Shawn's Final Mock

[Real Deal Steel]

Sounds good.

[Captain Lemming]

Like your draft alot. Question Shawn (or anybody for that matter). Why is the consensus that Peppers is the better choice than Obi?

Round 1-Obi Melifonwu. I truly believe Peppers will be gone before our pick.

[Shawn]

Like your draft alot. Question Shawn (or anybody for that matter). Why is the consensus that Peppers is the better choice than Obi?

Great question. I don't necessarily think Peppers is better than Obi. I do believe Peppers is twitchier than Obi which would make him appealing to Steeler first round history. I believe many scouts would believe Peppers has a higher ceiling.

[JUST-PLAIN-NASTY]

I have an OLB in the 4th and 7th.

I saw him Shawn but I have him as a 3-4 DE. I don't believe he has the ability to play in space & drop at this level. It's a square peg round hole. Like the kid but not an OLB. That's my opinion on him.

[Shawn]

I saw him Shawn but I have him as a 3-4 DE. I don't believe he has the ability to play in space & drop at this level. It's a square peg round hole. Like the kid but not an OLB. That's my opinion on him.

Possibly, but he has the speed to play OLB. Either way I believe he is an intriguing talent.

[SteelerMaine83]

Drafting two corners makes sense if we are able to use a day two pick on Sidney Jones and stashing him on IR until 2018. He likely would have been a top 15 pick if he weren't injured, and we aren't typically able to land a CB of that caliber in the draft.

Getting Jones and stashing him away for a redshirt year would be great, but hard to do as you're sacrificing a little bit this year by using a pick on him. With my "only room for one CB (but two safeties)" theory for this draft, stashing him works as he won't take up space on our roster However, I would throw this out there: while he is damaged goods for this year, he clearly has 1st round talent, and with a draft where many 2nd rounders (on D) would be 1st round worthy next year, would it make sense to trade next year's #1 (a late pick, hopefully #32) for a #2 if he's still there at 50? You would essentially be trading a late 1st rounder for a mid-1st rounder. Thoughts?

[SS Laser]

Nice draft, well thought out. That said, thinking of who we have currently on our roster, and what our actions have been in the off-season, here are my thoughts of how our draft is shaped (without actually making specific predictions on picks):

Certain positions only become draftable based on what happens between now and the draft: for example, TE becomes a definite early option if L. Green fails his concussion protocol before OTAs; otherwise it's just not a high priority unless in becomes an early round BPA. Green (if he can't pass concussion protocol), Johnson and maybe Grimble are potential losers if a TE is drafted. Otherwise, TE will be a 5th or later pick. Green's health is the determiner.

WR--if Bryant is re-instated before the draft, AB, Bryant, Rogers, Ayers and the winner(s) of DHB, Coates, Hunter and Hamilton battle for the remainder of the spots. In this scenario, no WR picked before the 6th.

OL--with Munchak's excellent coaching, only a backup interior lineman (capable of both C and G) could be picked, no earlier than the 6th. I like Max Rich as a potential OT prospect as a UDFA.

DL--Heyward, Tuitt and Hargrave with Alualu as backup? Walton, McCullers and Maxey provide depth along w/ maybe Grover Stewart as a UDFA NT. Barring injury, there is really no need to draft here as traditionally only 5 DLs get a hat on game day.

QB--Ben, Landry (ouch) and Zach M. man the position, with Torgersen as a 7th/UDFA to provide competition. I saw Mahomes on NFL Live the other day and was so unimpressed--has the arm talent but the head of Jay Cutler. Enough said.

So, LB, DB, backup RB--that's what are draft is about (is anyone surprised).

So, let's start with CB: Currently, Burns, Cockrell, Sensabaugh, Gay, Golson and Al-Hajj Shabazz all exist. That's six (yes, six). I keep thinking 2 CB's will be drafted, but that probably doesn't make sense. Why? At least 4 of the 6 mentioned almost assuredly stick. Burns is a lock. Sensabaugh, and Cockrell are likely locks. Al-Hajj Shabazz was on the 53 all year (without hardly playing), so they are protecting him for a reason. That reason is likely because of his outstanding size, small school background (needs a little coaching up) and the desired switch from playing predominantly zone. If Golson can make it through more than a week of training camp without getting injured, the Steelers may actually remember why they drafted him in the first place--to be the slot guy. Gay may be the odd (old?) man out in this case. In this draft, the depth is very good, but CBs are either boundary guys or slot guys--not many capable of both. The Steelers may take the best of one or the other when available, of take one of those that may be a slot/FS guy (Awuzie, D. King, B.Baker, M.Williams, J. Johnson). The numbers to me only make the argument for one drafted CB, with a UDFA to add a little camp competition.

