2018 Draft...way too early talk

[Yo Tee]

I love the pick of James Washington then Mason Rudolph. Love it. We rarely draft in the first round very well. 2nd round picks have always been great. These last two sentences have rung true especially in the last 5-6 years. I really wish we would've gone elsewhere with Edmunds.

 

[SteelersPride]

i dont love the rudolph pick , hes flawed.

malik jefferson was still there..................

 

[Yo Tee]

Okorafor pick, coulda had Ronnie Harrison from Bama. Who gets him? Jacksonville.
Could've put together a package to move up 6 spots to get Rashaan Evans. We settle for a projected 3rd-4th round talent that is compared to an undrafted 7 year vet that has played 2 games since an ACL injury. Coulda had Justin Reid, Josh Jackson, Mike Hughes or Carlton Davis at 28, not Terrell Edmunds.
How's Cincy's draft? Jesse Bates, Sam Hubbard, Malik Jefferson. All three guys we've scouted, met with and liked.

The Washington and Rudolph picks are saving this draft for me. The Edmunds pick is a D in my book. Washington is an A and Rudolph is a B+. Haven't seen much of Okorafor yet so can't grade that pick yet.

 

[Yo Tee]

i dont love the rudolph pick , hes flawed.

malik jefferson was still there..................

Gotta plan for life after Ben. That's coming in the next year or two. Needed a decent option for the heir apparent.

 

[SteelersPride]

Gotta plan for life after Ben. That's coming in the next year or two. Needed a decent option for the heir apparent.

so then try to win now

 

[Bridgeburner]

Life after Ben... I’d rather plan to win another title or two with Ben. To each his own tho.

 

[SteelersPride]

Life after Ben... I’d rather plan to win another title or two with Ben. To each his own tho.

my man

 

[Yo Tee]

so then try to win now

We've been trying to win now, hasn't worked. We can add as many key players as we want but until we can beat New England, it ain't gonna mean shit. Regardless, we still need to plan for when Ben retires which is soon whether we like it or not.

 

[Yo Tee]

Life after Ben... I’d rather plan to win another title or two with Ben. To each his own tho.

Have we not been doing that the last few years? Ben is gone in 1-2 years. We need a plan. Landry Jones and Josh Dobbs isn't part of that plan from what I've seen from them. Don't know if Mason Rudolph is either, but it's a promising direction.

If we don't plan for life after Ben, what's the future hold for this franchise? Landry Jones and Josh Dobbs at QB? Really?

 

[Yo Tee]

my man

Sorry, we can't beat New England so how are we gonna win titles? Once Brady retires, which will probably be around the same time Ben does, maybe we will be able to beat them.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Washington...Like...a player long ago acknowledge on this board as a potential pick to replace MB or Rogers...deep threat with a tough demeanor, cam play inside the hash marks as well.

Notables left on the board...DJ Chark, WR, Carlton Davis, CB, Justin Reid, S, Jerome Baker, LB

Rudolph...Lukewarm...Dobbs is a project, Landry is a cheap backup, but I think they get a little cheaper and maybe the potential heir apparent. What makes this pick lukewarm is the players they left on the board, but considering they moved up to get him, they got the guy they wanted.

Notables left on the board...Sam Hubbard, DE, Malik Jefferson OLB, Justin Jones, DT, Mark Andrews, TE

Okorafor...Don't like...I know Hubbard has moved on so I expected a T taken in this draft...again just looking at the players they left on the board, I would've gone a different direction with this pick. That said, you always have to invest in the trenches.

Notables...Harrison Phillips, DT, Dorian O'Daniel, LB, Isaac Yiadom CB,

4th...nada.

5th...11th and 28th...I think we can expect a LB here almost certainly...we shall see.

@Terry Rode ...help me out here on round one...I agree they settled on Edmunds, but reportedly PIT did try to trade up for Evans. Looking this in hindsight, they needed to get ahead of CIN imo to the 20 spot. (Bengals were not going to help them). TN, NE, and CAR all needed LB help. DET had to be the target I thought to ensure getting Evans. If the reports are true, the costs had to be too high I assume.

As it was DET took the #1 C off the board.

Obviously they didn't like Jefferson as much as you thought to leave him on the board in the 3rd.

 

[Bridgeburner]

Have we not been doing that the last few years? Ben is gone in 1-2 years. We need a plan. Landry Jones and Josh Dobbs isn't part of that plan from what I've seen from them. Don't know if Mason Rudolph is either, but it's a promising direction.

