RB free agency and rookie landings spots

[TREFF]

For what its worth, which may not be a warm squirt of piss, but, Rotoworlds "team draft needs", has the Steelers taking Swift with thier first pick...ouch

 

[SteelersPride]

For what its worth, which may not be a warm squirt of piss, but, Rotoworlds "team draft needs", has the Steelers taking Swift with thier first pick...ouch

A lot of places do. I'd be ok with swift and only swift.


But roto and fantasy pros draft pundits are awful.

I'll be curious because most of those guys are in the kc, and Tampa drafting a rb too..... early.

 

[SteelersPride]

no problem... Read my initial comment back and see how you thought I meant it...

MORE background on my fantasy team (because nobody asked )... I had Bell, have Conner and just want to be in line for the successor... The Steelers RB slot is fantasy gold IMO, which is why I value it so high, even if it means waiting...

So in regards to the steelers backfield. Tomlins MO is ALWAYS a 1 rb system, 1 lead dog.......Always has been.
Which is what makes the steelers RB a gold mine like you said. However, they dont have that dog right now. They love james conner, as a player, and a person, dating back to him being around while at pitt. They've made it clear that they have issues with his health concerns. When they draft mendenhall, and when they drafted bell, they didnt have anything in cupboard. Now you can argue that they drafted James, when they had bell, but the writing was on the wall with paying bell. I guess the same can be said with Conner coming up on a contract year. But things are murky in pittsburgh. We had a truly elite D last year, that was wasted when ben got hurt. We are in a small window with the D, and ben aging. They need to win. If they deem that RB helps them the most, then they will take it. Ben came out said he expects them to address the offense. Even thouh some very uneducated pgh writes have touted RB, and fantasy pundits have touted RB. The reality is we have bigger needs. We need an impact guy. Someone who helps them win now.........

Swift? perhaps.......

But both lines, LB, S, etc.....

Tomlin somehow, shifted a bit, maybe out of need, by using multiple backs in games last year, and all reports from some of the more respected beat writes were that he was comfortable with it. Which is against his grain. He does like Snell too.

So one im fully against them taking a RB early, unless its swift. But if they do, I just dont see them tossing conner aside, and snell, and samuels......

In which case, that rb is not as of as much value....

Lets say they got swift, or akers, or whoever your RB of choice is. Are they gonna carry 60-70% of the load? and conner/snell/samuels get what 5-7 snaps each? Snell and samuels get no work?

I dunno.....plus they love james, do they resign him on the cheap if he has another down year, james loves pgh, pgh loves james......Just massive question marks imho. Theres enough there to make me thing that Tomlin oculd go against everything he stands for with RB's moving forward.......He could draft a guy and run him into the ground too. But at 1.1. I want a STUD, guaranteed.

 

[SteelersPride]

And, only becuase theres nothing better to do, might as well weigh in on the Steelers RB situation too...

To me, as an outsider of sorts, no attachment to the Steelers, Tomlin, or any of the current RB's, perhaps a slightly different POV?

I would %100 agree with Steelers pride, that given everything as is with the roster makeup, one of the last things they need is another RB, but the rumblings certainly suggest that they're going to, or at the very least, seriously considering the possibility .
I would also %100 agree with him, that no matter who they add, Conners isnt going anywhere. However, should they make the monumental mistake of taking a RB in the first couple rounds, I highly doubt that they'd double down on that mistake, and make it an even bigger mistake by not giving that guy every opportunity to win the job. And with all due respect to Conners, and his amazing story, and substantial talent, he is, without a doubt, a replacement level RB. Perfectly fine, can get the job done, but when someone better comes along, that's what happens, they get replaced.

Then, we've gotta look at Conners history and overall situation, and wether you're a believer in injury prone or not, the bottom line is, he's missed 11 games in 3 years. And, in another agreement with SP, Samuels proved that he's not a true RB, Snell proved he's just a middling body, so when Conners misses time, they do actually need something better. Even if they are committed to Conners as the guy this season, high probability he isnt around for 16 games and it'd be beneficial to have a better option to turn to than Snell and Samuels. So someone needs to get added. And you've also gotta consider his contract, he's up after this year. Steelers are gonna have to decided if they're moving forward with him, or not. And if not, or even if they're just wavering a bit, it makes sense to be scouting a potential replacement.

