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Build a pre-combine first round draft board for the Steelers that is 18 players deep. If everyone in the entire draft were available when we picked, who would be your top choice for us? Your next choice? The worst case scenario that you would be willing to live with at #18? My personal list of 18 consists only of defensive players and offensive linemen.
I know some folks are high on C.J. Spiller, for example, and while I feel that he will be a quality NFL player, I would go nuts if we spent our first round pick on another offensive skill player when we have bigger needs elsewhere. Therefore, Spiller, Dez Bryant, Sam Bradford, and Jimmy Clausen are not in my personal list of 18, even though I fully expect all of them to be drafted in the top half of the first round. Also, certain players such as Derrick Morgan, Jason-Pierre Paul, and Brian Price don't necessaily fit into our scheme, so I did not include them in my list for the Steelers either.
I didn't include any CB's except for Haden because I think it is a deep draft for corners, with the 12th corner not all that far behind the 2nd corner, so I would rather wait until round 2 or 3 to draft a CB and get better overall value with my CB pick, if I am unable to draft the premier CB in the draft. It is difficult to compare, say, Kyle Wilson to Terrence Cody or Maurkice Pouncey directly (ya think?). Even though I like Wilson a lot, I decided to include Pouncey and Cody at the bottom of my list and not Wilson because there is a bigger dropoff to the next tier of centers and nose tackles, while there are multiple CB's that I consider to be on par with Wilson (guys like Warren, Ghee, Cox, McCourty, etc.). Not that it means all that much though...as soon as the top 2 QB's get drafted ahead of us, Cody and Pouncey would get eliminated from consideration on my first round big board anyway.
Anyway, here goes:
1. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
2. Eric Berry, S, Tennessee
3. Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma
4. Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State
5. Anthony Davis, OT, Rutgers
6. Joe Haden, CB, Florida
7. Bruce Campbell, OT, Maryland
8. Rolando McClain, ILB, Alabama
9. Bryan Bulaga, OT, Iowa
10. Earl Thomas, FS, Texas
11. Dan Williams, NT, Tennessee
12. Trent Williams, OT, Oklahoma
13. Mike Iupati, G, Idaho
14. Jared Odrick, DE/DT, Penn State
15. Sean Weatherspoon, ILB, Missouri
16. Brandon Graham, DE/OLB, Michigan
17. Maurkice Pouncey, C/G, Florida
18. Terrence Cody, NT, Alabama
Since I expect a half-dozen or so other guys that aren't on my list to go ahead of us in the first round of the draft (such as Clausen, Bradford, Bryant, Spiller, Morgan, Pierre-Paul, Price), I would hopefully be looking to draft one of the guys in my top dozen, and I would be very happy with any of them.
I ended up with 7 o-linemen (5 OT, 1 G, 1 C), 5 d-lineman (2 NT, 3 DE in a 3-4), 3 linebackers (2 ILB, 1 OLB), and 3 in the secondary (2 FS, 1 CB).
What are your top 18 Steeler draft targets, ranked in order from #1 to #18?
I know some folks are high on C.J. Spiller, for example, and while I feel that he will be a quality NFL player, I would go nuts if we spent our first round pick on another offensive skill player when we have bigger needs elsewhere. Therefore, Spiller, Dez Bryant, Sam Bradford, and Jimmy Clausen are not in my personal list of 18, even though I fully expect all of them to be drafted in the top half of the first round. Also, certain players such as Derrick Morgan, Jason-Pierre Paul, and Brian Price don't necessaily fit into our scheme, so I did not include them in my list for the Steelers either.
I didn't include any CB's except for Haden because I think it is a deep draft for corners, with the 12th corner not all that far behind the 2nd corner, so I would rather wait until round 2 or 3 to draft a CB and get better overall value with my CB pick, if I am unable to draft the premier CB in the draft. It is difficult to compare, say, Kyle Wilson to Terrence Cody or Maurkice Pouncey directly (ya think?). Even though I like Wilson a lot, I decided to include Pouncey and Cody at the bottom of my list and not Wilson because there is a bigger dropoff to the next tier of centers and nose tackles, while there are multiple CB's that I consider to be on par with Wilson (guys like Warren, Ghee, Cox, McCourty, etc.). Not that it means all that much though...as soon as the top 2 QB's get drafted ahead of us, Cody and Pouncey would get eliminated from consideration on my first round big board anyway.
Anyway, here goes:
1. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
2. Eric Berry, S, Tennessee
3. Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma
4. Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State
5. Anthony Davis, OT, Rutgers
6. Joe Haden, CB, Florida
7. Bruce Campbell, OT, Maryland
8. Rolando McClain, ILB, Alabama
9. Bryan Bulaga, OT, Iowa
10. Earl Thomas, FS, Texas
11. Dan Williams, NT, Tennessee
12. Trent Williams, OT, Oklahoma
13. Mike Iupati, G, Idaho
14. Jared Odrick, DE/DT, Penn State
15. Sean Weatherspoon, ILB, Missouri
16. Brandon Graham, DE/OLB, Michigan
17. Maurkice Pouncey, C/G, Florida
18. Terrence Cody, NT, Alabama
Since I expect a half-dozen or so other guys that aren't on my list to go ahead of us in the first round of the draft (such as Clausen, Bradford, Bryant, Spiller, Morgan, Pierre-Paul, Price), I would hopefully be looking to draft one of the guys in my top dozen, and I would be very happy with any of them.
I ended up with 7 o-linemen (5 OT, 1 G, 1 C), 5 d-lineman (2 NT, 3 DE in a 3-4), 3 linebackers (2 ILB, 1 OLB), and 3 in the secondary (2 FS, 1 CB).
What are your top 18 Steeler draft targets, ranked in order from #1 to #18?
Anthony Davis OT
I briefly toyed with putting Berry first myself (absolutely love the guy), but Suh is amazing as well...couldn't go wrong either way. We agree that Trent Williams is the least desirable of the OT prospects (I think he'll be solid on the next level, but he may only be a RT on the next level...I think you need LT feet to be an elite prospect there).
) We also have the debut of a second CB, and I think Wilson would be my second choice of CB's as well (and I would pick him ahead of a Taylor Mays too).
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