If we don't plan for life after Ben, what's the future hold for this franchise? Landry Jones and Josh Dobbs at QB? Really?

You act like now is the only time to plan ahead. It isn’t. And grabbing a QB for the sake of it doesn’t help. That’s silly. Rudolph’s upside is a high end backup or low end starter. NOT the future of the franchise and Bens replacement.

 

[Bridgeburner]

Rudolph is an upgrade at backup QB. That’s all. And that’s okay, even if it wasn’t an ideal use of the pick.

 

[Yo Tee]

Washington...Like...a player long ago acknowledge on this board as a potential pick to replace MB or Rogers...deep threat with a tough demeanor, cam play inside the hash marks as well.

Notables left on the board...DJ Chark, WR, Carlton Davis, CB, Justin Reid, S, Jerome Baker, LB

Rudolph...Lukewarm...Dobbs is a project, Landry is a cheap backup, but I think they get a little cheaper and maybe the potential heir apparent. What makes this pick lukewarm is the players they left on the board, but considering they moved up to get him, they got the guy they wanted.

Notables left on the board...Sam Hubbard, DE, Malik Jefferson OLB, Justin Jones, DT, Mark Andrews, TE

Okorafor...Don't like...I know Hubbard has moved on so I expected a T taken in this draft...again just looking at the players they left on the board, I would've gone a different direction with this pick. That said, you always have to invest in the trenches.

Notables...Harrison Phillips, DT, Dorian O'Daniel, LB, Isaac Yiadom CB,

4th...nada.

5th...11th and 28th...I think we can expect a LB here almost certainly...we shall see.

@Terry Rode ...help me out here on round one...I agree they settled on Edmunds, but reportedly PIT did try to trade up for Evans. Looking this in hindsight, they needed to get ahead of CIN imo to the 20 spot. (Bengals were not going to help them). TN, NE, and CAR all needed LB help. DET had to be the target I thought to ensure getting Evans. If the reports are true, the costs had to be too high I assume.

As it was DET took the #1 C off the board.

Obviously they didn't like Jefferson as much as you thought to leave him on the board in the 3rd.

There was no way Carolina was taking a LB in the first. They needed weapons for Cam and it was WR all the way. The only question was whether it was DJ Moore or Calvin Ridley. I could've seen NE picking Evans for sure. This is what irks me and why I was so adamant 1-2 months ago about not doing things the "Steeler Way" in this year's draft:

The Saints were able to trade up from 27 to 14 to get the guy they wanted in exchange for their 1st and 5th this year, plus their 1st next year which is probably a bottom 10 pick so it's not like they traded away a top 10-15 picks next year. I don't think Davenport was worth that much but New Orleans did and they did what they had to do to get him. It wouldn't of cost that much to move up from 28 to 20. Tennessee traded their 1st and 4th to Baltimore for their 1st and 6th. After the trade with Martavis, we had an extra 3rd round pick to work with as well. Maybe work with Detroit to move up to 20? Give them a 1st and a 3rd for their 20th? All I've ever asked for and stated is that we make some moves to go and grab a guy that we want instead of settling for whatever comes to us and this was my fear all offseason. We won't trade up because we're the Pittsburgh Steelers and we don't do that but now look at what happened. Once LVE went at 19 I knew the only way we were getting Evans was by trading up. In my opinion, Safety was the right position, I've said that all along, but Edmunds wasn't the right Safety. He would've been available at 60 or even the 3rd round probably. Another issue I have is that we have yet to satisfy our LB need and we only have 2 5ths and a 7th left. While I like the Washington and Randolph picks, with hindsight, I would've liked to use one of those picks as a package with our first to move up to get Rashaan Evans. We still have 2 5ths as well we could've thrown in there as well.

While everyone around us does what it needs to do to get the talent they want, we stay stationary and take what comes to us. That's my biggest problem with this organization right now. That mindset might have worked 10-15 years ago but it doesn't work now. Jacksonville built their defense in the draft by trading up and drafting smart. Look at their turn around. Probably the best turn around by an NFL team in a LONG time.

2017: Jacksonville traded their 2nd and 6th for Seattle's 34th, which ended up being Cam Robinson from Bama.
2016: Jacksonville traded their 2nd and 5th for Baltimore's 36th, which ended up being Myles Jack from UCLA.

Add those moves in with getting Ronnie Harrison this year at 93, who is actually compared to a decent NFL vet in Adrian Wilson (5x pro bowler in Arizona), unlike the guy we got at 28, and Jalen Ramsey in 2016 and Jacksonville's defense is young, tough and built for future success.