So, like I mentioned in the very first post of this thread, I think the Steelers are a dark horse to grab one of those bigger RB's, but that I do think it would be a big mistake, as there are more pressing needs. However, should the right guy fall to them, where they think they have value there, there is a need no matter how you slice it, no matter what you think of Conners ability or what makes more sense..the need for another real RB does exist, whether that's to replace Conner next year, or to be a better backup, or to outright take his job this year, and if they make a sizeable investment in whomever that might be, that guy is going to play, Conners or not. If they don't, Conners job is no doubt safe, no one on the roster is a threat, they've proven that. But more than a few rookies are, and at least a couple FA's would be too.

So while I totally agree they shouldn't, that they don't necessarily need to, I honestly wouldn't be in the least bit surprised. And if that's Cam Akers, and if they spend a top two round pick on him, I sure ain't betting on Conners being the lead back past the Steelers bye.

I cant disagree with this, taking some homerism out of play. Good stuff my friend. I totally missed this the other day.

 

[eaglesnut]

Samuels is total fucking trash like many of us said before last season. He's not a real RB. Never was. Hope that's the last of it on this board.

 

[Payton]

So in regards to the steelers backfield. Tomlins MO is ALWAYS a 1 rb system, 1 lead dog.......Always has been.
Which is what makes the steelers RB a gold mine like you said. However, they dont have that dog right now. They love james conner, as a player, and a person, dating back to him being around while at pitt. They've made it clear that they have issues with his health concerns. When they draft mendenhall, and when they drafted bell, they didnt have anything in cupboard. Now you can argue that they drafted James, when they had bell, but the writing was on the wall with paying bell. I guess the same can be said with Conner coming up on a contract year. But things are murky in pittsburgh. We had a truly elite D last year, that was wasted when ben got hurt. We are in a small window with the D, and ben aging. They need to win. If they deem that RB helps them the most, then they will take it. Ben came out said he expects them to address the offense. Even thouh some very uneducated pgh writes have touted RB, and fantasy pundits have touted RB. The reality is we have bigger needs. We need an impact guy. Someone who helps them win now.........

Swift? perhaps.......

But both lines, LB, S, etc.....

Tomlin somehow, shifted a bit, maybe out of need, by using multiple backs in games last year, and all reports from some of the more respected beat writes were that he was comfortable with it. Which is against his grain. He does like Snell too.

So one im fully against them taking a RB early, unless its swift. But if they do, I just dont see them tossing conner aside, and snell, and samuels......

In which case, that rb is not as of as much value....

Lets say they got swift, or akers, or whoever your RB of choice is. Are they gonna carry 60-70% of the load? and conner/snell/samuels get what 5-7 snaps each? Snell and samuels get no work?

I dunno.....plus they love james, do they resign him on the cheap if he has another down year, james loves pgh, pgh loves james......Just massive question marks imho. Theres enough there to make me thing that Tomlin oculd go against everything he stands for with RB's moving forward.......He could draft a guy and run him into the ground too. But at 1.1. I want a STUD, guaranteed.

Okay, clearly I need to back track and explain that my saying that Conner was lucky Samuels or Snell didn’t run away with the job while he was hurt was NOT some ringing endorsement of Samuels, but more a statement on the Steelers’ running game being somewhat plug and play. See DeAngelo Williams in Bell’s absence as case and point. Williams was no Bell, but statistically/performance wise the difference was negligible.

Anyway, obviously if Pitt takes a RB in the first, THAT is their guy... The name being bounced around was Akers though, which would likely mean a 2nd-4th round pick... IMO, Akers is/was the College version of Bell with the Jets... NOBODY was going to look good in that situation. IF Akers goes to Pittsburgh, I believe Akers takes the job within a year... Obviously if Pitt takes Swift in the first? Conner is done, I believe.

I see Snell as a wildcard though... I don’t think he was given a full opportunity, and clearly the Pitt offense doesn’t run the same without Ben... SO... In the end we agree that they don’t HAVE to go RB, their top offensive concern is keeping Ben healthy.

 

[eaglesnut]

Okay, clearly I need to back track and explain that my saying that Conner was lucky Samuels or Snell didn’t run away with the job while he was hurt was NOT some ringing endorsement of Samuels, but more a statement on the Steelers’ running game being somewhat plug and play. See DeAngelo Williams in Bell’s absence as case and point. Williams was no Bell, but statistically/performance wise the difference was negligible.

