Steelers News: Bradshaw, Elway, Jones
By Kim Myers
The Steelers offseason which includes everything from free agency to draft prep and everything in between is in full swing.
Steelers season never truly ends for Steeler Nation so while the offseason starts to heat up we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Wednesday, April 27th.
The coin flip that changed everything
With the 2016 NFL Draft on Thursday night the draft day memories keep coming from Teresa Varley. On Tuesday she talked to Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw about his draft day experience from 1970.
Bradshaw was to be the first pick in the draft out of Louisiana Tech University and the winner of the first pick in the draft came down to a coin flip between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears. In his version of the story he describes how he wasn’t too enthused about going to play for the worst team in the NFL.
Bradshaw, obviously, went on to be an instrumental part of making the Steelers the best team in the NFL but you can imagine his feelings back then, it’s kind of like what it must feel like to be drafted by the Browns now.
Let’s make a deal?
We should all come to the realization by now that the Steelers trading up in the draft is an option we’re not likely to see, pretty much ever. The last time they did was in 2003 for safety Troy Polamalu. This year they certainly won’t be trading up because they don’t have enough picks able to pull it off.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler suggests that Steelers GM Kevin Colbert give Broncos VP and GM John Elway to trade back in the draft. Fowler thinks that the Steelers would benefit from getting more picks for their 25th overall pick and the Broncos would want that spot to grab a quarterback. We’ll see what happens.
Draft could determine Jones’ fate
Josh Alper of PFT explains how the Steelers’ 2016 draft class could determine how they proceed with 2013 first-round pick linebacker Jarvis Jones. The team can exercise the contract option for the 2017 season with Jones by May 3rd but he’s yet to produce based on the first-round expectations.
Next: The Steelers unexpected factor
The Steelers drafted outside linebacker Bud Dupree in the first round last year and could go forward with more outside linebacker depth in the draft based on the lack of production out of Jones.