Dulac's Chat (2/15) - Draft Info

[phillyesq]

Dulac has some interesting nuggets in here. Most interesting is him saying that the Steelers won't load up on defense again. He thinks that a WR or RB could be taken in the 2nd or 3rd, and that the Steelers may take both positions before the fourth. Some other notes:

- Doesn't seem to think they will draft a TE
- Sees an ILB as a possibility w/in top 3 rounds
- Believes it is likely that the Steelers draft a safety before a corner
- Steelers view Golson as a second round pick this year, again

He usually has some decent insight, but I hope he's wrong. Even if the Steelers are right about Golson (a huge gamble), they have no depth. William Gay did not look good at the end of the year, and there is little depth behind Burns and Cockrell.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2017/02/15/Gerry-Dulac-Steelers-chat-2-15-17/stories/201702150167

[pfelix73]

Dulac has some interesting nuggets in here. Most interesting is him saying that the Steelers won't load up on defense again. He thinks that a WR or RB could be taken in the 2nd or 3rd, and that the Steelers may take both positions before the fourth. Some other notes:

- Doesn't seem to think they will draft a TE
- Sees an ILB as a possibility w/in top 3 rounds
- Believes it is likely that the Steelers draft a safety before a corner
- Steelers view Golson as a second round pick this year, again

He usually has some decent insight, but I hope he's wrong. Even if the Steelers are right about Golson (a huge gamble), they have no depth. William Gay did not look good at the end of the year, and there is little depth behind Burns and Cockrell.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2017/02/15/Gerry-Dulac-Steelers-chat-2-15-17/stories/201702150167

I hope he is wrong too. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing them draft a TE. IF that TE from Alabama is there where they pick in the 1st round, I'd take him. I not sold on Green, and James is no Heath Miller. Good TE, but not a ProBowl TE, imo.

[squidkid]

rb that early? only if bell doesnt take our offer and gets franchised
wr that early? only if brown doesnt take our offer and plays out his final year
no TE? must be counting on james to be good enough OR green to actually play(risky)
no cb early? counting on golson(risky)
no mention on OLB? must be counting on no pass rush again next year

i think and hope Dulac is waaaaaaay off.
i want olb in first, cb or safety in second, cb or safety in 3rd and olb in fourth

[feltdizz]

We are fine at TE. James had 85 yards vs KC and 50 yards vs the Pats and was a half inch from a TD.

He will definitely turn into a legit weapon the more Ben plays with him.

That Bama TE is a head scratcher. Great size and he seems to always catch a break in championship games. They always set him up with a nice play call and he is wide open but I rarely see him catching passes in traffic. Bama runs so much and throws so many TE and short screens I don't know if he is actually a beast and can find the open pockets in a zone.

His numbers outside side of the championship game are garbage.

13 catches.. 2 TDs
17 catches.. no TDs
33 catches.. no TDs

Dude is raw and would probably sit behind Jesse James and Gimble next year. Don't let the Clemson blown coverages fool you.

No thanks.

[feltdizz]

rb that early? only if bell doesnt take our offer and gets franchised
wr that early? only if brown doesnt take our offer and plays out his final year
no TE? must be counting on james to be good enough OR green to actually play(risky)
no cb early? counting on golson(risky)
no mention on OLB? must be counting on no pass rush again next year

i think and hope Dulac is waaaaaaay off.
i want olb in first, cb or safety in second, cb or safety in 3rd and olb in fourth

i want OLB or DB in the first 2 rounds
DL
RB
WR

[squidkid]

i want OLB or DB in the first 2 rounds
DL
RB
WR

i can live with that if bell doenst sign long term.
we need pressure and coverage not more scoring potential

[phillyesq]

rb that early? only if bell doesnt take our offer and gets franchised
wr that early? only if brown doesnt take our offer and plays out his final year
no TE? must be counting on james to be good enough OR green to actually play(risky)
no cb early? counting on golson(risky)
no mention on OLB? must be counting on no pass rush again next year

i think and hope Dulac is waaaaaaay off.
i want olb in first, cb or safety in second, cb or safety in 3rd and olb in fourth

I neglected to mention that Dulac did talk about an OLB early. He said they won't reach in the first but did see it as a priority.

