How the 3-4 defense and 2011 CBA have made drafting more difficult for the Steelers
Ray Fittipaldo
I have a story in today’s paper on the Steelers swinging and missing on third-round draft picks in recent years. Where the Steelers once found tremendous value with players such as Joey Porter, Jason Gildon and Hines Ward they’ve taken some guys who have failed to work out.
Do names like Anthony Smith, Willie Reid, Bruce Davis and Curtis Brown ring a bell? They should and for all the wrong reasons.
I did interviews with former general managers Tom Donahoe and Bill Polian as well as respected local scout Joe Butler on picking in the third round.
Their insight was so good I wasn’t able to fit all of it into the story.
Donahoe, who is now an advisor with the Eagles, said there is one other factor that has made life more difficult for the Steelers in recent years when it comes to drafting in the middle rounds. So many other teams are running the 3-4 defense.
“I really thought we had an advantage back then because there were not as many teams running the 34 defense as there are today,” Donahoe said. “I think the number is now 16 of the 32 teams are running the 34. Back then, there were maybe five or seven, so you are talking about a big difference.
“We got Jason Gildon and Joey Porter. They both played with their hand on the ground in college and we were projecting them as outside linebackers. We always felt like we could get those guys in the third or fourth round.”
Now the Steelers are forced to take those types of players higher in the draft because they are in demand. They invested their first-round pick in outside linebacker Jarvis Jones last year and used a second-round pick on Jason Worilds in 2010.
There is even talk of the Steelers using another high pick this year on an outside linebacker because there is little depth behind Jones and Worilds, who is currently under contract for only one more year.
*In many cases, third-round picks are not counted on as starters right away. They are developmental picks who ascend to starting positions in a year or two. The Steelers and other teams have a new challenge on when to extend contracts to players who are coming into their own.
That's because the 2011 collective bargaining agreement stipulated four-year rookie contracts for all players except first-round choices, which have a fifth year option.
For example, Keenan Lewis, a third-round pick in 2009, did not become a starter until his fourth season, but he played so well that the Saints made him a free agent offer the Steelers did not match. Instead, they chose to keep Ike Taylor, whose play declined.
Mike Wallace, another third-round pick in 2009, was a different situation. He became a full-time starter in his second season and the Steelers wanted to keep him. However, he played so well his asking price was too high. The Steelers allowed him to walk in free agency when he signed a huge deal with the Dolphins.
Emmanuel Sanders was the team’s third-round pick in 2010. Like Lewis, he did not become a full-time starter until his fourth season. He played OK, but the Steelers were not going to pay big money to keep him. They let him sign with Denver and their plan is to plug Markus Wheaton or a high rookie pick into his starting spot.
Donahoe said the new free agency rules present some problems for general managers.
“It has a big impact on your roster,” Donahoe said of the four-year rookie contracts. “If you can’t get them locked up early you have to look at how you are going to replace them. It’s a dilemma. If you draft guys in the second or third round you like for those guys to get into second contracts, but it doesn’t always work out that way. It’s a juggling act.”
Now more than ever it seems the Steelers must heed the words of Art Rooney II, who has said he’d like to see the rookies and younger players develop quicker.
Whether it’s in development or in the identification process of which players they’d like to keep, the free agent losses in recent years suggests one or the other has to improve.
[URL]http://sportsblogs.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers-steelers-blog/2014/05/01/Trade-Down-Only-if-Steelers-Can-Get-Value/stories/201405010002[/URL]
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