from a position coach it filters to the HC from the coordinator. So if you are telling me the reason the OL wasn't addressed early was because Colbert & Tomlin ignored Arians wishes...I think you are a mistaken. The only reason it wasn't addressed is because of the input they received from Arians. Arians info came from Zeirlien. It is all reassured by Zierlien's removal and soon after Arians departure. The drafting of Pouncey & Gilbert and Koogs player development along the OL wasn't a reflection of Arian's brilliance. It was a lack of his ability to maintain a working relationship with players & position coaches and his incompetence before.
You are sitting in the cheapest seats available when it relates to how the process works. I guess you can't see from there. Colbert's draft success is largely in part of position coaches, coordinators, scouts, and the head coach put in these positions to do these jobs. These are the individuals traveling all over the country and working out individuals pre draft. Yes, Colbert & Tomlin make these trips too but they are not involved in all of them. Even the ones they attend, they have other coaches & scouts with them to work. The input of all of these are part of the decision making process. Colbert & Tomlin make the call on draft day but how the board is built comes from information gathered by many sources. Colbert is not Jerry Jones and that is why his record is solid. Do you really think Colbert is the guy who puts his finger on the talent simply by looking at a media source ranking on a position of need? If you say no...Where do you think he gets this information from? It is really comical that you can sit here and think that Colbert's & Tomlin's decisions on draft day is not impacted on anyone's evaluation on personnel.
This is no different than what we all experience everyday. Behind every successful man is talented people in support roles. If a part is broken...It needs to get fixed. Blame goes down the ladder and the praise rises to the Top. We know what part was broken for the last several years and we see what the plan of action was to correct it. So does the blame go at the top or the source? You be the judge. Was it Colbert's fault the Steelers had to spend 4 out of the last 6 top 2 picks in the last three drafts on OL? Wouldn't that go against you praising of Colbert? Colbert's decisions had roots. The roots came from Zierlien & BA before Koogs. After Koogs, we could only speculate what those conversations were but the answers were displayed on the field in Pouncey, Gilbert, and the development of others. Apparently BA wasn't given credit because he was shown the door. You do the math on how all that worked out.
Just on a side note here about draft success rate by position. There was a research project done by position in 2009 from drafts dating back to 1988. They classified the success rate by a player who was in 2 Pro Bowls OR 7 years as a starter OR 125 games played. 1st round OL was a rate of 41%, 2nd round OL was a rate of 31%, and 3rd round was a rate of 16%. The highest success rate for any position in the 1st round was 46%, 2nd round was 40%, and 3rd round was 19%. Needless to say, "addressing" a position in a draft for a starter should be coming out of the first two selections. So dedicating 67% (4 out or 6) of the top of the last three drafts is a very extreme investment. Why the investment had to be made is your choice of reasoning. I know what I saw on Gameday and I know where to point the finger. The Steelers saw the same. You can have your own opinion.
As this relates to Haley in his first year...He apparently followed suit. I'm sure he got his status from Koogs and that information was relayed. It appears they were willing to even give something up for DeCastro. Like I said before, even with a healthy Starks on this roster...Adams still would have been selected. It wouldn't have been because they "fell in love with him" because he begged them to give him a chance. That didn't make him a "special person" on a personal level and they wanted a guy like that on the team. The business side of this team would not have aloud it for the risk involved. It was because of what the talent level that was along the OL on the roster. The investment of 1-2 on the OL with the risk involved on Adams is just south of the word desperation. The fact that they were still there at those picks is something north of a miracle. Who you want to blame for the Steelers being in that position is up to you.
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