It's Pickett!! Kenny Stays Home.

I had decided that I would watch the insane circus that is the NFL Draft last night until I saw (a) who the Steelers would select, and (2) who would draft Pitt's Kenny Pickett.  The possibility existed that the Steelers might draft a quarterback.  Would it be Pickett or would it be Liberty University's Malik Willis?  As the draft progressed, it became more and more apparent that at least one, and possibly both, of them would be available to Rooney U when the 20th pick rolled around.

Lo and behold, when Franco Harris announced the pick, and it was certainly obvious that HE was happy with the selection, we all knew:  the Pitt kid would be staying in Pittsburgh,  Kenny Pickett would be a Pittsburgh Steeler!  The error made in 1983, when the Steelers did not draft Pitt's Dan Marino, would not be repeated thirty-nine years later.  It is a "feel good" pick to be sure.  (And speaking of feeling good, do you think Franco might have been just a wee bit over served in the Green Room before he came out on stage with Roger Goodell?)

As with any draft choice, we won't know for sure whether or not the Steelers made a mistake with this pick until at least the start of the 2022 season, and probably not for another two or three seasons.  People were nit-picking and finding flaws with Pickett ("hands too small";  please, give us a break with crap like that) in the months leading up to the Draft.  Does he have what it takes to be a Franchise Quarterback, the heir apparent to Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger, or will he be just be another Mark Malone or Cliff Stoudt?  Plus, the Steelers have greater needs, and now what happens to Mitch Trubisky?  I haven't listened to any talk radio today, but I can only imagine that for every comment praising the Pickett selection, there will two others ripping it.

Of course, there is plenty of time to discuss the football aspect of this selection.  For what it's worth, I see a real competition in training camp between Trubisky and Pickett.  Trubisky may start the season, but if Pickett shows anything, anything at all, of what made him great at Pitt and a Heisman finalist, he could and maybe should become the number one guy midway through the season.  The guy I do feel bad for is Mason Rudolph.  He has to be feeling like Vaughn Meader on November 22, 1963.  I am guessing that he will be the one left standing when the music stops.  He probably makes too much money to be the Number Three QB, and the Steelers will trade him and sign an older vet to hold the clipboards and be available to suit up if Trubisky or Pickett get hurt.

My hope is that the folks of Steelers Nation don't put too much pressure on Pickett to be GREAT RIGHT NOW.   For all his claim to always being a "Pittsburgh guy", I think that deep down there is a part of Dan Marino that was glad he wasn't drafted by the Steelers where he would have been held to ridiculously high standards by the crowds and would have been torched for the slightest shortcomings.  I only hope that that does not happen to Pickett.

Now Rounds Two through Six will take place over today and tomorrow.  We will see how the Steelers address all of those other needs - O and D linemen, a corner, a wide receiver.  All of them, though, will be in the shadow of this year's Number One pick, Kenny Pickett of the University of Pittsburgh.

Welcome back home, Kenny!

Leaving Las Vegas!

Getting the news from Mike Tomlin

Thoughts from Pat Narduzzi

The Steelers and the 2021 Draft

Don't want to disappoint you, but this post will contain no letter grades or opinions as to how the Steelers "did in the draft."  I make no claims to any expertise that would allow me to do so.  No one actually KNOWS how these kids are going to do in the NFL - not Kevin Colbert, Mike Tomlin, nor Bill Belichick, let alone Mel Kiper, Mike Greenburg, Booger McFarland, or the "PM Team" blowhards on 93.7 The Fan - until they get to training camps and begin practicing with and against and playing against actual NFL players, so we won't REALLY know how the Steelers, or any other team, did in the '21 draft until sometime in 2022 or 2023.

Still, on Draft Day(s), you have to be optimistic.  Two days ago in this space I wrote of how pleased I was with the selection Alabama's RB Najee Harris with the Steelers first pick.  In the second round, the Steelers surprised (and enraged!) a lot of people by selecting tight end Pat Freiermuth of Penn State.

