Walter-football makes a prediction!!!

This ought to stir it up.
http://pit.247sports.com/Bolt/Walter-Football-Steelers-draft-QB-Deshaun-Watson-in-1st-Round-52074126

Unless Ben says he's retiring, OLB and CB are more important this draft.

well draft day will tell the truth about Ben's meeting with the Rooney's.

If Tomlin and Colbert are convinced he's a possible future franchise QB they'll take him at #30.

If not, this prediction will be as worthless as most mock drafts.

FrancoLambert wrote:

If Tomlin and Colbert are convinced he's a possible future franchise QB they'll take him at #30.

If not, this prediction will be as worthless as most mock drafts.

I've also seen mocks where they have us picking a WR #1. That's just crazy with all of our needs.I'm pretty sure we were represented at Both Kaaya's and Petermon's pro days so I think there is something there. I keep going back to the fact that we could have drafted Marino . Instead Terry retired and you know the rest.

If Ben decides to play a couple more years the time is now to get a FFQB in house. I also think the entire crop of QBs this year is not that strong but Watson seems to have it all.

Who would have ever thought they pick Watson if he was there?

Brad Kaaya in round 3.

El-Gonzo Jackson wrote:

Who would have ever thought they pick Watson if he was there?

Exactly why I had to post this one Over the last several years Walter-football has been as close as anyone in their mock draft.

i have to agree with mel kiper here. all of watsons hype is because of 2 games. his over all body of work is some what less impressive. as mel points out , half way through the season he was pegged as a second rounder at best.

read article
http://www.tigernet.com/story/football/Mel-Kiper-Deshaun-Watson-win-Heisman-reason-15763

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

i have to agree with mel kiper here. all of watsons hype is because of 2 games. his over all body of work is some what less impressive.  as mel points out , half way through the season he was pegged as a second rounder at best.

read article
http://www.tigernet.com/story/football/Mel-Kiper-Deshaun-Watson-win-Heisman-reason-15763

We've seen the Steelers stretch before. However, I'm hoping the FO understands the importance of drafting defense this year before searching for Ben's replacement. I'm ok with waiting until 2018 to draft his replacement.

I understand the need of drafting a QB this year, but for a variety of reasons I would wait one more year. And I certainly wouldn't draft one in the first round.

To start with, we have a lot of more urgent needs right now:

A pass rusher to split snaps with Harrison.
ILB to replace Timmons. Or do you want to start with Shazier (injury prone) and Williams with Matakevich as back-up? When Shazier would go down, and we all know that could happen, we have Williams and Matakevich as our starters. Good quality back-ups, but starters? No, thanks.
CB to replace Gay and maybe another one to fight for a spot with Cockrell if he couldn't play man coverage.
A safety to replace Mitchell as a starter. While Mitchell did an excellent job the last weeks of regular season and the first games of the play-offs, he was together with Gay the player the Patriots* took full advantage off. If we'll face them again that will happen again.
A WR2, as Bryant will be a liability and there's simply no other WR2 on our roster.
A TE, because Green is a liability too and this draft is stacked with excellent TE's, even in the later rounds. It's time to grab one.
A back-up RB.

In this years draft I think you can find good to excellent CB, TE, WR and RB in rounds 3-5, so that's where I would draft these positions.

Rounds 1 and 2 they can use to draft a pass rusher and a S or ILB, probably a S as this year's draft is really meh at ILB. It's really a shame they couldn't snag Hightower. I think there are only 3 ILB's worth drafting: Reddick, Cunningham and Davis. But Davis would be a reach in round 1 and I think he'll be gone before it's our turn in round 2. I see 6 edge rushers worth drafting in round 1: Garrett, Thomas, Barnett, Charlton (they will all be gone before 30), McKinley and Lawson. There are a couple of nice players which I see as second rounders such as Watt, Bowser, Willis, Smoot.

My personal draft board at 30 would be:
Haason Reddick (He will be gone, I know)
Jabrill Peppers
Obi Melifonwu
Zach Cunningham
Carl Lawson
Takkarist McKinley

There a lot of good players in this draft, but not so at QB. Drafting a QB now (and certainly early) would not only mean you would miss the chance to take a really good player, but it also won't guarantee a franchise QB. Imo I think there's even a chance of 50-75% (depending on who you draft) that you end up with a bust if you take one of the 4 first round candidates. Another problem is that all of these need some or more time to develop before they can become a starter as the article explained that Master Of Puppets posted. So it could be that you discover that you ended up with a bust after only 3 or 4 years. Not only would you lose a pick, you would also lose a lot of time that way and imo a chance to draft a franchise QB in next year's draft which seems to be better at the position.

