Colbert

[calmkiller]

No, that's not it. What you would prefer, with SOME of your back ups is to have some players with HOPE of an upside. They have added/signed ONLY players who have no upside to develop into quality starters. And this is an 8-8 team, meaning, there is plenty of room for upgrades; it's not as if all our starters are pro bowl players, so the back ups should have a CHANCE at developing into starters, like, say, a young James Harrison.

So, who have they added/signed with potential upside? Foote? No. Gay? No. Johnson? No. Speath? Hellz to the no. They are adding older dudes who we KNOW will never be very good. Brilliant work, guys. Way to reduce this team to the Browns.

I was worried about your posts until I realized who was posting it. Once I realized who was posting I put zero weight in it. Side note is there an ignore poster option on this board?

[grotonsteel]

Can someone tell me who has a perfect draft class every year?
There are hits and misses with any draft, they are prospects who have to step up to the pro-level some do and some faulter.

We have a young O-line with promise, so did we draft bad on the line too? Pouncey is an all pro center, Adams and DeCastro will be starters in 2013 as well as Gilbert. We landed Beachum in the later rounds last season and he looks to be a quality backup.

How about Cortez Allen who will start this coming season, Keenan who signed with the Saints, are they bad picks?

Do we have our share of misses? Sure just like every team does. Injuries played more of a role in last seasons fall than anything.
Now don't get me wrong Colbert and Company had their misses,but its not like they missed in all these drafts.
The two misses that stand out for me up to this point are Hood & Heyward, they were #1 picks who haven't lived up to that ranking, maybe both will this coming season but we haven't seen it yet.

Wallace,Brown, and Sanders were all good picks, but when your 8-8 you only remember the bad ones and forget the others who make contributions to the teams success.

The real problem here is.......$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. If we wern't so capped strapped we could of had Butler signed yesterday a good promising OLB. Colbert is only doing the best he can with what he has to work with, anyone who think they have the answers should apply for the position he holds

I don't think real problem is $$$$$...If they wanted they could have easily resigned K-Lew but they did not even gave him an offer...They are wasting $$$$ on signing some scrubs like DJ, Spaeth and Willie Gay...

Now i agree there can't be hits in the draft all the time but when a team depends on draft and spends money only on their own FA well then have to do a better job...Now draft is a lottery but you better hit it frequently if draft is your only source of good players....

I don't remember any game changer Steelers have drafted since 2007....

[lloydroid]

I was worried about your posts until I realized who was posting it. Once I realized who was posting I put zero weight in it. Side note is there an ignore poster option on this board?

I see: You couldn't refute my assertions so now you are going to run away. How noble. The world needs jelly fish too.

[lloydroid]

I don't think real problem is $$$$$...If they wanted they could have easily resigned K-Lew but they did not even gave him an offer...They are wasting $$$$ on signing some scrubs like DJ, Spaeth and Willie Gay...

Now i agree there can't be hits in the draft all the time but when a team depends on draft and spends money only on their own FA well then have to do a better job...Now draft is a lottery but you better hit it frequently if draft is your only source of good players....

I don't remember any game changer Steelers have drafted since 2007....

Ding, ding, ding. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

[grotonsteel]

It is a combination of poor drafting AND roster management! Not one or the other. People can go through and cherry pick examples to defend their position of we are a good drafting or bad drafting team. However when an 8-8 team with poor depth at multiple positions is bringing back players they let walk year after year because they have no depth groomed and are so screwed against the cap that they push even more money into the future just so they can free up enough money to sign average to below average players, then something is not right.

It's also a matter of poor priorities in the draft. I have mentioned it here quite a few times but it is horrible decision making to spend a first round pick on a 3-4 DE, and we have done it twice in three years! Thats like spending big bucks on a stereo and rims for your car but the motor and transmission (LB's & S's) are on their last legs. A punter in the 3rd round when there are plenty out there?

If you miss entire draft its going to put a team back for 2-3 years...Steelers FO just lost their mojo....

2008 is a miss...2009 was a great draft but they just let those young talented players go..2009 is laso now almost miss...MW wanted more money hence was let go but what about cutting Ubrik and not re-signing K-Lew??? Who are making these stupid desicions???How can FO think Willie Gay is better than K-Lew???

After poor drafting Steelers not only have poor depth but they don't have a starter at WR and RB position.

[D Rock]

Go back and look at the drafts before Tomlin...the success rate isn't much different.

you have 22 starters on each team, spread out over a career length of maybe 10 years or so. That's about 2 starters per draft (including UDFA), plus some free agents.

I don't think the team has really been that far off the mark lately drafting, outside of probably 2008.

Tomlin's starters/rotational backups (ignoring ST players):

2007: Timmons, Woodley, Gay
2008: Mendenhall, Mundy
2009: Hood, Wallace, Lewis, Johnson
2010: Pouncey, Worilds, Sanders, Dwyer, Brown
2011: Heyward, Gilbert, Allen
2012: Decastro, Adams, Beachum


Cowher's since 2000:

2000: Burress, M. Smith, Haggans
2001: Hampton, Bell,
2002: Simmons, Randle El, Hope, Foote, Haynes, Keisel
2003: Polamalu, Taylor
2004: Roethlisberger, Starks
2005: Miller, McFadden, Essex, Kemoeatu
2006: Holmes, Colon

Draft success to find starters hasn't really changed. A salary cap that went stagnant, combined with recent Super Bowl teams and the allure that comes with hanging on to players who have performed their jobs to the highest level, has left this team in a bad salary cap spot. This has led to players leaving for big dollars elsewhere. Having a franchise QB also plays into that, as they command a much larger chunk of your cap than average QBs do.