Again, I will put my trust in Tomlin, Colbert, & Company with this pick, and will also say that any college TE who carried the nickname "Baby Gronk" should - should - be well worth a second round pick.  Plus, besides Harris, Freiermuth is the team's only selection that I can honestly say I actually saw play and on whom I have a semi-informed opinion, and I remember liking what I saw when I did see him play, so bring him on!

After the second round, the Steelers had seven more selections and used them to select two offensive linemen (a position of need), two linebackers (can one or both of them become an "edge rusher"?), a defensive lineman, a cornerback, and, in a very intriguing selection, a 263 pound punter!

After the draft, the Steelers also signed eight undrafted free agents (UDFA) - two cornerbacks, two linebackers, two safeties, and two wide receivers.  I won't even begin to speculate about them, but I will predict that at least two of them will make the team, and one of them could be a special teams standout.  We can also all remember that Donnie Shell, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer, was an UDFA, and we can all dream, can't we?

Like I said, we should all be optimistic after a Draft, but, realistically, of the nine dated players, if five of them become solid starters over a period of five seasons or more, and if at least two of them can become Pro Bowl caliber players, I am guessing that Mike Tomlin and the team will be more than happy with "how they did" in this Draft.

Najee Harris and Other Draft Day One Observations

I never thought that I would have done this, and I don't believe that I had ever done it before, but last night I turned on the NFL Draft at 8:00, and I stayed with it up until the Steelers made their pick at slot number 24, three hours and twenty minutes later. It helped to have the distraction of social media and the ability to make humorous (one hopes) comments with other losers/geeks football fans who were doing the same thing.

Anyway, as you might expect, I have some comments to offer.....

I am thrilled - THRILLED - with the selection of RB Najee Harris of Alabama by the Steelers.

He comes from a big time college program, and he has excelled at the very highest level of the college game.  He addresses a serious need of the Steelers.  I watched his Zoom call with local media this morning, and he seems to be a very nice kid.  And if you like omens....the Steelers have an excellent record when selecting running backs named Harris in the first round.   

As for me, I always liked watching him play at Alabama, and I absolutely fell in love with him when I watched him make this jaw-dropping play against Notre Dame last season:

Also, Marilyn loves cheering "Na-jee, Na-jee, Na-jee" when she watched him play, so he's got that going for him, too.

Of course, all draft picks are great on Draft Day, and you really do have to wait until they get on the field against real live NFL players, but on Draft Day, you've got to be optimistic, so welcome to Steelers Nation, Najee Harris.

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Five quarterbacks were selected among the first fifteen picks:

1. Trevor Lawrence, 1, Jacksonville
2. Zach Wilson, 2, NY Jets
3. Trey Lance, 3, San Francisco
4. Justin Fields, 11, Chicago
5. Mac Jones, 15, New England

Lawrence was a no-brainer, of course, but the selection that intrigues me the most was the selection of Alabama's Jones by Bill Belichick and the Patriots.  Scouts weren't as big on Jones as they were the four QBs who went ahead of him, but he was the guy who led Alabama to an undefeated season and the CFP Championship, and someone was throwing the ball to those two first round receivers at 'Bama.  Critics site that he wasn't good at his pro days, and to that I say, to Hell with Pro Days, I saw Mac Jones play in real football games, and he is going to the greatest coach of the 21st century.  If I was a Patriots fan, I'd be feeling pretty good about that selection.

Of course, the chances are also pretty good that one or two of these guys will turn out to be ordinary NFL QB's, at best, and might turn out to be complete busts (think Jamarcus Russell and Ryan Leaf), not that I wish that on any of them.  

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Can you believe the people that turn up to sit in the audiences at these things?  The outfits, the face paint, the outlandish hats and headgear.  I wonder what some of these people do in real life.  Are any of them doctors, lawyers, CPA's, or high powered business executives?  What if you were in need of delicate heart surgery and found out the day before the operation that your surgeon is the guy who wears a dog mask in Cleveland, or one of the dudes in the garish green and white Jets stuff, or the guy with Iron City Beer cans welded to a construction worker's hard hat? 