 

[Yo Tee]

You act like now is the only time to plan ahead. It isn’t. And grabbing a QB for the sake of it doesn’t help. That’s silly. Rudolph’s upside is a high end backup or low end starter. NOT the future of the franchise and Bens replacement.

If Ben retires next year, will we be happy with the choices we have? If we don't draft Mason Rudolph this year, our choices for QB is either Landry Jones, Joshua Dobbs, a rookie QB from the 2019 draft or sign a free agent QB, which in 2019 looks scarce. Landry is a free agent next year. Now that we have Mason, it will be okay to cut him. We can't be reactionary to Ben's retirement, we need to be proactive about it. Drafting Mason was the proactive thing to do with the uncertainty of how long Ben has left. Now might actually be the only time to plan ahead because next year might be one year too late. You know who should've been the future of the franchise and Ben's replacement? Landry Jones. He never took the ball and ran with it. He lost his chance and it's time to go through other avenues. Give Rudolph the Rodgers treatment for the next 1-2 years so when Ben retires, we can actually have a decently lit light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Bridgeburner]

If Ben retires next year, will we be happy with the choices we have? If we don't draft Mason Rudolph this year, our choices for QB is either Landry Jones, Joshua Dobbs, a rookie QB from the 2019 draft or sign a free agent QB, which in 2019 looks scarce. Landry is a free agent next year. Now that we have Mason, it will be okay to cut him. We can't be reactionary to Ben's retirement, we need to be proactive about it. Drafting Mason was the proactive thing to do with the uncertainty of how long Ben has left. Now might actually be the only time to plan ahead because next year might be one year too late. You know who should've been the future of the franchise and Ben's replacement? Landry Jones. He never took the ball and ran with it. He lost his chance and it's time to go through other avenues. Give Rudolph the Rodgers treatment for the next 1-2 years so when Ben retires, we can actually have a decently lit light at the end of the tunnel.

No. I disagree with all of this. Entirely.

When Ben retires we will have some lean years. It’s the circle of life. Those lean years will hopefully put us in position to eventually draft his replacement. Titles are everything. You do everything you can to win now while you have a franchise elite QB. Period.

Bens replacement as franchise QB is STILL NOT ON THIS ROSTER. We drafted what might be a better backup and bridge starter until we can find his replacement 4-6 years from now.

 

[Yo Tee]

No. I disagree with all of this. Entirely.

When Ben retires we will have some lean years. It’s the circle of life. Those lean years will hopefully put us in position to eventually draft his replacement. Titles are everything. You do everything you can to win now while you have a franchise elite QB. Period.

Bens replacement as franchise QB is STILL NOT ON THIS ROSTER. We drafted what might be a better backup and bridge starter until we can find his replacement 4-6 years from now.

I disagree with everything except one thing you said. Title are indeed everything. Hence why you need to give the Aaron Rodgers treatment to someone and that someone isn't Jones because he's had 4-5 years and no improvements aside from his beard game, and it obviously isn't Dobbs if he's 3rd string. Rodgers won a Super Bowl 2 years after becoming the starter. We can have the same success if we do it right.

 

[Bridgeburner]

I disagree with everything except one thing you said. Title are indeed everything. Hence why you need to give the Aaron Rodgers treatment to someone and that someone isn't Jones because he's had 4-5 years and no improvements aside from his beard game, and it obviously isn't Dobbs if he's 3rd string. Rodgers won a Super Bowl 2 years after becoming the starter. We can have the same success if we do it right.

I don't even know what the hell you are talking about here.

It's time to move on.

 

[SteelersPride]

We've been trying to win now, hasn't worked. We can add as many key players as we want but until we can beat New England, it ain't gonna mean shit. Regardless, we still need to plan for when Ben retires which is soon whether we like it or not.

So let’s just tank

 

[Superbelt]

No. I disagree with all of this. Entirely.

When Ben retires we will have some lean years. It’s the circle of life. Those lean years will hopefully put us in position to eventually draft his replacement. Titles are everything. You do everything you can to win now while you have a franchise elite QB. Period.

Bens replacement as franchise QB is STILL NOT ON THIS ROSTER. We drafted what might be a better backup and bridge starter until we can find his replacement 4-6 years from now.

I see it as we took a flyer on the QB that our new WR has a great raport with already. He's a tough player with a great arm.

A few years under Ben, if we're lucky we get a surprise. Otherwise, yeah go get that blue chipper.