S--seems like this might be the position for two drafted players, considering our needs and the depth in the draft. We have Mitchell and Davis as locks; Shark is gone (thankfully), and Golden was completely horrible when he came back from injury (and lost his starting job to Davis). Dangerfield was arguably better than Golden by the end of the year. So, only 2 S's are locks, the loss (?) of Shark gives us a spot, and the other incumbents are 'Meh' at best. A safety in the first 4 picks and another S later makes sense. Three reliable safeties makes us a better team (yes, while I'm not a huge Mitchell fan I will call him reliable--although clearly not irreplaceable). Melifonwu would certainly make sense, as we could probably send Vince to the bench on passing downs and use him as a S/LB hybrid in those situations (instead of the two ILBs we'd previously keep on the field in those situations).

LB--2 Edge, one ILB. I'm taking the best available edge at 1 or 2, and taking a chance on the coming-off-injury JoJo Mathis in 5. ILB is a matter of finding one that can step in for or play next to Shazier. Davis would be ideal, but Cunningham may give more flexibility. Feeling like Moats, like Gay, may be the odd man out as age/salary hurt them both.

RB--simple; suitable backup for Bell. This draft has a number of guys that can be had 3-5 that would fill that bill for us, given the strengths of the rest of our O.

So, the draft looks like 2 edge players, 1 ILB, 1 CB, 1S, and 1 RB through Round 5. If L. Green is done, a TE slips in there, and if they are feeling it, Peterman gets picked as a potential QB of the future (accurate with a very quick release and smarts). This is just my feeling based on who they currently have on the roster and their actions over the past 12 months.

Very well thought out break down. But some of the players listed in my opinion are replaceable with draft picks. And to me the Steelers look to replace guys before it is time. Some of the CB's can be looked at to be replaced. Same as the back up DE's. As I think they want as much rush ability as they can get. The team seems to talk about getting more pressure from the linemen. Agreed with the safeties and O line. TE is also preemptive to draft a replacement for Green. Even if by some miracle he plays all the games this season at any point he is ticking time bomb. Could be done at anytime. As far as edge I again don't think the Steelers have given up on chick just yet. Fans seem to. ILB is going to get a premium pick. Think that might have been the plan even if Timmons was still around. Just a preemptive type pick. The draft still has to fall the right way though. And QB is looking to be another preemptive pick if the right one is there. So I see 1-edge, 1-ILB, 1-safety,
1-RB. Could see 1-WR and 1 or 2 CB's possible. And that QB is also possible. The right DE is possible. Will be interesting on how this draft plays out.

[Shoe]

Round 1-Obviously the Steelers will be eyeballing OLB, DB, and FS as potential first round picks with an outside chance at QB (unless Mahommes is sitting there) and TE. Looking at who will likely be available at 30 the cream of the OLB may be gone. Takk McKinley, and Reddick are two guys I could see being really appealing to the Steelers. Charles Harris I think has a strong chance of being there and the Steelers will look at closely. He is a twitchy athlete who isn't easily able to turn speed into power. Harrison while getting up there in age is still playing at a high level. I think we may have two more seasons with Harrison which would allow the Steelers to draft a more developmental OLB. Ultimately, I believe they will be looking at Peppers, Teez Tabor, Obi Melifonwu, Buddha Baker, or Tredavis White. Ultimately, I believe they pick the size speed combo of Obi Melifonwu. I truly believe Peppers will be gone before our pick.

Round 2-Jordan Willis-OLB if available, if not I believe the Steelers pass on Rivers. Rivers is a linebacker who people fell in love with after he ran. Looking at his film shows me an incomplete OLB who has a high ceiling but needs much grooming. I believe Willis gets snatched up earlier than anticipated, he is too twitchy to last until the bottom of the second. Ultimately, I believe the Steelers roll with Quincy Wilson-DB Florida

Round 3a- Ben finally gets his TE. The Steelers will be looking at Butt, a first round draft talent with an ACL tear, "Lazy Leggit" a guy with tremendous athleticism but questionable work ethic, and I believe the Steelers ultimately pick a guy who will be one of the steals of the draft in Jake Butt.

Round 3b-Raekwon McMillan-ILB tOSU, tremendous football player who just always seems to be around the ball.

Round 4- Tanoh Kpassagnon-Big fast and raw OLB prospect. This guy is 6 foot 7, 289 and runs a sub 4.8? He needs work but could be a real player in the mold of Jason Pierre Paul with some development. I was really impressed by his tape.