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I started watching ESPN, but as soon as I saw that Mike Greenberg was the anchor and Booger McFarland was on the desk, I went to the NFL Network and stayed there, not that their gurus were any more rational than Mel Kiper Jr.

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Apparently, at some point, and I am not sure when this happened exactly, and new position came about in football called "edge rusher" or, more simply, "edge."  That being the case, I suggest that the NFL call this guy in to host next year's Draft festivities.

The Steelers and The Draft

Have you all been anxiously awaiting to hear what The Grandstander has to say about how the Steelers "did in the draft", including instant assessments and letter grades for each of the players selected?  Well, if that's the case, you're crazy, because I know as much about that as all the others who have been offering such expert analysis, which is to say, I don't know nothin'.

I've told this story before, but way back when, my dad ran into Steelers player Ben Magee, one of the few good players that the Steelers had back in the pre-Chuck Noll days (you have to be pushing age seventy to remember him), at some lunch counter in downtown Pittsburgh.  It was right about the time of the draft and Frank asked him "Ben, whaddya think of the guys they drafted?"  Magee looks at him and says "Won't know nothin' about them 'til you get them in camp."  It's a story I've always remembered and it always causes me to temper enthusiasm over anybody that any team drafts until they actually play against real life NFL football players.

That said, I always prefer to be optimistic on Draft Day, and just looking at film clips of Notre Dame's Chase Claypool certainly makes you imagine great things for him and the Steelers in the years ahead.  He's big, 6-4, 240, and fast, and he certainly could - COULD - become a major force with which to be reckoned in the NFL.  Looking at the clips made you think of a monster wide out like Michael Irvin or Calvin Johnson.  If he turns out like that, great.  He could also be the second coming of Limas Sweed, but, like I say, on Draft Day, let's all be optimistic.

In this 2020 Draft, what Steelers Fans will forever refer to as the "Chase Claypool Draft", the Steelers took six players.  A wide receiver, a linebacker, a running back, a guard, a safety, and a defensive tackle.  All positions of need for the team.  If a couple of them become pro bowl caliber players, that would be fantastic. If three or four of them become solid starters over a six to eight year time period, I am sure that Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert will consider that the Steelers "did good in the draft", but that is a question that will take years to answer.

Future Steelers Hall of Famer?

Quarterbacks at #1 Overall - From Bradshaw to Burrow

Terry Bradshaw

#1 in 1970

In the endless discussions leading up to the NFL Draft that began last night, I heard former QB and current CBS analyst Gary Danielson mention a fact that caused me to do some research.  If Joe Burrow were to be taken at Overall #1, which he was, he would become the twenty-fifth quarterback taken in that all-important, sure-to-be-a-superstar-so-don't-screw-this-pick-up slot, since 1970.  That year essentially marked the post NFL-AFL merger, so it is a good place to begin the discussion.  

Joe Burrow

#1 in 2020

Of those 24 QB's taken, how many of them went on to be certified superstar, Hall of Fame players, asked Danielson?  

The answer to that question called for a Grandstander Spreadsheet, and it might surprise you. 

2020	Joe Burrow	Bengals	2002	David Carr	Texans
2019	Kyler Murray	Cardinals	2001	Michael Vick	Falcons
2018	Baker Mayfield	Browns	1999	Tim Couch	Browns
2016	Jared Goff	Rams	1998	Peyton Manning	Colts
2015	Jameis Winston	Bucs	1993	Drew Bledsoe	Patriots
2012	Andrew Luck	Colts	1990	Jeff George	Colts
2011	Cam Newton	Panthers	1989	Troy Aikman	Cowboys
2010	Sam Bradford	Rams	1987	Vinny Testaverde	Bucs
2009	Matthew Stafford	Lions	1983	John Elway	Colts
2007	JaMarcus Russell	Raiders	1975	Steve Bartkowski	Falcons
2005	Alex Smith	49ers	1971	Jim Plunkett	Patriots
2004	Eli Manning	Chargers	1970	Terry Bradshaw	Steelers
2003	Carson Palmer	Bengals

