OFFICIAL 2006 NFL DRAFT THREAD - WHO DEM STILLERS GONNA PICK

[Draftnik]

RB - Gerald Riggs Jr is still there

Riggs had drug problems at Tenn. There is no way the Steel would touch a low character guy like that.

The Steel have been very good at finding and developing mid-late round draft picks and low profile UFA linemen for their 2 gap scheme. Harris may be developed as a 3-4 end or maybe he can play inside like other undersized guys the Steel have had including Clancy and Hoke. I think Cowher's best position of talent evaluation by a wide margin has been 3-4 D linemen.

[Draftnik]

Humes is a nice pick. When he was healthy he played well at VT. I think he will make the team.

[Bowser]

I didn't know Riggs was dirty... and I completely forgot about Humes. Not a bad pickup at all with the 7th rd pick.

[Daniel]

I didn't know Riggs was dirty... and I completely forgot about Humes. Not a bad pickup at all with the 7th rd pick.

The Steelers had a nice draft this year. I disagree with some of the stuff said about Smith, I think he will be a pretty good safety. He needs to bulk up a bit, but reading about him, he seems to be a good player.

Reid and Holmes will have a huge impact coming into a WR corp that can use some speed and both are sub 4.4 guys who ought to be able to stretch the field (I think Reid will be a nice WR). Guys like Colon, Harris and Jacobs will benefit from having a good coaching staff. Regarding Jacobs, I read that his only problems are mechanics, which I think the Steelers will be able to fix. Don't know much about Marvin Philip, other than that he is a center. I think him and Davis are nothing but depth players who will have to work hard to earn a spot on the roster.

Funniest thing read in post draft analysis: "The Steelers followed that pick up with Purdue TE Charles Davis, who looks like Tarzan and plays like Jane. Maybe Bill Cowher will be able to light a fire under him."

I have read some good things about Humes, but I mostly think he will be a short yardage guy next year.

I think the biggest problem with analyzing a draft is that you can get conflicting stuff about a lot of players.

[DelPen]

Humes can either exfel and be the power back on 3rd behind Parker down the road or turn into a decent FB which would be nice too. This draft is make or break on Holmes being a legit WR this year. Everyone else was a gamble and if they too pan out this will be a great draft but if Holmes goes bust so does the entore draft.

[PensFanBryan]

I can't criticize the Anthony Smith pick enough. Darnell Bing was still on the board. Ko Simpson was still on the board. Yet they spent a third-round pick on a guy who was projected to be a sixth-round pick at best. In fact, his profile on NFL.com predicted that Smith wouldn't even get drafted. I just don't get it. Either they weren't anywhere near as high on Bing and Simpson as we all thought they were, or they really know something about Smith that we don't know.

I wasnt thrilled with the Anthony Smith pick, but ESPN did have him going in the 3rd round. ESPN also had Ko Simpson & Darnell Bing going in the 2nd round, but still. I think its for the best they picked someone other than those two though. I read both of their scouting reports and they both sound like Troy Polamalu type players, much better at run support than coverage. In the Steelers Defensive System they need a stay at home Safety to cover Polamalu, with him dancing up at the line of scrimmage. I think Anthony Smith sounds like the Saftey the Steelers needed opposite of Polamalu.

[DelPen]

I can't criticize the Anthony Smith pick enough. Darnell Bing was still on the board. Ko Simpson was still on the board. Yet they spent a third-round pick on a guy who was projected to be a sixth-round pick at best. In fact, his profile on NFL.com predicted that Smith wouldn't even get drafted. I just don't get it. Either they weren't anywhere near as high on Bing and Simpson as we all thought they were, or they really know something about Smith that we don't know.

I wasnt thrilled with the Anthony Smith pick, but ESPN did have him going in the 3rd round. ESPN also had Ko Simpson & Darnell Bing going in the 2nd round, but still. I think its for the best they picked someone other than those two though. I read both of their scouting reports and they both sound like Troy Polamalu type players, much better at run support than coverage. In the Steelers Defensive System they need a stay at home Safety to cover Polamalu, with him dancing up at the line of scrimmage. I think Anthony Smith sounds like the Saftey the Steelers needed opposite of Polamalu.

That's exactly it, Simpson and especially Bing play the same style and position as Polamalu and unless there are huge cap problems and it comes down to Troy or Ben we won't need a SS for a long time. Hope was our FS and the scouting reports on Smith sound a lot like Hope. I don't dislike the pick. Except for Holmes these guys will either be really good or amount to nothing. It seems there is no average here and they took a big gamble on some of these guys. We'll see what happens to them in 2 years when they should be starters.

