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‘09 Draft Class: where are you?
By Dagger | November 24, 2009
The Steelers are usually so good and so deep that Rookies are never needed to come in and make an impact right away. Whenever a guy like Mike Wallace can come out of nowhere and contribute in a big, big way….that’s a huge bonus for the organization.
The Steelers clearly miss Bryant McFadden right now and the 2 guys drafted to fill up the depth chart in the secondary have brought absolutely nothing to the table as of yet. 3rd rounder Keenan Lewis and 5th rounder Joe Burnett are not the 2008 versions of Willie Gay or the Bryant McFadden of his rookie year. You’d think 2 physically gifted DBs could play a role on special teams or in nickel/dime defense but so far that’s not the case. The team is severely lacking playmaking ability in the secondary and these 2 guys had the potential to come in and contribute right away. Pretty disappointing. At various times over preseason/training camp each of these guys was labeled (along with Mike Wallace) as the “best rookie in camp”.
The Steelers used their First Rounder on Ziggy Hood. He looks pretty good to me but you’d think he would be better than the 4th LDE on the depth chart. He shows promise at times but the coaches only trust him with 5-14 plays per game. Eason has done a decent job with his starts but if you told me on draft day that we’d be sitting here at Week 11 and Ziggy would be behind Aaron Smith, Travis Kirschke, and Nick Eason on the depth chart…I’d say you were crazy.
Kraig Urbik (Guard taken in 3rd round) also has to be viewed as a bit of a disappointment thus far considering he was almost cut during training camp and with Kemoeatu expected to miss a few weeks, Ramon Foster (and undrafted rookie free agent) is going to get the start this week at LG. I could care less which guy plays but you’d like to think that the guy you drafted in RD.3 would be higher on the depth chart than the UDFA you grabbed after the draft was over.
Mike Wallace is a beast…nothing more needs to be said.
Topics: NFL, Sports, Steelers | 7 Comments »
November 24th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
They should give Burnett a shot
Willie Gay is horrible
November 24th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Don't know why you're surprised by this. This is the way the Steelers do things. They have a complicated defense that takes time to learn, and they don't force their rookies to jump into the fray right away, which is a big reason for their sustained success.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I was very disapointed with our offseason work. I thought OL should have been addressed first and foremost and it wasnt (maybe evil BA biased Colbert and Tomlin?), I knew this unit would never ever "gel" enough to change what the whole league knew, that they were mediocre at best. Its a shame, nobody that matters foresaw it and we will keep having a mediocre line, so be it, they asked for it..
With that said, Tomlin seems stil inexperienced to handle certain things. And rookies are one of them. How many of u head scratched pretty hard through the draft? What about the way the staff handled and still handle Mendenhall? What about Sweed? Is he gonna turn to be a good reciever by getting the boot after 2 or 3 recieving attempts?? I dont think so. Throw him 20 times, and if he has 10 drops after that, then u give him the boot. The kid is probably fucked up mentally for life right now. And u are so proud of how tough u are innit coaches? 18 years old Marines in Iraq are proud of ur toughness! We are not!
Last year we won because we played brutal, this year we will only win if we play smart! Be smart Tomlin! And start by kicking Ben on his butt and slapping Arians on his cheek.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
The worst part about the last two drafts, is where are they in special teams? If we say that it takes at least two years to log serious minutes in LeBeau's defense, shouldn't these guys at least be able to handle imposing their will on ST? Seriously they cut Arnold Harrison as a warning, and the ST still sucked. Arnold Harrison is still better for the roster than Burnett, but Burnette has more upside. Why can't they draft guys who can tackle. For all of Ike's faults, he is a very sure tackler, but you can't expect to continue to run the starters out on ST year after year.
November 24th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
The Steelers coaches generally wait to get rookies involved but its just a bigger problem this year because we need some rookies to step up NOW.
Ziggy may have been a bit of a reach based on need, we won't know for another year or two.
November 25th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Seriously? Gay is a damn good corner in pass coverage.
November 25th, 2009 at 3:02 am
I actually like Gay as well but he has struggled at times and it reminds us all that McFadden was a beast last year. Gay will be fine, it's his first year getting all the snaps at starting CB. Remember, last year he split snaps 50/50 with McFadden at the end of the year and he did just fine.
He'll be OK but guys like Deshea, Ratliff (cut today), and others have been invisible. I'd like to think that Burnett and Lewis could line up in Nickel or Dime and be better than invisible.