So far, only three of those QB's have made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Terry Bradshaw, John Elway, and Troy Aikman.  Peyton Manning will surely be in as soon as he is eligible, and Eli Manning is borderline, but those two Super Bowl wins may push him into the HOF, although it hasn't worked that way for Jim Plunkett, and the HOF jury is still out on those guys drafted in the last ten years or so.   Many of these guys had solid careers - Palmer, Vick, Bledsoe, Testaverde - but fell short of the superstardom predicted for them. Injuries have laid low a number of these guys as well (Smith, Bradford, and you could include Palmer in that category as well). By my count at least nine of these guys have played in Super Bowls, and I believe that Testaverde earned a Super Bowl ring with Dallas as a back-up.  

The really astonishing thing about the list to me, though, is the number of guys who were flat out busts in the NFL: Jeff George, Tim Couch, David Carr, and JaMarcus Russell.  Couch and Carr were drafted by crummy expansion teams, so you can argue that they never got a fair shot, but with all of the analysis, film studies, combine performances, endless Pro Days and coaches interviews, how can teams miss so badly and blow the golden opportunity that the Overall Number One pick gives you by selecting guys who turned into Poster Boys for Bad Draft Picks like Jeff George and JaMarcus Russell?  It boggles your mind.

Last night four quarterbacks were selected in the first round of the draft, three coming within the first six selections.  I wish all of these kids well, but there is a good chance that at least one or two of them will have, at best, very ordinary careers in the NFL.

The Steelers and "The Draft"

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, prompts more bullshit to be spread among sports writers, sports TV talking heads, and sports radio talk-jocks and callers than the build up to the annual NFL Draft.  And when said draft is over, more bullshit is spread in the analysis of "how teams did" in the draft, including instant letter grades assigned to teams' draft classes, which consist of anywhere from six to ten young men who, it needs to be noted, have yet to step on to an NFL field or play a single down in an NFL game.

Of course, the Draft is important to the teams themselves as they annually restock and infuse themselves with new young talent, but we really need to wait three to four seasons before we really know "how the Steelers/Browns/Patriots/Chiefs/et al did in the Draft".

As for the Steelers in 2019, great excitement has been generated by the fact that the team traded up ten spots in the draft and gave up three picks in order to select LB Devin Bush with the tenth selection in the first round.   No doubt Bush fills a serious need for the Steelers - and here are the key words here - if he can play at an NFL level, and no college game films, no stats from pro days and combines, will be able to tell us if he can play until young Mr. Bush gets to Latrobe in July and starts playing against other actual NFL football players.  The credentials are there (as they were with guys like Jarvis Jones) and there are reasons to be optimistic (as there were with guys like Huey Richardson), but until....well, you get the idea.

Anyway, without listing all the names, the "Devin Bush Draft", as it will come to be known, netted nine new hopefuls for Rooney U - 2 linebackers, 2 defensive linemen, and one each of the following: wide receiver, defensive back, running back, tight end, and offensive linemen.  

We all know what the needs are.  Let's hope that at least four or five these guys can fill them over the next several seasons.

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Elsewhere on the Steelers front, big news was made earlier in the week that Ben Roethlisberger signed a contract extension for several gajillion dollars that will keep him in Black and Gold through the 2021 season, the season in which Ben will be 39 years old.  It will probably be Roethlisberger's final contract (although Tom Brady and Drew Brees have shown that you can still play at a top level at age 40 and beyond, so who knows?), and it really was a no brainer for the team.  You need a "franchise quarterback" to win in the NFL.  The Steelers have one, and they needed to keep him.  Case closed.  Unless Roethlisberger's talent level falls off the side of a cliff, and there is no reason to think that it  will, the Steelers now have a three year window in which to "go for it" in terms of Super Bowl contention.

