Spike likes to stir the pot, I am sure he shares a love for a top Steelers defense.
Steelers select CB Artie Burns - Miami
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Spike likes to stir the pot, I am sure he shares a love for a top Steelers defense.
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There is no question in my mind that we got better as a football team with this draft.
Would I like more depth at RB? Yes. I would. Bell has been injury prone.
Would I like more depth at WR? Yes. I called it in January that we should trade Martavious while his value was high. But Wheaton is underrated as number 2.
We have enough offense to win a SB right now. We need enough defense to win a SB, and I think we took major strides in that direction.
agreed
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And get what exactly for him? We might as well keep him for the length of his first contract which is peanuts.
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After the season and before he was suspended, he had value as an up and coming big play threat. We've got all kinds of defensive holes. It would have been worth it for a solid veteran DB or a another 2nd Round draft pick that would have allowed us to get both Davis and Calhoun.
I think the Steelers simply aren't done with him.
I think the nature of his issues make it tolerable for them to give him that one last chance.
Not sure the team would get the value for him that you think either.
Teams have knowledge before this last incident of how many times he tested hot.
In a trade that has to be a significant concern for any team.
Ive been thinking about this pick. Burns supposedly is very good at man-press coverage but has no experience in the type zone we use. Tombert is fond of their "barn" analogy. "If you have red paint, you paint the barn red". Could this mean we might start using more man or press schemes in our secondary?
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off topic, what happened to your karma?
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they can ask him to cover man press his WR while the rest of the team plays a zone cover. With the FS playing centerfield
Mosey on over to the Water Cooler discussion thread and you'll find the answer...
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The reason the steelers used so much zone is because their DBs sucked. They had nobody who could man cover. Ike used to man cover all the time. The best defenses can do both and the steelers should be able to do both once Burns and Davis are up to speed.
Labriola on winning draft vs. Super Bowl
Ready or not, here it comes:
* It was said to me this way by Dan Rooney back in the days before it became a hit television show: "It's not about winning the draft. It's about winning the Super Bowl."
LIVE: 2016 Draft recap
* The Steelers had a chance to win the draft during the first round of this year's festivities, which were staged starting last Thursday, April 28. Instead, they chose to take a shot at winning a Super Bowl. And that's the way they conducted their business through the Friday and Saturday picking as well.
* When it came time to make their No. 1 pick that night, there were a couple of options available to the Steelers should they have been of the mind to think outside the box, of the mind to try to win the draft. And since both of those moves involved a top quarterback prospect, it guaranteed the maximum possible exposure.
* When the 2015 season ended for them in Denver during the AFC Divisional Round, the Steelers saw themselves as a team needing to upgrade their defensive backfield, coincidently during the same offseason expected to provide a wealth of talent at those positions during the draft. From that point, their plan was to utilize the draft to add the players who were going to be a big part of the overall upgrade of the secondary.
* During the final preparations for the draft, a pecking order developed among the prospects in the defensive backfield, with the top group numbering six, of whom five were cornerbacks provided Florida State's Jalen Ramsey was being counted as a cornerback. Safety Karl Joseph would have been a seventh if not for the ACL injury he still is rehabbing.
* When the picking began, quarterbacks came off the board 1-2, and through the first nine selections Ramsey was the only defensive back to come off the board. But then things got a lot more suspenseful. Eli Apple went at No. 10 to the New York Giants, then Vernon Hargreaves to Tampa Bay at No. 11. Joseph found a team willing to look past the knee injury when Oakland picked him at No. 14 overall, then it was Keanu Neal at No. 17 to Atlanta.
* When Indianapolis went onto the clock with the 18th pick of the first round, four of the six defensive backs inhabiting the Steelers upper echelon had new teams. There were two left, and the Steelers were scheduled to make the 25th pick of the first round.
* Also still available was quarterback Paxton Lynch, and he was coveted by both the Denver Broncos, picking last in the first round, and the Dallas Cowboys, not due to pick again until the third choice in the second round, 34th overall.
* When the Cincinnati Bengals went on the clock at pick No. 24, the Steelers were sitting at No. 25 and still with two of the cornerbacks they had graded as being part of the upper echelon available. It was mathematically impossible to get shut out this time. They would get one, if they wanted one.
PHOTOS: Rookies arrive and get ready
* But if the thought process is to make a splash during the draft, to make a move people will notice and appreciate for its manipulation of the system - to win the draft - you go one of two ways: Either work out the best trade terms you can with Dallas or Denver and then move down with the extra pick(s) in your pocket so one of those two teams can pick Lynch; or you shock the world and pick Lynch for yourself.