Anyway, obviously if Pitt takes a RB in the first, THAT is their guy... The name being bounced around was Akers though, which would likely mean a 2nd-4th round pick... IMO, Akers is/was the College version of Bell with the Jets... NOBODY was going to look good in that situation. IF Akers goes to Pittsburgh, I believe Akers takes the job within a year... Obviously if Pitt takes Swift in the first? Conner is done, I believe.

I see Snell as a wildcard though... I don’t think he was given a full opportunity, and clearly the Pitt offense doesn’t run the same without Ben... SO... In the end we agree that they don’t HAVE to go RB, their top offensive concern is keeping Ben healthy.

You mentioned Samuels name twice!

Deangelo is the most underrated RB in league history.

 

[SteelersPride]

Okay, clearly I need to back track and explain that my saying that Conner was lucky Samuels or Snell didn’t run away with the job while he was hurt was NOT some ringing endorsement of Samuels, but more a statement on the Steelers’ running game being somewhat plug and play. See DeAngelo Williams in Bell’s absence as case and point. Williams was no Bell, but statistically/performance wise the difference was negligible.

Anyway, obviously if Pitt takes a RB in the first, THAT is their guy... The name being bounced around was Akers though, which would likely mean a 2nd-4th round pick... IMO, Akers is/was the College version of Bell with the Jets... NOBODY was going to look good in that situation. IF Akers goes to Pittsburgh, I believe Akers takes the job within a year... Obviously if Pitt takes Swift in the first? Conner is done, I believe.

I see Snell as a wildcard though... I don’t think he was given a full opportunity, and clearly the Pitt offense doesn’t run the same without Ben... SO... In the end we agree that they don’t HAVE to go RB, their top offensive concern is keeping Ben healthy.

steelers don't have a first round pick....

 

[Payton]

steelers don't have a first round pick....

Oh... so there’s that...

They won’t get Swift then...

 

[Payton]

You mentioned Samuels name twice!

Deangelo is the most underrated RB in league history.

I mentioned Samuels once in my initial post... I don’t know protocol here, am I to refer to him from here forward as (That Pittsburgh RB who can’t hold Peyton Hillis’ jock)?

And as for DeAngelo... I won’t engage in your base premise, but will say he was cranking out numbers in his early 30s with Pitt... I’m gonna say he doesn’t do that in Carolina, even without Stewart...

 

[TREFF]

Oh... so there’s that...

They won’t get Swift then...

There's a possibility, mocks are all over the place, but hardly any of them have more than 1 RB in the first, and that one varies greatly between Swift, Taylor, Dobbins and even Akers pops up in one now and again. At #49, that's a somewhat early #2, very likely that some combination of 2 of the above will be there..maybe even 3


And they could always trade up into the first....so theres that.

But talk about compounding mistake after mistake...geesh

 

[SteelersPride]

Oh... so there’s that...

They won’t get Swift then...

if swift is there in round 2, im anti rb, we better take him

 

[TREFF]

just a quick rundown of some of the more popular mock drafts as it pertains to the RB position in general..not just the Steelers

Bleacher report's single round mock has Miami taking Swift at 26, and the Chiefs taking Taylor at 32..but they also current fly have Tua falling to the Raiders at 12 as Miami takes Herbert and Chargers go OL..so, not sure I'd put much stock into that.

SI's single round has ZERO RB's going in the first

Sporting News 7 round has:
Swift to Miami at 26

Dobbins to TB at 45
CEH to ATL at 47
Taylor to Pitt at 49
Moss to KC at 63

Akers to LAC at 71

Eno to JAX at 116
MacFarlane to NYJ at 120
AJ Dillon to LVR at 121
Joshua Kelley to LAR at 126
K Vaughn to Seattle at 144
gets kinda silly and pointless after the 4th round..

CBS's single round has the Buccaneers trading back into the 1st to take Taylor at 31.


NBC's single round has Miami taking Taylor at 26, and the Chiefs taking Swift at 32

247Sports 2 rd draft has ZERO RB'S in the first
Taylor to Miami at 39
Swift to ATL at 55
CEH to Balt at 60
Akers to KC at 63


Draftwire's 3 rd draft has
Taylor to the Saints at 24 (??? See ya Lat Murray, or Kamara trade?)

