Day Three Wrap Up

I don't get caught up in all the draft hype like other people. What I mean by that if you listen to fans, coaches and the front office when they talk about draft picks, they are all superstars. Watching press conferences for each player drafted pretty much every year, you hear them talk about how each one is amazing in their own rights. Lets be honest though, your a late round pick for a reason. They have incredible skills but they are not all Pros and most of them their best football days ended when they left college. Keeping that in mind there are some really intriguing picks on day three.

Round 4
Doran Grant - Ohio State - DB
The Steelers grabbed their second corner in the fourth round. This one only needs a pretty simple breakdown. If you are the starting corner on a National Championship NCAA team, then you can play football. Whether it translates to the NFL is another question but it is definitely worth the look. At Ohio State Doran started 30 games, playing in another 24 games. He recorded 146 tackles with nine intercetptions, a sack and 20 broken up passes.

Round 5
Jesse James - Penn State - TE
I can honestly say that is is my favorite pick on the third day. I don't buy the "experts" saying we needed a tight end and we needed one early in the draft. Instead of an instant "upgrade" I felt a project player was needed to develop behind Miller and Spaeth. James fits that to a T. He left college a year early and still has a lot to learn before being an NFL star but he did at Penn State start every game the last two years, making 31 career starts. He caught 78 passes for 1,005 yards and added 11 touchdowns, the most by a Penn State tight end, ever. 

Round 6A
LT Walton - Central Michigan - DL
LT has great size at 6'5 and 319 lbs but he is more of a defensive end than a tackle and we need a tackle, bad. I know the front office is saying he can play both but that remains to be seen. The Steelers don't need more hybrid defensive lineman, we need a nose tackle, a true nose tackle to make this defense work. Maybe Walton can develop into that guy but I don't see it. At Central Michigan he finished his career with  106 tackles, 18.5 for loss with six sacks, three deflected passes and two forced fumbles.

Round 6B
Anthony Chickillo - Miami - DE/LB
What a great work horse pick. He doesn't have the brute strength like James Harrison or the big play moves like Joey Porter did, but he can play. He has a solid motor that just keeps running. Watch his highlights for just five minutes and you can see he never quits and keeps moving. That is the kind of linebacker we could use. He won't start and needs a lot of time to develop but I see a Levon Kirkland style player if he develops right. At Miami he started 47 of 50 games racking up 170 tackles, 25 for loss, 15.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, five recovered and five broken up passes.

Round 7
Gerod Holliman - Louisville - S
Warning, don't get excited by his stat line. Holliman may be a ball hawk and finds a way to pick passes but he is an awful tackler. He struggled in his only year as a starter by making a measly 37 tackles as a Sophomore. Instead of using one more year of eligibility, which he has two, and refining his tackling ability, he decided to enter the draft. Holliman has only started 12 games while playing in only 15 others. He totaled only 63 career tackles, a sack and six broken up passes but he did have an impressive 14 interceptions and 245 return yards off those interceptions.

Overall it was a good draft for the Steelers but we have to be honest that all these guys are not making the roster. If you look at the last ten years of Steelers drafts, removing 2014 since its still close to call, and statistics tell you that few of these guys will make a lasting impact.

In the last four rounds since the 2004 draft the Steelers have taken 22 defensive players with only four still on the roster today and only four others seeing any significant time on the field, mostly on special teams though. On the offensive side of the ball the Steelers have taken 27 offensive players with four still on the roster today and only seven others seeing any significant playing time.

Personally I think the players with the most upside are Anthony Chickillo and Jesse James but Doran Grant could be a long lasting player as well. But hey, just my opinion.