* But if the thought process is to do what you can to make the team as good as it potentially can be to take a shot at winning a Super Bowl this season, you smile and pick the cornerback. And you're happy about it.
* Artie Burns will be the one who settles this discussion, and ultimately it will be with his play, but he is one example of the Steelers going into the 2016 draft with the goal of bettering the team that advanced to the Divisional Round of the playoffs last season. Improve this roster as it exists and play to win right now. No preparing for the future. No treating draft picks like a squirrel would acorns in preparation for winter.
* So, the Steelers turned in the card. It had Artie Burns' name on it. When they wrote the names on the cards for Rounds 2-3 on that Friday, the ones chosen were chosen for the same reasons Burns was chosen.
* Sean Davis is a big, athletic, fast man with long arms, a safety by trade with the love of contact that goes with it, but also maybe some good enough coverage skills so the Steelers defense won't be so susceptible to pass-catching tight ends to the degree it was in 2015. Javon Hargrave is a squat, strong man who is not a one-dimensional interior defensive lineman, so maybe opposing offenses won't be able to dictate an advantage over the Steelers defense simply through the personnel groupings they send onto the field.
* That's really the whole idea behind the picks of Davis and Hargrave, the increasing of the general flexibility factor with dual-skilled players in an era of increasingly specialized offensive football. If it's three tight ends, and one of them is Rob Gronkowski and he splits out wide, the defense better have someone who's big enough and athletic enough to deal with him, or it becomes a multi-touchdown problem. If it's four wides, and the guy in the backfield is Jamaal Charles, the defense better be able to get to the gaps and then not get blown out of them.
* And the defense better be able to do either whenever, because most of the time there isn't an opportunity to get a personnel grouping of your own out there at the last second to counter the other guy's personnel grouping.
* We now cite a couple of fun facts:
* The Washington Post recently commissioned a study to determine the NFL's best drafting teams over the 20-year span of 1996-2016, and using a bunch of metrics and statistical analysis the conclusion reached was that the Steelers were No. 1 overall.
* Through 2015, the Steelers have gone 12 straight seasons without posting a losing record, the NFL's second-longest current streak behind New England's 15. Within those 12 Steelers seasons, too, were two Super Bowl championships and a trip to a third.
* I don't know whether Artie Burns and Sean Davis and Javon Hargrave help these Steelers get to LI, but I agree with the philosophy, and acknowledge the thought process guiding the way it's executed makes sense.
* Right now, this soon after the actual picking, that's as good as it can be.
Ready or not, here it comes:
* It was said to me this way by Dan Rooney back in the days before it became a hit television show: "It's not about winning the draft. It's about winning the Super Bowl."
LIVE: 2016 Draft recap
* The Steelers had a chance to win the draft during the first round of this year's festivities, which were staged starting last Thursday, April 28. Instead, they chose to take a shot at winning a Super Bowl. And that's the way they conducted their business through the Friday and Saturday picking as well.
* When it came time to make their No. 1 pick that night, there were a couple of options available to the Steelers should they have been of the mind to think outside the box, of the mind to try to win the draft. And since both of those moves involved a top quarterback prospect, it guaranteed the maximum possible exposure.
* When the 2015 season ended for them in Denver during the AFC Divisional Round, the Steelers saw themselves as a team needing to upgrade their defensive backfield, coincidently during the same offseason expected to provide a wealth of talent at those positions during the draft. From that point, their plan was to utilize the draft to add the players who were going to be a big part of the overall upgrade of the secondary.
* During the final preparations for the draft, a pecking order developed among the prospects in the defensive backfield, with the top group numbering six, of whom five were cornerbacks provided Florida State's Jalen Ramsey was being counted as a cornerback. Safety Karl Joseph would have been a seventh if not for the ACL injury he still is rehabbing.
* When the picking began, quarterbacks came off the board 1-2, and through the first nine selections Ramsey was the only defensive back to come off the board. But then things got a lot more suspenseful. Eli Apple went at No. 10 to the New York Giants, then Vernon Hargreaves to Tampa Bay at No. 11. Joseph found a team willing to look past the knee injury when Oakland picked him at No. 14 overall, then it was Keanu Neal at No. 17 to Atlanta.