Swift to Miami at 39
Dobbins to TENN at 61 (?? Wtf?? yea sure a compliment to Henry, but why Dobbins?)
Akers to KC at 63

CEH to TB at 76
Moss to Buffalo at 86

The SD tribune has a 4 rounder, but it begins with Cincy taking Chase Young, and Wash taking Juedy at #2 so take with a grain of salt..
Taylor at 18 to Miami

Swift to TB at 45

Dobbins to LAC at 71
Akers to Detroit at 85
CEH to Buff at 86
Eno to KC at 96

Moss to Det. At 109
Gibson to ATL at 119
Evans to LAR at 126
AJ Dillon to Philly at 127
perine to Balt at 134
MacFaaland to JAX at 140


If any of you lurkers are ESPN "insiders", would love to see what helmet head has to say about it..

 

[eaglesnut]

The Dolphins and Chargers are gonna be shit offenses no matter what rookie RB goes there.

The Bucs spot could be good, but Arians hates rookie RBs. Didn't even use David Johnson until week 10.

Whichever one ends up in KC has some potential. Maybe in Atlanta too.

The backfields in Detroit and Buffalo would be full on splits, and the offenses are average overall.

 

[SteelersPride]

@Payton and the many others I have argued with. Im fully against this, the radio guys are against this.........the rumors are heating up thought just now and I cant deny them........The steelers may draft a RB high.......

stolen from @FaCe-LeE-uS but it would appear the steelers are set on drafting someone high, or at least realllly considering it........The steelers dont bring in a ton of guys usually, and dont interview/meet with everyone like alot of teams do......they limit things a bit.....so this to me is very telling.......

 

[Payton]

@Payton and the many others I have argued with. Im fully against this, the radio guys are against this.........the rumors are heating up thought just now and I cant deny them........The steelers may draft a RB high.......

stolen from @FaCe-LeE-uS but it would appear the steelers are set on drafting someone high, or at least realllly considering it........The steelers dont bring in a ton of guys usually, and dont interview/meet with everyone like alot of teams do......they limit things a bit.....so this to me is very telling.......

Seems premature for them to go RB again. My guess is they are thinking their Window is only open as long as Roethlisberger lasts... I’d say last season bore that out... So solidify RB spot, whether to improve on Conner or just reliably back him up this year, I guess?

 

[TREFF]

@Payton and the many others I have argued with. Im fully against this, the radio guys are against this.........the rumors are heating up thought just now and I cant deny them........The steelers may draft a RB high.......

stolen from @FaCe-LeE-uS but it would appear the steelers are set on drafting someone high, or at least realllly considering it........The steelers dont bring in a ton of guys usually, and dont interview/meet with everyone like alot of teams do......they limit things a bit.....so this to me is very telling.......

About half that list isnt a threat to Conners. A couple others are, meh, kinda sorta, and those dudes are likely day 3 type dudes, wouldn't be too concerned, depth/competition to Samuels maybe. They'd have to go after Akers or Taylor, MAYBE Dobbins, for me to say Conners is in real trouble.

 

[SteelersPride]

About half that list isnt a threat to Conners. A couple others are, meh, kinda sorta. They'd have to go after Akers or Taylor for me to say Conners is in real trouble.

dobbins would have to be got round 2 most likely, in which case, hes a threat. IMHO any rb in round 2 is a threat to conners production, how much they are used THIS year, is sketchy at best.

 

[TREFF]

Dobbins is about the hardest one to get a good gauge on. Everyone seems to be in agreement that Taylor and Swift are gonna go late first early second..after that, Lord knows.

I've seen one crazy mock where Dobbins was taken in the first, seen multiple ones where he's in the fourth, more often than not its the third or late second. But yea, depending on what youre looking for, and what you think of him, he's anywhere from the RB1 in this class, all the way down to six. He's a tough nut to crack.

 

[SteelersPride]

Dobbins is about the hardest one to get a good gauge on. Everyone seems to be in agreement that Taylor and Swift are gonna go late first early second..after that, Lord knows.

I've seen one crazy mock where Dobbins was taken in the first, seen multiple ones where he's in the fourth, more often than not its the third or late second. But yea, depending on what youre looking for, and what you think of him, he's anywhere from the RB1 in this class, all the way down to six. He's a tough nut to crack.

yeah very true, i think a guy or two could leapfrog him now that u say it, thought about it after i posted it

 

[Chef99]

Taylor and Swift are gonna go late first early second..after that, Lord knows.

I love her! Trouble, Trouble, Trouble!