I am liking the Steelers draft in 2023 so far.

[Ike Kelly]

Do you always talk to yourself in the mirror?

It’s probably his best friend.

 

[ianv2012]

He's like the super skinny kid who blew snot bubbles and flexed (nothing) looking at himself in the mirror in Little Giants, except that kid probably runs circles around coach in intelligence

 

[madinsomniac]

Reasons I liked the Draft Strategy this year

1. The trade up. Look, everyone knows most of the time I prefer trading down and getting more picks in a deep draft. There are times to trade up, of course… for instance if the draft is shallow or shallow in a position of real need…. Or if a team has an excessive glut of picks and few holes..
in this case we didn’t have any super glaring needs, but we did need some star Olineman eventually… and LT is the most important position on the line..

Broderick Jones was the last big time LT prospect on the board with massive upside… sure we could have moved down and gotten Antwon Harrison.. but he didn’t have the same potential upside… and Jones wasn’t going to get Past the Jets, who needed to protect their geriatric QB.
But here is the thing, in a loaded draft we gave up the least we could to move up just enough to get him. Then we basically got the asset we dumped back later anyway …

2. Going BPA over need reaches.
Yeah LT and CB were needs but tgey also probably got the best players on the board at 14 and 32. They took a NT type in the SECOND round despite having 3 guys for that role on the Roster. They took a potential 1st round TE falling for a silly reason in the third despite no real need tgere at all and a glut of Ilbs on the board…

3. The trade down … in years past there is little doubt that they would have either run up to the podium to draft one of the falling talents out there, but here they wisely looked at the amount of guys they could use still on the board and moved down to pick up another pick, then still got the top rated guy on their board at 80 13 picks later anyway…

4. The late round boom or bust grab… instead of grabbing a third string QB or another WR, they gambled on a CB that was underrated and falling dramatically because of injury… i prefer swinging for the fences with those seventh round picks rather than gunning for special teams players and average guys…

5. A commitment to blocking… the three offensive picks all were blockers… a T, a blocking Te and a C… a definite switch from the finesse and skill focus on offense


Things i didn’t like:
1. Not getting back into the fifth or sixth rounds… a lot of really good prospects fell and it would have been well worth moving a pick next year say a fifth, to pick up a higher potential pick this year in the sixth.. especially since it is likely that the glut of added talent will allow them to move a guy or two off the roster for those low end picks next year anyway… or trading down again in the fourth
2. The absolute lack of scouting diversification…
Gone are the days of Bill Nunn with us finding talent in low end and diverse places… we only seem to pull talent from certain schools now… lol our draft picks double dipped Georgia and Wisconsin along with picks from Penn State, Purdue, and Maryland… (purdue is the only school we don’t already have a guy on the roster from….)

Seriously, look at our roster… we basically focus on certain programs and that shows even in the free agents we target… our scouting department needs way more of a broad focus…
Seriously 90 man roster, 129 FBS and 125 FBC schools… some duplicates might be there but we are going to camp with:
2 guys from: Arkansas, Charlotte, Clemson, Florida, Houston, Iowa, LSU, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State
3 guys from: Alabama, Memphis, San Diego State
4 guys from: Georgia, Penn State, Texas AM
5 guys from: Wisconsin

That’s pretty much all on the critical stuff… it really was a good draft

 

[slashsteel]

Reasons I liked the Draft Strategy this year

1. The trade up. Look, everyone knows most of the time I prefer trading down and getting more picks in a deep draft. There are times to trade up, of course… for instance if the draft is shallow or shallow in a position of real need…. Or if a team has an excessive glut of picks and few holes..
in this case we didn’t have any super glaring needs, but we did need some star Olineman eventually… and LT is the most important position on the line..

