QB Dennis Dixon

WR Limas Sweed – Very disappointing.  We all had high hopes for this guy but his future doesn’t look bright right now in Pittsburgh.

CB Keenan Lewis – Lewis was supposed to be Ike Taylor’s mirror image and had a great training camp.  He has not seen any playing time this year thus far.

FB Carey Davis – Who is the starting fullback?

LB Andre Frazier – Special teams ace… who is going to steup up in his replacement?

OG Kraig Urbik – We all thought he was going to steal the show in training camp and win the starting RG spot.  Instead, Trai Essex as impressed.

OT Tony Hills – Another disappointment but he may end up competing for Colon’s RT spot in the Steelers don’t resign him.

DE Sunny Harris – Just resigned after the injury to Aaron Smith.  This guy had a decent training camp and preseason and could end up having a roster spot in the future.  He has the size and youth that the Steelers desperately need at the defensive line.

Since being hired in 2000, Kevin Colbert has had 1 OL player drafted in Round 1 (Kendall Simmons 2002). 1 2nd

Kevin Colbert

round pick was used on OL (Marvel Smith (2000). 2 3rd round picks have been spent on OT’s (Starks & Essex), 3 4th rounder’s were spent on OL (Hills, Colon, Nkwenti) & 7 picks spent on OL players beyond the 5th round (Only Kemoeatu & Okobi of any real note). What does it mean? Probably nothing. But it seems that Colbert run organisations place OL value in the middle rounds instead of the high rounds.

You think that this trend only began once he joined the Steelers? He was at the Lions before that- Jeff Hartings being the only 1st round OL & Aaron Gibson the only 2nd round OL to be picked on his watch.

Since 2000, 10 ‘skill’ players (RB’s, WR’s, DB’s & QB’s) have been selected in the first 2 rounds. In only 2 years since 2000 have the Steelers NOT spent a top 2 round pick on a ‘skill’ position.

Since 2000, 11 LB’s have been selected by the Steelers. Only in 1 year was no LB selected (2006).

Since 2000 only 3 players have been selected on Day 1 (first 3 rounds) that did not play for a good sized foot ball program- Trai Essex (Northwestern), Ben (Miami OH), Ricardo Colclough (Tusculum).  Conversely- 5 FLORIDA STATE players have been selected in the top 3 rounds in that time frame (The highest of all schools for the Steelers). FLORIDA STATE & GEORGIA are the two schools to have the most players selected by the Steelers since 2000 with 5 a piece. TEXAS is 3rd with 3. (This DOES NOT INCLUDE UDFA).

Since 2000 only 2 DL’s have been selected in the first 3 rounds- Casey Hampton in 2001 & Kendrick Clancy in 2000. 9 DL’s have been selected in Colbert’s reign. The latest 2- Ryan McBean in 2007 & Orien Harris in 2006 were both 4th round selections. (To balance this- the DL has been set for the Steelers for some time).

THE BREAKDOWN
Since 2000

QB- 5 selected- 1 1st round pick & 4 5th round picks.

RB- 5 selected- 1 1st round pick, 1 5th round pick & 3 7th round picks.

WR- 9 selected- 2 1st round picks, 2 2nd round picks, 1 3rd round pick, 2 4th round picks, 1 6th round pick & 1 7th round pick.

TE- 5 selected- 1 1st round pick, 1 3rd round pick, 1 5th round pick & 2 6th round picks.

OT- 7 selected- 1 2nd round pick, 2 3rd round picks, 3 4th round picks, 1 6th round pick.

OG- 3 selected- 1 1st round pick, 1 5th round pick, 1 6th round pick.

C- 3 selected- 1 5th round pick & 2 6th round picks.

DT- 3 selected- 1 1st round pick, 1 3rd round pick, 1 7th round pick (Please note- Casey Hampton, selected in 2001, has started for 8 years with Chris Hoke his back-up most of that time- no real ‘need’ for this position).

DE- 6 selected- 2 4th round picks, 2 6th round picks, 2 7th round picks.

OLB- 7 selected- 1 1st round pick, 2 2nd round picks, 1 3rd round pick, 2 5th round picks & 1 6th round pick.

ILB- 4 selected- 1 2nd round pick, 1 4th round pick, 1 5th round pick, 1 6th round pick.

CB- 6 selected- 2 2nd round picks, 1 3rd round pick, 1 4th round pick, 1 5th round pick, 1 7th round pick.

S- 4 selected- 1 1st round pick, 2 3rd round picks & 1 6th round pick.

ST- 1 selected- 1 4th round pick

By Round-
1st round- 1 QB, 1 RB, 2 WR’s, 1 TE, 1 OG, 1 DT, 1 OLB, 1 S (6 ‘skill’, 3 ‘non-skill’)

2nd Round- 2 WR’s, 1 OT, 2 OLB’s, 1 ILB, 2 CB’s (4 ‘skill’, 4 ‘non-skill’)

3rd Round- 1 WR, 1 TE, 2 OT’s, 1 DT, 1 OLB, 1 CB, 2 S’s (5 ‘skill’, 4 ‘non-skill’)

4th Round- 2 WR’s, 3 OT’s, 2 DE’s, 1 ILB, 1 CB, 1 P (3 ‘skill’, 7 ‘non-skill’)

5th Round- 4 QB’s, 1 RB, 1 TE, 1 OG, 1 C, 2 OLB’s, 1 ILB, 1 CB (7 ‘skill’, 5 ‘non-skill’)

6th Round- 1 WR, 2 TE, 1 OT, 1 OG, 2 C’s, 2 DE’s, 1 OLB, 1 ILB, 1 CB (4 ‘skill’, 8 ‘non-skill’)

7th Round- 3 RB’s, 1 WR, 1 DT, 2 DE’s (4 ‘skill’, 3 ‘non-skill’)

You will notice a heavier weighting on ‘skilled’ players in the first 3 rounds, while there is a heavier weighting on the ‘non-skill’ players in the middle rounds.

Round 5 is weird- 4 QB’s?? It would seem that Colbert uses Round 5 to grab the ‘BPA’ more often than not, while leaning towards playmakers early & ‘grunts’ in the middle.

This might all mean nothing. After all, the Steelers have been set in many positions that appear to be ‘negleted’ for a number of years (Casey Hampton, Aaron Smith, Marvel Smith, Jerome Bettis, Hines Ward, James Farrior, Alan Faneca, Kendall Simmons, Jeff Hartings, etc)

But then again, if it’s used as a guide to Colbert’s ‘draft weighting’, we might find our guessing to be a little less ‘random’…

Post provided by Chadman at the Planet Steelers Forum