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One final comment upon all for the aforementioned b.s. that spews forth from draft experts, including the teams' themselves every year, let me offer the following, and I'll just confine this to the quarterback position:

• In 2007, the Number One overall pick was JaMarcus Russell.
• In 1999, the Number One overall pick was Tim Couch
• In 1998, the Number Two overall pick was Ryan Leaf.
• In 2000, the 199th overall pick was Tom Brady.

Somewhere in the archives I am sure that we can find footage of Mel Kiper's comments in each of those years, but I'll take a pass on listening to them.

So, How Did The Steelers "Do In The Draft"?

Okay, I know that you all have been waiting for this, so here is my post-draft analysis on how the Steelers fared in the just completed 2018 Draft:

No one  - not Mike Tomlin, not Kevin Colbert, not any ex-jock talking head at ESPN, no talk-jock on 93.7 The Fan, and certainly not me - will be able to answer that question until, say, midway through the 2020 season. So enough with the analysis.

However, here are some thoughts....

• Despite how all the Mel Kipers and Peter Kings of the world said that the Steelers absolutely, positively HAD to draft an inside linebacker to replace Ryan Shazier, the Steelers ended up drafting two safeties, a wide receiver, a tight end, an offensive tackle, a defensive tackle, and a quarterback (more on him in a moment).  No linebacker, which is why the "experts" are telling us how the Steelers "blew it".  Don't know about you, but I'm putting my money on Tomlin and Colbert before I put it on Mel Kiper Jr.
• This will the Draft class forever identified, for better or worse, as the "Terrell Edmunds Draft".

• You certainly like Edmunds', a safety, credentials. And his size and speed.  Let's hope he can deliver the goods for the Steelers.
• The Steelers also took another safety, Marcus Allen of Penn State, in a later round.  Does this mean a lack of faith in third year safety Sean Davis?  Or will either Edmunds or Allen become more of a quasi-linebacker in the Steelers defense?
• Any draft class is always made all the more intriguing when a quarterback is selected, which the Steelers did when they picked Mason Rudolph of Oklahoma State in the third round.

• If you follow Pitt football, you certainly know about Rudolph, who positively torched Pitt in each of the last two seasons, both lopsided wins for the Cowboys.  Hey, I am no expert when it comes to evaluating pro football talent, but I know what I saw in those two games Rudolph played against Pitt, and he was devastating.  Does this translate into a successful NFL career? Who knows, but I like the pick.  It seems that in Rudolph, the Steelers are looking at the guy to groom to be Ben Roethlisberger's replacement two or three years down the pike.
• One round earlier, the Steelers also selected Rudolph's battery mate at OK State, WR James Washington, who also tortured Pitt in the last two seasons.  Washington looks to be first in line to replace Martavis Bryant, the talented but knuckle-headed receiver whom they traded to Oakland on Thursday.
• When the draft was completed, the Steelers announced the signing of a bunch of undrafted free agents.  Only one of these names was familiar to me, and it was an intriguing one: Quadree Henderson, WR, University of Pittsburgh.  He will no doubt be deep on the depth chart when the Steelers convene in Latrobe in July, but Henderson gave the Panthers many, many electrifying moments as both a receiver and, primarily, as a kick returner over the past three seasons.  How he might fair as a return man for the Steelers might give you a reason to watch the exhibition games come August.

So, let's hope that this draft yields more Antonio Browns and David DeCastros than it does Jarvis Joneses and Huey Richardsons.  No one will know until they get  them out on the practice fields.

Oh, and how can we leave this topic without highlighting the Feel Good Moment of the Draft for Steelers fans - Ryan Shazier walking on stage to announce the Steelers first selection.

Spare Us the Analysis, Please

Tonight begins one of the great non-events on the sports calendar - the NFL Draft, an event that could be done in about six to eight hours, but now lasts three days.  To be fair, it isn't really a non-event, it is important to the 32 NFL teams who will select between six and nine players each that will all play critical roles as these teams make their inevitable march to the Super Bowl.  Yeah.

What makes this a non-event is not only all of the overkill leading up to it, but the mountains of analysis that will follow.  What teams "won" on Draft Day(s), which teams blew it, which teams got the best value.  Please, spare us.  Come to us after, say, the 2018 season to tell us which teams had the best draft in 2015.