[Stoosh]

I think they had an average draft, which I guess is pretty much what you can expect when you win the Super Bowl.

I can't complain, though. They landed Holmes, a guy who I think was clearly the top receiver in the draft (I was never sold on either Chad Jackson or Sinorice Moss). I think Holmes could play a very solid #3 for us next year and eventually move up to #2 by 2007.

The rest of the picks...ho-hum.

I'm probably a little more critical of the Anthony Smith pick than I should be. A few years ago, fans and media alike were all laughing and ridiculing the selection of a corner from one of the worst defenses in the country, and now we're talking about Ike Taylor as one of the better shutdown corners in the league. Because of that, I'm not going to jam the pick until I see what they do with Smith. But I will say this...I follow Big East football quite a bit, and I've never heard of this kid. Not that that means anything, but still...

I think Humes is a very good value pick for them. I also think the Colon and Harris picks were good. Normally I'd think the Jacobs pick would draw more criticism, but the only time Omar ever sees the field is if Roethlisberger and Batch both get hurt. I don't ever see Roethlisberger going anywhere, so they could afford to take a flyer on a project like Jacobs.

I'll be interested to see who they bring in as undrafted free agents. I've said this before...there isn't a club in the NFL better than the Steelers at getting mileage from late-round picks and undrafted free agents.

and former PITT WR Greg Lee is still there in the draft. Here's the perfect example of a player that came out too early because he needed to work on his strength to block, running routes, speed and consistency catching the ball.

From someone who watched him closely the last couple of years, it doesn't surprise me AT ALL that he wasn't drafted. I understand the reason he came out is because apparently, the wide receiver crop in NEXT year's draft is going to be strong. So he figured he'd take his chances this year.

The problem was that he floated through last season way too much. I've never seen a receiver at the college level with so much promise deliver so little. Worst case of alligator arms I've ever seen from a college #1 wideout. In his defense, I'll give him this much...he was the guy who had to follow the legend (Fitz) and live up to that, so maybe the expectations were too much. He was never consistent enough to live up to replacing Fitzgerald, but he easily could've been as solid as Antonio Bryant. His knack for dropping passes that he clearly should've caught was maddening.

[DelPen]

So in 2007, if the WR options are going to be many, and we don't need a WR this should mean a really good lineman falls to #28-32 which is hwere we should pick next year, right?

[pfim]

From someone who watched him closely the last couple of years, it doesn't surprise me AT ALL that he wasn't drafted. I understand the reason he came out is because apparently, the wide receiver crop in NEXT year's draft is going to be strong. So he figured he'd take his chances this year.

The problem was that he floated through last season way too much. I've never seen a receiver at the college level with so much promise deliver so little. Worst case of alligator arms I've ever seen from a college #1 wideout. In his defense, I'll give him this much...he was the guy who had to follow the legend (Fitz) and live up to that, so maybe the expectations were too much. He was never consistent enough to live up to replacing Fitzgerald, but he easily could've been as solid as Antonio Bryant. His knack for dropping passes that he clearly should've caught was maddening.

There were no expectations for him coming into the season after Fitzgerald left. His hands were always questionable, his athleticism overrated. Decent college receiver, I doubt he does anything in the NFL.

He made a mistake leaving early, but I doubt he wanted another year under Wannstedt.

As far as the Steelers go, I like what they did. They gave up a lot to get Holmes, but at the same time they didn't really need all those picks. I guess I'm one of the few who loved the Smith pick. He'll be a special teams contributor immediately.[/quote]

[freq019]

given the steelers record of drafting players, I'll hold off judgement for a while, but I will say this getting duckett would have been nice. I also would have been interested in Ron Dayne, he's kind of washed out at a few teams but he runs the style we run in the burgh and could probably excell if given the chance. Of course I don't know if he has physical problems or mental problems.

[PittsburghSportsFan]

Personally, I give the Steelers between A- to B+ on the draft.

Judging that 17 of our 22 starters on the Super Bowl team came out of the draft, I'll take the FO's word. I recall a good amount of fans debating on jumping off the Clemente Bridge after we moved up and drafted some guy named Polamalu. Let's see how these guys pan out before we start putting in applications for Colbert's job.

Our results speak volumes about our draft decisions. Patience.