But yeah, I agree - the rest of that is a head scratcher. James is a decent TE, but not somebody that can stretch or threaten a defense. I get that there are risks in relying on Bryant and Coates, but it seems even more risky to rely on Golson and Green.

[pfelix73]

We are fine at TE. James had 85 yards vs KC and 50 yards vs the Pats and was a half inch from a TD.

He will definitely turn into a legit weapon the more Ben plays with him.

That Bama TE is a head scratcher. Great size and he seems to always catch a break in championship games. They always set him up with a nice play call and he is wide open but I rarely see him catching passes in traffic. Bama runs so much and throws so many TE and short screens I don't know if he is actually a beast and can find the open pockets in a zone.

His numbers outside side of the championship game are garbage.

13 catches.. 2 TDs
17 catches.. no TDs
33 catches.. no TDs

Dude is raw and would probably sit behind Jesse James and Gimble next year. Don't let the Clemson blown coverages fool you.

No thanks.

Well, he will probably be picked way ahead of 30th, BUT if he isn't, and is still available, he may be the BPA on the board. I'd take him.

[Shawn]

rb that early? only if bell doesnt take our offer and gets franchised
wr that early? only if brown doesnt take our offer and plays out his final year
no TE? must be counting on james to be good enough OR green to actually play(risky)
no cb early? counting on golson(risky)
no mention on OLB? must be counting on no pass rush again next year

i think and hope Dulac is waaaaaaay off.
i want olb in first, cb or safety in second, cb or safety in 3rd and olb in fourth

Of course running back that early. I've been saying this for a couple months. I am not convinced Bell gets a long term deal done with the Steelers. Are the Steelers really going to pay out close to 25 million a year for both Brown and Bell? Bell is a spectacular back, make no mistake the best back in the NFL. But, has a propensity to do ignorant things and hasn't reliably seen the field.

I personally think the Steelers threaten Bell with a franchise tag for two years, draft a RB in the first three rounds and tell him to take a hike at 27 yo if he doesn't want to sign a "reasonable" deal with clauses for substance abuse issues. The Steelers not only need a capable back up, but they need insurance. Drafting a running back makes absolute sense.

[pittpete]

i want OLB or DB in the first 2 rounds
DL
RB
WR

I like it..I'd go all defense

[NorthCoast]

For the Steelers, note that:

Top 10 players on offense = 44% of the salary cap
Top 10 players on defense = 22% of the salary cap

Even considering the entire roster, the Steelers are spending almost 2X as much on offense. You would have a good argument that even though the Steelers are spending 2X as much on offense, the unit underperformed vs expectations. With virtually the same players the imbalance will balloon in the next year. Is the direction really to load up more offense?

btw, what team do you suppose is ranked #1 in the NFL for best value vs performance? I'll give you a hint, they won this year's SB. (Steelers are #5.)

btw, who do you suppose is ranked #5 NFL best player value on a cap $ vs performance basis??? Villanueva!

[feltdizz]

I like it..I'd go all defense

I think we go RB in the 4th and will get good value because it's a deep draft. Plus I think Bell is damaged goods. He isn't reliable and DW is old. WR's are a dime a dozen and we aren't pressed for a WR but we tend to do well in later rounds at that position.

We we need more pressure in the front 7 and it's obvious we need help at OLB.

[Shawn]

What's interesting in all of this is I kept asking myself "why WR"? I know Coates had a bad year but he also had broken fingers. Bryant appears to have turned a corner but I can understand I suppose. But, in reality I think this also has to do with Brown. They might see him as nearly un-signable. WR is making more and more sense to me. Might need to take another look at my mock.

[phillyesq]

What's interesting in all of this is I kept asking myself "why WR"? I know Coates had a bad year but he also had broken fingers. Bryant appears to have turned a corner but I can understand I suppose. But, in reality I think this also has to do with Brown. They might see him as nearly un-signable. WR is making more and more sense to me. Might need to take another look at my mock.

The Steelers should have clarity on that before the draft.

[Eich]

Regarding WR, what the status with Wheaton? If we went into 2017 with a healthy and suspension-free AB, Martavis, Coates, Wheaton, Rogers and Bell's receiving capability, we're set at WR. And we had two other rookies that looked to be serviceable in Ayers and Hamilton.

But there's a lot of question marks in there. It's Martavis' head on straight? Is Coates healed? Is Wheaton healed?