For example, in the year 2000, one NFL team made the following selections with their first four selections in that year's draft:

1. No selection
2. Adrian Klemm, OT, Hawaii
3. J. R. Redmond, RB, Arizona State
4. Greg Robinson-Randall, OT, Michigan State
5. Dave Stachski, TE, Boise State

Now, I am sure that the local press and national pundits probably discussed these four players in great detail in the days following to determine how well this team did in that draft. In all honesty, i can say that I have absolutely no familiarity with any of these guys.  Maybe they had decent NFL careers, but none of them are going to Canton.

So, bad draft for that team, right?

Well, not really, because in the sixth round that year, the New England Patriots selected Tom Brady, QB, Michigan.  I am betting that, while the drafting of a QB always generates interest, probably very little attention was paid to a sixth round QB when all of the post-draft analysis was being done in the Boston area back in 2000.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, knows who will be THE big star to come out of this 2015 draft.  It very well could be Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariotta, but it is every bit as likely that it will be some dude selected in the fifth or sixth round out of East Overshoe University, just like that Brady kid was in 2000.

This is why I will read very little about the draft in the days ahead.  Tell me who the Steelers picked, and then let's wait and see how they do once the real games begin.

Some NFL Draft Thoughts

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ryan Shazier.  Of course, many of the draftniks out there in Steelers Nation have already decreed you to be, at best, a misplaced pick, and at worst, a complete waste of a first round pick.  For what it is worth, I am willing to wait to see how you can actually play football in the NFL before passing any sort of judgement.  One thing I do know is that after two consecutive non-playoff 8-8 seasons, the Steelers need lots more good football players, regardless of position.  

Some other thoughts after watching about 45 minutes or so of that ridiculous hype-fest last evening.....

• ESPN had Chris Berman and Ray Lewis.   The NFL Network has Michael Irvin and Mike Mayock.  Talk about the worst of both worlds!  Awful, simply awful.
• I know it's all entertainment and show biz, but how in the name of God can they drag this out over three days.  Haven't we suffered enough?
• After getting a gander at the people in the audience at Radio City, I have concluded that this is the football equivalent of a Star Trek Convention.
• Mel Kiper's hairline seems to be exceeding at an alarming rate, thus threatening with extinction one of the great heads of hair of all time.
• Bow ties seem to be a trend among young athletes.
• I hope that I never reach a state in life where I can get lathered up over the possibility of someone "trading up" or "trading down".
• The Cleve Brownies draft Johnny Manziel after watching him "drop" (that word must be said with great gravity, by the way, kind of like how "the Japenese have bombed Pearl Harbor" was spoken in 1941).  I am sure that Browns replica #2 jerseys will be in Cleveland area stores by Monday.  To all my friends in Cleveland, keep the following names in mind before you fork out over a hundred bucks for one: Tim Couch and Brady Quinn.
• Actually, I have no great feelings for Johnny Football one way or another.  In fact, I kind of hope he makes it, if for no other reason than to prove the hide-bound NFL old school types wrong.  No question he was an exciting college player.  Time will tell if that will translate into pro success, or, more to the point, if his coaches will allow it to happen.
• And speaking of Manziel, did you see the vitriol Ron Cook used to describe him in his column this morning?  Wow, wonder when Manziel pee'd in Ron's Weaties to provoke such bitter comments.  Oh, right, this is Ron Cook we're talking about.

Remember Ben Magee?  He was a defensive lineman for the Steelers, and a good one, in the final days of the pre-Chuck Noll era of Steelers football.  One day, my Dad ran in to him at downtown lunch counter shortly after the NFL draft (back in the days when it went of over twenty rounds, wasn't televised, and was concluded in one day), and Frank Sproule says to him, "What do you think of the guys they drafted, Ben?"  Ben's reply was simple one: "Can't tell anything about any of them until you get them into camp."

That is the best post-draft analysis I have ever heard, and it is why, while I may read post-draft analysis articles, I pay very little heed to them.