* When Indianapolis went onto the clock with the 18th pick of the first round, four of the six defensive backs inhabiting the Steelers upper echelon had new teams. There were two left, and the Steelers were scheduled to make the 25th pick of the first round.
* Also still available was quarterback Paxton Lynch, and he was coveted by both the Denver Broncos, picking last in the first round, and the Dallas Cowboys, not due to pick again until the third choice in the second round, 34th overall.
* When the Cincinnati Bengals went on the clock at pick No. 24, the Steelers were sitting at No. 25 and still with two of the cornerbacks they had graded as being part of the upper echelon available. It was mathematically impossible to get shut out this time. They would get one, if they wanted one.
PHOTOS: Rookies arrive and get ready
* But if the thought process is to make a splash during the draft, to make a move people will notice and appreciate for its manipulation of the system - to win the draft - you go one of two ways: Either work out the best trade terms you can with Dallas or Denver and then move down with the extra pick(s) in your pocket so one of those two teams can pick Lynch; or you shock the world and pick Lynch for yourself.
* But if the thought process is to do what you can to make the team as good as it potentially can be to take a shot at winning a Super Bowl this season, you smile and pick the cornerback. And you're happy about it.
* Artie Burns will be the one who settles this discussion, and ultimately it will be with his play, but he is one example of the Steelers going into the 2016 draft with the goal of bettering the team that advanced to the Divisional Round of the playoffs last season. Improve this roster as it exists and play to win right now. No preparing for the future. No treating draft picks like a squirrel would acorns in preparation for winter.
* So, the Steelers turned in the card. It had Artie Burns' name on it. When they wrote the names on the cards for Rounds 2-3 on that Friday, the ones chosen were chosen for the same reasons Burns was chosen.
* Sean Davis is a big, athletic, fast man with long arms, a safety by trade with the love of contact that goes with it, but also maybe some good enough coverage skills so the Steelers defense won't be so susceptible to pass-catching tight ends to the degree it was in 2015. Javon Hargrave is a squat, strong man who is not a one-dimensional interior defensive lineman, so maybe opposing offenses won't be able to dictate an advantage over the Steelers defense simply through the personnel groupings they send onto the field.
* That's really the whole idea behind the picks of Davis and Hargrave, the increasing of the general flexibility factor with dual-skilled players in an era of increasingly specialized offensive football. If it's three tight ends, and one of them is Rob Gronkowski and he splits out wide, the defense better have someone who's big enough and athletic enough to deal with him, or it becomes a multi-touchdown problem. If it's four wides, and the guy in the backfield is Jamaal Charles, the defense better be able to get to the gaps and then not get blown out of them.
* And the defense better be able to do either whenever, because most of the time there isn't an opportunity to get a personnel grouping of your own out there at the last second to counter the other guy's personnel grouping.
* We now cite a couple of fun facts:
* The Washington Post recently commissioned a study to determine the NFL's best drafting teams over the 20-year span of 1996-2016, and using a bunch of metrics and statistical analysis the conclusion reached was that the Steelers were No. 1 overall.
* Through 2015, the Steelers have gone 12 straight seasons without posting a losing record, the NFL's second-longest current streak behind New England's 15. Within those 12 Steelers seasons, too, were two Super Bowl championships and a trip to a third.
* I don't know whether Artie Burns and Sean Davis and Javon Hargrave help these Steelers get to LI, but I agree with the philosophy, and acknowledge the thought process guiding the way it's executed makes sense.
* Right now, this soon after the actual picking, that's as good as it can be.
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Well, what do you know? Maybe Tibs was right all along....hmm.
Artie Burns Might Have Been The Target After All
http://www.Invalid Link - Check SN Home Page/2016/05/artie-burns-might-target/
As the clock approached quarter to 11 at night on Thursday, April 28, 2016, the Pittsburgh Steelers knew that they were going to draft a cornerback with their first selection. It was at this time that the Cincinnati Bengals were on the clock, who were drafting immediately ahead of them, and there were two cornerbacks that they ranked with first-round grades left on the board.
There was William Jackson III, whom the Steelers had dinner with while attending his Pro Day. And there was Artie Burns out of Miami. Pittsburgh also had dinner with the 20-year-old before his Pro Day. But the focus had been on Jackson. Even he acknowledged that he felt he was going to be going to the Steelers.
It turns out, Pittsburgh was on the phone with a cornerback while the Bengals were on the clock. But that cornerback was Burns, not Jackson, according to an article written by Stephen J. Nesbitt for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that was published yesterday.
