Nation and Readers,
I want to apologize if you feel like the draft last night was not covered as well as it could have been by NPC. Early on in the draft, my wife and I needed to take our son to the ER at Children’s Hospital last night. Turned out to be nothing too serious, but as anyone whose gone to the ER knows (adult or child), no visit is a quick one. It was a tough scenario for all of NPC – one writer in Mexico, one writer in Alabama and no power, and me in the ER. A triple threat if you will. So, with smart phone in hand, I followed along as best I could. Seems like only two out of my four posts from my phone made it through – and one somehow posted hours after I had written it. So again, I am sorry.
Well with that…. let’s look at last night’s round 1.
Well I can at least walk away from last night knowing that I was at least half right about the Steelers first pick. They didn’t go with a corner, but they also didn’t trade up for Pouncey. Last night was such a crazy night for the draft. For a while there, I thought that teams were trying to out duel each other with crazy moves. I watched some highlights from the NFL Network last night and couldn’t help but enjoy the ever present boos as Goodell walked onstage for each announcement. It was also amusing to see some highlights of some teams’ draft parties and fans bewildered reactions as their teams made surprising and sometimes strange picks. Was there one for the Steelers last night?
By the time the 31st pick rolled around 3 out of the top 5 corners in the draft were gone: Patrick Peterson, Prince Amukamara and Jimmy Smith. I was surprised to see Amukamara to go so late at the 19th pick. So that left Aaron Williams still on the board – the favorite in the media and many others to be the Steelers pick for the first round. But, as I had written before Tomlin believes that good wide out coverage starts at the front line. Seems like the rest of the front office was able to agree on that and went with Cameron Heyward.
The Steelers consistently will draft the highest value on their own draft board, and Heyward was the guy. It’s amazing that 11 defensive ends/tackles were taken already in the first round and Heyward made 12. One would think that after 7 or 8 that the talent curve would begin to fall off – but apparently not this year. I think Heywad is a solid first round pick. He will add depth to the defensive line immediately and will be able to mature working with the three Pro-Bowlers starters. He will certainly become important if Aaron Smith has another season ending injury. He comes from good stock – Craig “Ironhead” Heyward – and is fast and balanced with his frame. My only beef about the guy is that he comes out of Ohio State. I don’t like that program and they brew trouble.
What to look for on Day 2
With each pick the Steelers don’t take at corner, Ike Taylor’s value goes up. I believe they will take a corner in the 2nd round… BUT, I wouldn’t be surprised if they address the offensive line first. Ben and Mendenhall need some serious help in the backfield. If you talk about valued picks – protecting your star quarterback is one of the highest priorities you can have… so is protecting against getting burned in the secondary. If they pick an offensive linemen today in round 2, you can expect that they are willing to let Ike go if he wants too much money because his free agency value goes way up. It would also appear that they are willing to keep working with the young corners already on the roster.
Be sure to check back with more draft updates. And, be sure to join the live chat during each round of the draft. I heard from some that it was pretty fun in the room – especially with some of those surprise picks.