Garnett or Henry?

[ark steel]

Show me a team that throws a bunch to the TE and i will show you a team that has either a bad QB or bad WRs.

Look at the Pats receptions by TE
2006 - 70 ****** WRs
2007 - 2009 - avg 40 TE rec per year - Pats had Moss
2010 - 87 receptions - Moss is done so they threw to TEs again

Look at the Bengals last year. Eifert is a great TE but he still had only 52 receptions. He had fewer receptions than Marvin Jones. That;s because as good as Eifert may be, Green and Jones are more dangerous.

The TE is always a secondary weapon when you have good WRs. WR are the prime targets because they do more damage.

I'm not against a good TE. I agree that it is a need. I just don't think it's a need that requires a high draft pick to fix right now. The steelers should be able to sign a veteran and be OK for this year, then if a good TE is on the board in later rounds then they can grab him.

Also, this is not the year to take a TE high because it's a weak class. I think Maxx WIlliams was a better prospect than Henry and the steelers didn't draft him in the first.

Another thing is that Villanueva can play TE. I have a feeling that the steelers will address OT and Villanueva will not be the planned starter this year. If that's the case then he can play some TE. Max Starks used to do that before he became a starter. Villanueva used to play TE so he is familiar.

I don't know if they take a TE or not. It may be that Heath announced his retirement now so they know they will need one. If they don't take Henry in the 1st, they might as well not take one at all if it is as weak as you say. I haven't looked at others, though, so I will take your word for it.

Passing on Maxx when they still had Heath and, I think, wanted Dupree doesn't indicate anything about what they might do now that Heath is gone, Dupree is here, showed some ability, Debo is staying another year, etc. I don't know that Maxx is significantly better than Henry, if his is better.

If they don't take a TE in the draft, it forces them to take one in FA. I feel it unlikely they can be successful with Spaeth/James/Whoever else they have now.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

The steelers general strategy is that they sign free agents to fill holes before the draft. They may not be top names but they still fill a hole so that they can enter the draft in a position to upgrade positions instead of filling a hole. They also have a bit of cap room now so i will be surprised if they don't sign a free agent TE.