Nesbitt writes that as those in attendance at his draft party looked on with the draft on the television, they believed that Burns must have been on the phone with a Cincinnati number. That is until he ended the conversation with “all right, Coach T”. Even his agent asked, “coach who?”, in response, according to the article.
Provided that the circumstances behind this conversation are clear, the implications are interesting, and suggest that perhaps Burns is the cornerback that the team would have drafted regardless of whether or not Jackson was still available for them.
After all, who is to say, other than what many have speculated? No amount of mock drafts listing William Jackson III next to the name Pittsburgh Steelers will ever have any influence over whether or not the Steelers were as interested in making that happen as were those writing those mock drafts.
At this point, of course, it doesn’t particularly matter whether or not the implication behind this exchange is true or not, because Burns is already a Steeler, and Jackson is a Bengal. They certainly did not seem to be disappointed in being able to draft him, however.
While we may have done our draft history studies looking up tendencies regarding what the team seems to look for in players based on the selections they have made in the past, there are always times to buck the trend, and Burns was such a time.
A young underclassman with raw skills—and a cornerback in the first round, no less—Burns doesn’t necessarily fit seamlessly with what we might have expected the Steelers to do based on prior draft history, but he does fit the profile of some other recent cornerbacks the team was interested in but did not have the opportunity to draft.
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert described this as the deepest cornerback class that he has worked with in his time, and that translated to him drafting one in the first round for the first time in his entire tenure with the Steelers. And evidently they had the opportunity to draft the one that they wanted who would realistically be on the board.
Artie Burns Might Have Been The Target After All
http://www.Invalid Link - Check SN Home Page/2016/05/artie-burns-might-target/
As the clock approached quarter to 11 at night on Thursday, April 28, 2016, the Pittsburgh Steelers knew that they were going to draft a cornerback with their first selection. It was at this time that the Cincinnati Bengals were on the clock, who were drafting immediately ahead of them, and there were two cornerbacks that they ranked with first-round grades left on the board.
There was William Jackson III, whom the Steelers had dinner with while attending his Pro Day. And there was Artie Burns out of Miami. Pittsburgh also had dinner with the 20-year-old before his Pro Day. But the focus had been on Jackson. Even he acknowledged that he felt he was going to be going to the Steelers.
It turns out, Pittsburgh was on the phone with a cornerback while the Bengals were on the clock. But that cornerback was Burns, not Jackson, according to an article written by Stephen J. Nesbitt for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that was published yesterday.
Nesbitt writes that as those in attendance at his draft party looked on with the draft on the television, they believed that Burns must have been on the phone with a Cincinnati number. That is until he ended the conversation with “all right, Coach T”. Even his agent asked, “coach who?”, in response, according to the article.
Provided that the circumstances behind this conversation are clear, the implications are interesting, and suggest that perhaps Burns is the cornerback that the team would have drafted regardless of whether or not Jackson was still available for them.
After all, who is to say, other than what many have speculated? No amount of mock drafts listing William Jackson III next to the name Pittsburgh Steelers will ever have any influence over whether or not the Steelers were as interested in making that happen as were those writing those mock drafts.
At this point, of course, it doesn’t particularly matter whether or not the implication behind this exchange is true or not, because Burns is already a Steeler, and Jackson is a Bengal. They certainly did not seem to be disappointed in being able to draft him, however.
While we may have done our draft history studies looking up tendencies regarding what the team seems to look for in players based on the selections they have made in the past, there are always times to buck the trend, and Burns was such a time.
A young underclassman with raw skills—and a cornerback in the first round, no less—Burns doesn’t necessarily fit seamlessly with what we might have expected the Steelers to do based on prior draft history, but he does fit the profile of some other recent cornerbacks the team was interested in but did not have the opportunity to draft.
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert described this as the deepest cornerback class that he has worked with in his time, and that translated to him drafting one in the first round for the first time in his entire tenure with the Steelers. And evidently they had the opportunity to draft the one that they wanted who would realistically be on the board.
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They were fixated on Jarvis Jones too come hell or high water. I remember all the same articles.
Really doesn't mean a damn thing until we see production.
Only time will tell who will end up being the better CB and having the biggest impact on their perspective team. Jackson has three 1st rounders ahead of him on the depth chart. Burns has a bunch of mid-low free agents.
Really doesn't mean a damn thing until we see production.
Only time will tell who will end up being the better CB and having the biggest impact on their perspective team. Jackson has three 1st rounders ahead of him on the depth chart. Burns has a bunch of mid-low free agents.
