Yep... hate the Steelers... LOVE the way they draft. Look at this list.Originally Posted by Ziggy
09 - Ziggy Hood DE (highly coveted prospect by a couple other teams, hasn't done anything yet - too early to say for a DL)
08 - Rashard Mendenhall RB
07 - Lawerence Timmons ILB (12 sacks the last two years from ILB position, really started to develop.)
06 - Santonio Holmes WR (borderline great)
05 - Heath Miller TE (was my favorite player in that draft)
04 - Ben Roethlisberger QB
03 - Troy Polamalu S (Hall of Fame caliber player)
02 - Kendall Simmons OG (solid player/injury)
01 - Casey Hampton NT (great player)
00 - Plaxico Burress WR (total nut job - good player)
99 - Troy Edwards WR (BUST)
98 - Alan Faneca OG (love this pick)
The only odd ball thing they do is take a lot of WRs, but they generally pick in the 20s and what you see in those picks? TE, OG, ILB, S ... they aren't afraid to take the best player at a position considered non-critical.
Denver Broncos
09 - Moreno/Ayers RB/LB (unknown)
08 - Clady OT (Great pick)
07 - Moss OLB (BUST)
06 - Cutler QB (Great Pick, maybe not great player but at worst we made a pick that turned into two more 1sts)
05 - None
04 - DJ Williams WLB (good pick)
03 - George Foster OT (BUST)
02 - Ashley Lelie WR (For his draft position Bust, but I always liked his downfield game though never had a QB to throw it to him deep, totally 1 dimensional)
01 - Willie Middlebrooks CB (BUST)
00 - Deltha O'Neal CB (Ok Player - up and down)
99 - Al Wilson LB (AWESOME PICK)
98 - Marcus Nash WR (BUST)
Two things:
Thing 1
Roethlisberger, Miller, Faneca, Holmes, Polamalu, Burress, Hampton all arguably pro bowl caliber players. Just 1 Bust.
Broncos have Clady, Cutler and Wilson and to be fair I guess you have to include Deltha O'Neal. But Denver had 4 Busts.
Thing 2
Denver did not select 1 player who plays at a non-premium position, they were LTs, WRs, QB, CB, OLB(Pass Rushers), RB - I think this really explains the difference... if in those years they were reaching for premium positions they took a non-premium guy, we might be considered as good as the Steelers. Just look at 2007 - these are the players selected at non-premium positions behind us in the first... Michael Griffin S, Reggie Nelson S, Jon Beason MLB, Ben Grubbs OG, Greg Olsen TE (all starters and better than Moss by A LOT mind you not flashy.. but good players.) If you ever get bored and want to be depressed ... look at the 2007 draft sometime... you have at least 4 guys in there on their way to hall of fame careers, J. Thomas, A. Peterson, P. Willis and D.Revis.. just loaded with talent... most have been good players and starters at the very least. Ugh.
Anyway, that's my reasoning... I don't think you take the 3rd best OLB when the #1 S, OG, TE, ILB is available and they have 1st rd grades... it just always seems to work out poorly... unless you are selecting DT (don't ask me why but when DTs are taken in the top 5, they just totally disappoint in the NFL... you have to go way back to I believe Cortez Kennedy to find one living up to the hype... will this be the year the NFL finally sees one... I don't know.. I just know that apparently NFL scouts have a hard time judging DTs at the college level to be able to properly rate them.)
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