Round 5-James Conner, running back Pitt. I believe the Steelers ask him to drop 20 pounds to increase his ability to hit the edge and he excels at the next level running at a lighter weight.

Round 6-Robert Davis-WR Georgia State, Big, Fast, Dominated talent at a smaller school. He might be my favorite underdog in this draft. The guy is going to surprise some people.

Round 7-Samsom Ebukam-OLB, another big fast and raw OLB prospect. He may go long before 7 but I like what I've been reading on the guy and the Steelers have shown interest. If not I still love the Human Joystick as a late round flyer kind of guy.

This guy Obi Melifonwu has bust written all over him in my opinion. Average instincts, supreme physical test numbers. Nolan Nawrocki compares him to Taylor Mays from USC a few years back, and I can personally remember guys like that who never did anything, over the years. This would be a reach anyway IMO, to take him at 30.

No offense Shawn, not liking your draft much. I do like the Ekuban kid later, since I've read he could be a sleeper. If Peppers is there, we run the card up to the commissioner. But it is hard to imagine him still sitting there at the end of the first round. In the end, it is hard to say who we take this far down the board. I hope they do what they always do, taking the most productive, proven leader type guy that they've always taken, going back to: Heath, Casey Hampton, Polamalu, Pouncey, Ziggy Hood (was a team leader), Cam, Ben...

[Shawn]

No offense taken. I'm on record saying I don't like Obi. When I do a mock I try to predict who the Steelers will target not who I would pick. Before the draft I'll do one talking about who I think the Steelers will target vs who I would target.

[MeetJoeGreene]

That is an excellent mock draft

[SteelCrazy]

That is an excellent mock draft

A quote that will never meet its equal....

[Chadman]

Very concerned that Obi is more Taylor Mays than Kam Chancellor. Straight ahead speed- yes. But if you watch him, he arrives on the scene a little too late, too often. And generally as a result of some pretty shady QB throws anyway. Yes, his 40 dash makes him sound like an uber-athlete. But I would be VARY wary. Much prefer Peppers who is a football speed guy, that played a number of positions without ever being given then chance to settle on one- but still played all well enough that it's hard to say he isn't able to play them all at the NFL level. For mine, that says he picks up the theory of the position well- football intelligence. I think he is best as an in-the-box SS, but he's so flexible, you could play him as a deep safety, or as that quasi-LB type role. Essentially- he's a little bit Polamalu without the hair.

All that said, I would not be at all surprised if the Steelers 'reach' for Jordan Willis in Round 1- the prototype Steelers OLB athlete, who played consistently well at a good college level, for the entirety of his career. Many mock sites say he is a '2 Round Guy', but why? The Steelers have shown genuine interest in him, he is reported to be a very steady character guy, hits on many levels as far as the Steelers look for. At #30, he's not just a 'safe' pick, he's a good pick. That's my pick.

The Safety out of North Carolina looks ideal in Round 2.

[Shawn]

Very concerned that Obi is more Taylor Mays than Kam Chancellor. Straight ahead speed- yes. But if you watch him, he arrives on the scene a little too late, too often. And generally as a result of some pretty shady QB throws anyway. Yes, his 40 dash makes him sound like an uber-athlete. But I would be VARY wary. Much prefer Peppers who is a football speed guy, that played a number of positions without ever being given then chance to settle on one- but still played all well enough that it's hard to say he isn't able to play them all at the NFL level. For mine, that says he picks up the theory of the position well- football intelligence. I think he is best as an in-the-box SS, but he's so flexible, you could play him as a deep safety, or as that quasi-LB type role. Essentially- he's a little bit Polamalu without the hair.

All that said, I would not be at all surprised if the Steelers 'reach' for Jordan Willis in Round 1- the prototype Steelers OLB athlete, who played consistently well at a good college level, for the entirety of his career. Many mock sites say he is a '2 Round Guy', but why? The Steelers have shown genuine interest in him, he is reported to be a very steady character guy, hits on many levels as far as the Steelers look for. At #30, he's not just a 'safe' pick, he's a good pick. That's my pick.

The Safety out of North Carolina looks ideal in Round 2.

I concur. Neither guy tore up the college defensive world. But, you see with Peppers the ability to make explosive plays. He may be raw but he has all the tools you would want. He's a project and a little more than I would like as a first rounder...but thats just me. Obi doesn't play fast, he doesn't make explosive plays...but who knows how the Steelers see it. I do know they love them some big guys who can run. And personally I think Peppers is much too explosive to last until 30.