Steelers select OLB Alex Highsmith in Round 3

[whatever]

I'm thinking he may be an ilb in the 3-4. He's only 243 lbs. Yea, he can add some weight, but I see him as competition for VW. Yes? No? just my guess

Great thought. I hope you are right. I'd be more in favor of this pick if that's where they use him.

[Steel Maniac]

I never did like Washington all that much. With this kid from ND, he's 6'4" and can stretch the field. Maybe he's our next Martavus Bryant. Hope he stays out of trouble though.

Colbert’s pretty good with picking WR’s; he needs to be right about this kid. Don’t want another monster bust pick like Jarvis Jones was.

[SteelBucks]

id like a change of pace guy to compete with them and white. And was ok with dobbins. or even Akers / Taylor.

but do these guys look to be spectacular type backs? the way the draft rolled out, league sort of said nah.
Only 1 back got drafted in first round. And that was because Reid said he reminded him of Westbrook.

This Claypool guy ( video posted) has all the measurables of a difference maker.
And gives us protection if juju isn’t back next year.
I think it was a great pick

I’m not certain Claypool influences what they do at WR in the future. To me, Claypool looks like a guy to can grow into a dominant TE. 6’5”, great hands and likes to block. Maybe I’m way off base but I see a lot of positional flexibility with this guy.

[Chadman]

Damn he’s fast off the snap...

[whatever]

I'm thinking he may be an ilb in the 3-4. He's only 243 lbs. Yea, he can add some weight, but I see him as competition for VW. Yes? No? just my guess

Bummer. I just found an article where he says Tomlin and Colbert told him he was going to be moved from de to olb if they drafted him. Seems his forte is rushing the passer.
Sounds like they realize he will need to put on some weight and learn that spot.
Looks like my original prediction of a project in a year or two.

[pfelix73]

Colbert’s pretty good with picking WR’s; he needs to be right about this kid. Don’t want another monster bust pick like Jarvis Jones was.

Jarvis was outside. They usually pick up these lighter DE's out of college to play OLB. I think he'll be better off inside. We'll see, but they let Barron go, so thin up the middle. You see the highlights of him sniffing out the RB for losses? Ala Farrior. Long waaayyy to go to be a Farrior...

Thats why I liked that Gross- Matos. 270 lb, 6'5" at possible OLB.

[pfelix73]

Bummer. I just found an article where he says Tomlin and Colbert told him he was going to be moved from de to olb if they drafted him. Seems his forte is rushing the passer.
Sounds like they realize he will need to put on some weight and learn that spot.
Looks like my original prediction of a project in a year or two.

Hmmm, thats surprising. Well, we'll see. His highlights when he was inside, looked good. 243 lbs..

[whatever]

I’m not certain Claypool influences what they do at WR in the future. To me, Claypool looks like a guy to can grow into a dominant TE. 6’5”, great hands and likes to block. Maybe I’m way off base but I see a lot of positional flexibility with this guy.

Agreed with the te conversion possibility next year giving us the ability to dump one if our tes. More than likely McDonald, as long as Ebron pans out.

[SteelBucks]

Hmmm, thats surprising. Well, we'll see. His highlights when he was inside, looked good. 243 lbs..

He may need to get stronger at the point of attack. OLB may be a better fit early on.

[whatever]

Hmmm, thats surprising. Well, we'll see. His highlights when he was inside, looked good. 243 lbs..

Im good with them not trying to be cutesy and move him from a position he is good at.
I would have preferred an ilb that would contribute this year but hey, whatever.

[NJ-STEELER]

Im good with them not trying to be cutesy and move him from a position he is good at.
I would have preferred an ilb that would contribute this year but hey, whatever.

who?

there was ANOTHER OLB taken by the eagles with the next pick in the 3rd round. And on ESPNs draft tracker two more OLBs (7 &10 on the list) in their next best available. No ILBs in the next best 30 or so players available.

[NJ-STEELER]

I’m not certain Claypool influences what they do at WR in the future. To me, Claypool looks like a guy to can grow into a dominant TE. 6’5”, great hands and likes to block. Maybe I’m way off base but I see a lot of positional flexibility with this guy.

could very well be.
I’m exited either way.

And I wouldn’t mind the idea floated on here about dropping some weight either if he stays at WR

[NJ-STEELER]

I never did like Washington all that much. With this kid from ND, he's 6'4" and can stretch the field. Maybe he's our next Martavus Bryant. Hope he stays out of trouble though.

for all the good MB brought, he went down fairly easy when contacted. So did mike Wallace, another deep threat.

in the tape I’ve seen on Claypool, he’s destroying would be tacklers

[Mr.wizard]

Applause. Unreal how bad they f'd this up.

How would you know, how much advanced scouting have you done on these guys in the draft, the current cap, and future plans of the team? Seems like the guys making the decisions have access to a lot more info than you do, probably why they are in a position to make these decisions for one of the most successful franchises in football.

[flippy]

Love the potential in this kid. I can't even tell you guys how close I was to putting Highsmith in my mock (although I was thinking he was a 6th rounder). I went back and forth a couple times picking between him and Amik Robertson and I settled on the latter.

I had a deja vu feeling about Alex when I did my mock and thought the Steelers might draft him. It was the same feeling I got about Sutton Smith last year who I put in my mock.

Alex has boom or bust written all over him. I love seeing our team take chances on guys like this who could have limitless potential, but I expect us to reach for this type of guy in rounds 5 - 7. What this pick tells me is how much value there is on potential 3-4 OLBs based on size. This kid compares to Sutton Smith so closely - freakish athlete, small school, big time production, etc. but he's taller and longer and those extra couple inches on his frame were the difference between a 3rd and a 6th round pick.

I have the hardest time figuring out which round players will get picked. My 3rd and 4th picks in my mock went in the 2nd round. And now I thought our 3rd rounder was a 6th round pick. Either way I like the player and am pretty excited about him nonetheless.