Look, one season going 8-8 doesn't mean these current players are garbage, as hard as that seems to be for some people to realize right now.

[supersteeler]

Go back and look at the drafts before Tomlin...the success rate isn't much different.

you have 22 starters on each team, spread out over a career length of maybe 10 years or so. That's about 2 starters per draft (including UDFA), plus some free agents.

I don't think the team has really been that far off the mark lately drafting, outside of probably 2008.

Tomlin's starters/rotational backups (ignoring ST players):

2007: Timmons, Woodley, Gay
2008: Mendenhall, Mundy
2009: Hood, Wallace, Lewis, Johnson
2010: Pouncey, Worilds, Sanders, Dwyer, Brown
2011: Heyward, Gilbert, Allen
2012: Decastro, Adams, Beachum


Cowher's since 2000:

2000: Burress, M. Smith, Haggans
2001: Hampton, Bell,
2002: Simmons, Randle El, Hope, Foote, Haynes, Keisel
2003: Polamalu, Taylor
2004: Roethlisberger, Starks
2005: Miller, McFadden, Essex, Kemoeatu
2006: Holmes, Colon

Draft success to find starters hasn't really changed. A salary cap that went stagnant, combined with recent Super Bowl teams and the allure that comes with hanging on to players who have performed their jobs to the highest level, has left this team in a bad salary cap spot. This has led to players leaving for big dollars elsewhere. Having a franchise QB also plays into that, as they command a much larger chunk of your cap than average QBs do.

Look, one season going 8-8 doesn't mean these current players are garbage, as hard as that seems to be for some people to realize right now.

Well said, D Rock!

[squidkid]

relax guys. we have tomlin.
he lead us to 2 superbowls, winning one.
he went 12-4 a couple times.
he won the afc north once or twice

[D Rock]

relax guys. we have tomlin.
he lead us to 2 superbowls, winning one.
he went 12-4 a couple times.
he won the afc north once or twice

you say that in jest, but it doesn't make the recent run of success any less real

[squidkid]

you say that in jest, but it doesn't make the recent run of success any less real

or all the failures

[Sugar]

relax guys. we have tomlin.
he lead us to 2 superbowls, winning one.
he went 12-4 a couple times.
he won the afc north once or twice

Amen!! Coach T is one of the things that makes me more confident in this team. The Steelers FO did the right thing when they signed him instead of Grimm or Whiz. He's a creative guy and I'm fairly confident he'll right the ship.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Go back and look at the drafts before Tomlin...the success rate isn't much different.

you have 22 starters on each team, spread out over a career length of maybe 10 years or so. That's about 2 starters per draft (including UDFA), plus some free agents.

I don't think the team has really been that far off the mark lately drafting, outside of probably 2008.

Tomlin's starters/rotational backups (ignoring ST players):

2007: Timmons, Woodley, Gay
2008: Mendenhall, Mundy
2009: Hood, Wallace, Lewis, Johnson
2010: Pouncey, Worilds, Sanders, Dwyer, Brown
2011: Heyward, Gilbert, Allen
2012: Decastro, Adams, Beachum


Cowher's since 2000:

2000: Burress, M. Smith, Haggans
2001: Hampton, Bell,
2002: Simmons, Randle El, Hope, Foote, Haynes, Keisel
2003: Polamalu, Taylor
2004: Roethlisberger, Starks
2005: Miller, McFadden, Essex, Kemoeatu
2006: Holmes, Colon

Draft success to find starters hasn't really changed. A salary cap that went stagnant, combined with recent Super Bowl teams and the allure that comes with hanging on to players who have performed their jobs to the highest level, has left this team in a bad salary cap spot. This has led to players leaving for big dollars elsewhere. Having a franchise QB also plays into that, as they command a much larger chunk of your cap than average QBs do.

Look, one season going 8-8 doesn't mean these current players are garbage, as hard as that seems to be for some people to realize right now.

Take that, but then add Bettis, Farrior, Hartings, KVO, A. Smith, and then look at things such as games played per season, per starter.

[zachintosh66]

You guys are a bunch of sheep. If the drafting is so "terrible" why are you so upset that they are all getting signed away by other teams?

Ha, good point never thought of it like that...

[Mister Pittsburgh]

If you miss entire draft its going to put a team back for 2-3 years...Steelers FO just lost their mojo....

2008 is a miss...2009 was a great draft but they just let those young talented players go..2009 is laso now almost miss...MW wanted more money hence was let go but what about cutting Ubrik and not re-signing K-Lew??? Who are making these stupid desicions???How can FO think Willie Gay is better than K-Lew???

After poor drafting Steelers not only have poor depth but they don't have a starter at WR and RB position.

I am under no illusion that every front office misses on players, on complete drafts, has tough personnel decisions sometimes, and even has rough seasons...sometimes more then one in a row. But I am also not going to sit there with my eyes closed and fingers in my ears going bla-la-la-la-la-la-la.....acting like all is fine.

Hopefully we have a killer draft. Would of loved to land Vic Butler and a RB.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Ha, good point never thought of it like that...

You shouldn't. The only one of those signed away that hurts is Lewis. People are complaining about the drafting because we have no capable safeties behind Troy & Clark. We have no young ILB groomed so had to sign an old Foote rather than pay first contract money to a young guy. WE have no decent TE options so brought back Spaeth. Have no RB close to a feature back because Our first round pick RB had an injury riddled career and was a douche o they didn't extend him. Then of course dropped first round picks on 3-4 DE's whose primary job is occupy blockers. ETC, ETC....