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Yes it does, it means a whole lot regarding this board and all the hotheads that were trying to convince us the Bengals STOLE WJIII from us and the Steelers made a desperate REACH pick for Burns.
But above and beyond that, I agree, let's see how it plays out on the field.
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It was like Timmons' year during Coach T's first draft. Everyone knew they were taking Timmons. It would have been interesting, if the Jets didn't leapfrog us for Revis, would the Steelers have taken him? It would have been the right move at the time, since our ILBs were set. I wonder if all the news surrounding Timmons was a smoke screen to pick up Revis.
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Tomlin couldn't hide his love for Revis. After he went all in praising him, Colbert had to step in when Tomlin was asked about another player. Either the Steelers wanted Revis bad, or they put on a huge smokescreen for Timmons.
Now that you mention it, I wonder if the smokescreen is the strategy for the Steelers draft every year. Just last year we had 14 CB & safety predraft visits (including 2 dinners) compared to 3 OLB visits, and every single mock draft had us taking either a CB or safety with the loss of Ike and Troy, only to have us run up to the podium to select Bud Dupree with the 1st pick. So wouldn't surprise me at all if there was a smokescreen for Burns or Timmons.
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The label 'raw talent' was used on recent picks like Dupree and Martavis Bryant. So the Burns pick isn't as scary or out of the ordinary. Even though Dupree rookie year wasn't stellar, he did show a motor week 1 when he sacked Brady. Bryant's accomplishments and off the field issues are well documented. The thing is Burns has intangibles like height and speed that combined with Coach Lake & Tomlin's direction can turn the raw talent to fundamentally sound technique.
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So where is this "raw talent"? Let me give you three workout numbers and tell me who is who.
40: 4.56
Vert: 42"
Broad Jump: 11' 6"
Bench: na
40: 4.46
Vert: 31"
Broad Jump: na
Bench: 7
40: 4.42
Vert: 39"
Broad Jump: 10' 3"
Bench: 14
So without looking who is who between Burns, Bryant, and Dupree.
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Since no one guessed yet
Dupree
40: 4.56
Vert: 42"
Broad Jump: 11' 6"
Bench: na
Burns
40: 4.46
Vert: 31"
Broad Jump: na
Bench: 7
Bryant
40: 4.42
Vert: 39"
Broad Jump: 10' 3"
Bench: 14
Sorry but Burns might be raw but he also isn't a great athlete. Looks like he has good hands and plays aggressive but I do worry about what happens when he matches up with an elite athlete. He had a lot of picks last year but they were against Bethune Cookman, Florida Atlantic, Nebraska(Tommy Armstrong and his 16 picks) Virginia Tech 2 and again a bad QB situation. Then Pitt. Tyler Boyd was probably the best receiver he faced and his pick came off of the TE.
I just don't see him having faced any stud QB's or WR's in college so I am sorry if I am pretty nervous what AJ Green does to him.
Dupree
40: 4.56
Vert: 42"
Broad Jump: 11' 6"
Bench: na
Burns
40: 4.46
Vert: 31"
Broad Jump: na
Bench: 7
Bryant
40: 4.42
Vert: 39"
Broad Jump: 10' 3"
Bench: 14
Sorry but Burns might be raw but he also isn't a great athlete. Looks like he has good hands and plays aggressive but I do worry about what happens when he matches up with an elite athlete. He had a lot of picks last year but they were against Bethune Cookman, Florida Atlantic, Nebraska(Tommy Armstrong and his 16 picks) Virginia Tech 2 and again a bad QB situation. Then Pitt. Tyler Boyd was probably the best receiver he faced and his pick came off of the TE.
I just don't see him having faced any stud QB's or WR's in college so I am sorry if I am pretty nervous what AJ Green does to him.
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You can't pick and choose who he got his interceptions with. Burns finished with six, but not against good enough competition. Alexander not worth a first-round pick because he had zero interceptions, but barely allowed any completions. Everyone's favorite, Jackson, had five interceptions (Texas State-QBs combined for 12 INTs, Central Florida-QBs combined for 23 INTs, Vanderbilt-QBs combined for 16 INTs, and 2 against Florida State). Don't get me wrong, I was bummed with the pick and preferred an more pro-ready Alexander given that we have a team ready to compete for a championship. However, not going to knock his competition when it comes to INTs when the only other guys in guys in the ballpark either had none or had comparable numbers against similar competition.
