I'd like to make this happen too. I think that we desperately need depth at ILB.Originally Posted by Steel Maniac
From his perspective, I'm not sure if the Steelers are the right fit. He might want to go to a place where he's presumably the starter. I don't know that he would automatically displace Bostic or Williams. All we'd be able to offer him is a reasonably fierce competition at a starting position.
If we are able to pull it off, then we'd have the overall depth at each LB position we've been looking for...Kendricks and Bostic at Mack ILB, Vince and Matakevich at Buck ILB, Watt and Keion at weakside OLB, Dupree and Chickillo at strongside OLB.
Steeler teams featuring stat-driven, me-first, fantasy-football-darling diva types such as Antonio Brown & Le'Veon Bell won no championships.
Super Bowl winning Steeler teams were built around a dynamic, in-your-face defense plus blue-collar, hard-hitting, no-nonsense football players on offense such as Hines Ward & Jerome Bettis.
We don't want Juju & Conner to replace what we lost in Brown & Bell.
We are counting on Juju & Conner to return us to the glory we once had with Hines & The Bus.
Eagles release inside linebacker Mychal Kendricks
By Chris Wesseling
Around the NFL Writer
Published: May 22, 2018
"Now that he's free, Kendricks figures to generate plenty of interest on the open market, perhaps even from the cross-state Steelers, who are still in search of a replacement for Ryan Shazier."
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000933857/article/eagles-release-inside-linebacker-mychal-kendricks
And that's all we can ask for.
Jon Bostic the rare ‘every down linebacker’ the Steelers have been searching for
The Pittsburgh Steelers needed to find someone who could at least attempt to replace Ryan Shazier, and Jon Bostic might just be the man for the job.
By Jeff.Hartman@BnGBlitz May 24, 2018
Everyone knows the narrative by now.
The Pittsburgh Steelers needed to find a player who could at least attempt to be the answer at inside linebacker in place of Pro Bowler Ryan Shazier — and they failed to do so.
They tried to move up in the 2018 NFL Draft to pick Rashaan Evans, but failed, and they didn’t address the position in the other rounds.
But maybe they didn’t have to, after all, they did go out and pick up free agent linebacker Jon Bostic, who played last year for the Indianapolis Colts. Bostic is one of the few linebackers who can call themselves a pure three down linebacker.
“I’m a three-down backer; it’s tough to find those nowadays,” Bostic told Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after his first time on the practice field with his new teammates. “I’m a backer that can play either or spot, I can play middle, I can play Will, it really doesn’t matter to me. I’ve done that throughout my career. I’m a bigger guy who can run. And I can cover as well. A lot of people don’t know that.”
to read rest of article:
https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2018/5/24/17389620/jon-bostic-the-rare-every-down-linebacker-the-steelers-have-been-searching-for-ryan-shazier-nfl
Really like the Bostic signing. Still concerned with our ILB depth, though. Colbert has been singing Dirty's Red's praises though... so I guess we will see.
Matakevich opened OTAs as starting mack. He was backup at both positions last season. We don't know what we have because he never started and when his presumed shot came he was hurt before he even got his shot. The coaches watch him every day and it looks like they have faith in him. I think that Bostic plus Dirty Red equates to no movement on Kendricks.
Another big factor in all this is that I believe we will see a lot more of exotic looks from the D which will see a DB (probably Edmonds) on the field where an ILB usually would have been. Therefore, less value in upgrading the ILB position.
These are what I think will happen. In no way do I believe that Kendricks is not a better player than those already on the roster.
I'd be comfortable with Kendricks and Bostic at the Mack, with Vince and Dirty Red at the Buck. It's better than relying on Matakevich to back up both spots.
Steeler teams featuring stat-driven, me-first, fantasy-football-darling diva types such as Antonio Brown & Le'Veon Bell won no championships.
Super Bowl winning Steeler teams were built around a dynamic, in-your-face defense plus blue-collar, hard-hitting, no-nonsense football players on offense such as Hines Ward & Jerome Bettis.
We don't want Juju & Conner to replace what we lost in Brown & Bell.
We are counting on Juju & Conner to return us to the glory we once had with Hines & The Bus.
I don't disagree that they could use Kendricks. I'll bet that if they could go back in time right now they'd not sign Bostic and opt for Kendricks instead. However, with where they are right now I don't think they go after him. I could be wrong. I would not mind at all being wrong on this, but I don't see it.
Three years ago, they signed Arthur Moats to a bigger contract to be a backup LB (3 years, $7.5M) than they signed Jon Bostic to be a starting LB this year (2 years, $4M). I think the only reason that they wouldn't make a play for Kendricks is if they want one LB on the field for all 3 downs to wear the Green Dot as opposed to Bostic and Kendricks splitting time. A solution to that would be to give Morgan Burnett the communication helmet like he wore in Green Bay.
Steeler teams featuring stat-driven, me-first, fantasy-football-darling diva types such as Antonio Brown & Le'Veon Bell won no championships.
Super Bowl winning Steeler teams were built around a dynamic, in-your-face defense plus blue-collar, hard-hitting, no-nonsense football players on offense such as Hines Ward & Jerome Bettis.
We don't want Juju & Conner to replace what we lost in Brown & Bell.
We are counting on Juju & Conner to return us to the glory we once had with Hines & The Bus.
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