Broderick Jones was the last big time LT prospect on the board with massive upside… sure we could have moved down and gotten Antwon Harrison.. but he didn’t have the same potential upside… and Jones wasn’t going to get Past the Jets, who needed to protect their geriatric QB.
But here is the thing, in a loaded draft we gave up the least we could to move up just enough to get him. Then we basically got the asset we dumped back later anyway …

2. Going BPA over need reaches.
Yeah LT and CB were needs but tgey also probably got the best players on the board at 14 and 32. They took a NT type in the SECOND round despite having 3 guys for that role on the Roster. They took a potential 1st round TE falling for a silly reason in the third despite no real need tgere at all and a glut of Ilbs on the board…

3. The trade down … in years past there is little doubt that they would have either run up to the podium to draft one of the falling talents out there, but here they wisely looked at the amount of guys they could use still on the board and moved down to pick up another pick, then still got the top rated guy on their board at 80 13 picks later anyway…

4. The late round boom or bust grab… instead of grabbing a third string QB or another WR, they gambled on a CB that was underrated and falling dramatically because of injury… i prefer swinging for the fences with those seventh round picks rather than gunning for special teams players and average guys…

5. A commitment to blocking… the three offensive picks all were blockers… a T, a blocking Te and a C… a definite switch from the finesse and skill focus on offense


Things i didn’t like:
1. Not getting back into the fifth or sixth rounds… a lot of really good prospects fell and it would have been well worth moving a pick next year say a fifth, to pick up a higher potential pick this year in the sixth.. especially since it is likely that the glut of added talent will allow them to move a guy or two off the roster for those low end picks next year anyway… or trading down again in the fourth
2. The absolute lack of scouting diversification…
Gone are the days of Bill Nunn with us finding talent in low end and diverse places… we only seem to pull talent from certain schools now… lol our draft picks double dipped Georgia and Wisconsin along with picks from Penn State, Purdue, and Maryland… (purdue is the only school we don’t already have a guy on the roster from….)

Seriously, look at our roster… we basically focus on certain programs and that shows even in the free agents we target… our scouting department needs way more of a broad focus…
Seriously 90 man roster, 129 FBS and 125 FBC schools… some duplicates might be there but we are going to camp with:
2 guys from: Arkansas, Charlotte, Clemson, Florida, Houston, Iowa, LSU, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State
3 guys from: Alabama, Memphis, San Diego State
4 guys from: Georgia, Penn State, Texas AM
5 guys from: Wisconsin

That’s pretty much all on the critical stuff… it really was a good draft

More than likely if they trade down they miss out on value. Sure you would like to get into the 5th and or 6th. But at least they traded back into the 4th.

If they manage to bring in late round value over special teams and reaches I will call that a win over trying to get that small school gem.

Nunn was a great scout , sure those types are hard finds.

 

[steel dino]

Things i didn’t like:
1. Not getting back into the fifth or sixth rounds… a lot of really good prospects fell and it would have been well worth moving a pick next year say a fifth, to pick up a higher potential pick this year in the sixth.. especially since it is likely that the glut of added talent will allow them to move a guy or two off the roster for those low end picks next year anyway… or trading down again in the fourth
2. The absolute lack of scouting diversification…
Gone are the days of Bill Nunn with us finding talent in low end and diverse places… we only seem to pull talent from certain schools now… lol our draft picks double dipped Georgia and Wisconsin along with picks from Penn State, Purdue, and Maryland… (purdue is the only school we don’t already have a guy on the roster from….)

Seriously, look at our roster… we basically focus on certain programs and that shows even in the free agents we target… our scouting department needs way more of a broad focus…
Seriously 90 man roster, 129 FBS and 125 FBC schools… some duplicates might be there but we are going to camp with:
2 guys from: Arkansas, Charlotte, Clemson, Florida, Houston, Iowa, LSU, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State
3 guys from: Alabama, Memphis, San Diego State
4 guys from: Georgia, Penn State, Texas AM
5 guys from: Wisconsin

That’s pretty much all on the critical stuff… it really was a good draft

Great points mad!...

I often wondered what happened to our excellent scouting of Historically Black Colleges, which the Steelers were the pioneers of in the NFL, thanks to Mr. Nunn and Dan Rooney...and BTW was a huge advantage and large reason we won 4 Super Bowls in 6 years, and also have our own wing in Canton!

 

[Drink IRON City]

More than likely if they trade down they miss out on value. Sure you would like to get into the 5th and or 6th. But at least they traded back into the 4th.

If they manage to bring in late round value over special teams and reaches I will call that a win over trying to get that small school gem.

Nunn was a great scout , sure those types are hard finds.

I miss Nunn’s scouting ability. It’s hard to replace a legend such as him, kindA like Dick lebeau.

I think they are making attempts at getting better in the scouting department, time will tell.


Salute the nation