Btw there's a reason why it seems that all the teams who are desperately in need for a franchise QB (Browns, 49ers, Bears, Jaguars, Jets) are turning their heads away from the QB's with their first picks.

I don't follow college football too closely, so when it comes to evaluating individual players, I rely on the opinions of those of you who have a lot more knowledge and better perspective than I do.

With that said, I have complete confidence in Colbert and the FO to make the right pick in Round 1, whoever the player ends up being. Their later-round picks over the years can be questioned, but the success of their first-round picks has been amazing, especially considering where they routinely pick in the first round. There have been a few busts, but not many. So I trust them to make the right choice.

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

i have to agree with mel kiper here. all of watsons hype is because of 2 games. his over all body of work is some what less impressive.  as mel points out , half way through the season he was pegged as a second rounder at best.

read article
http://www.tigernet.com/story/football/Mel-Kiper-Deshaun-Watson-win-Heisman-reason-15763

Mel is just a hater and probably only watched 2 Clemson games in 3 seasons. Why else would Mel not know about the 430 yards of offense Watson accounted for against Florida St. this season?

Yes, Watson throws some INT's and I think its a lot of inconsistent footwork that needs to be cleaned up, but the kid has performed for 3 seasons and performed outstanding on the biggest stage against 2 Alabama teams loaded with NFL 1st round talent. What has Mitchell Trubisky done in the limelight? Threw a critical pick 6 to lose a mediocre bowl game against Stanford.

If Watson is there, I still think you take him, but I honestly think he will be gone by the time the Steelers pick.

Lets not forget Mel Kiper also said " the steelers will regret not picking Chad Pennington"

Passing
Year School Conf Class Pos G Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A AY/A TD Int Rate
*2014 Clemson ACC FR QB 8 93 137 67.9 1466 10.7 12.1 14 2 188.6
*2015 Clemson ACC SO QB 15 333 491 67.8 4109 8.4 8.6 35 13 156.3
2016 Clemson ACC JR QB 15 388 579 67.0 4593 7.9 8.0 41 17 151.1
Career Clemson
814 1207 67.4 10168 8.4 8.7 90 32 157.5

Deshaun Watson career stats. FYI.

solardave wrote:

Passing
Year School Conf Class Pos G Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A AY/A TD Int Rate
*2014 Clemson ACC FR QB 8 93 137 67.9 1466 10.7 12.1 14 2 188.6
*2015 Clemson ACC SO QB 15 333 491 67.8 4109 8.4 8.6 35 13 156.3
2016 Clemson ACC JR QB 15 388 579 67.0 4593 7.9 8.0 41 17 151.1
Career Clemson
814 1207 67.4 10168 8.4 8.7 90 32 157.5

Deshaun Watson career stats. FYI.

Yeah, but that was all done in 2 games.

Big Ben is playing for 2017 at least.

Don't dismiss Mahomes.

FrancoLambert wrote:

Don't dismiss Mahomes.  

It would surprise me if the Texans pass up on him at 25.

FrancoLambert wrote:

Don't dismiss Mahomes.  

I don't think he'll be there but if he is I'm sure they'll be looking at him too.

FrancoLambert wrote:

Don't dismiss Mahomes.  

Or maybe Peterman in the 3rd?

El-Gonzo Jackson wrote:

FrancoLambert wrote:

Don't dismiss Mahomes.  

Or maybe Peterman in the 3rd?

I've read in a couple places that there is some interest in him. Since we have 2 3rd round picks that could be a good pick.

Imo, all this QB talk is a smoke screen. Tomlin made a qoute weeks ago about how they're "sharpening their sword" when it comes to scouting QB's, something they haven't need to do in a long time, in Tomlin's time here, never.

They could be looking at these QB's closely and seeing how they develop in 2-3 years, to see what they got right or wrong. Something will be useful when it's really time for them to draft a QB.

I for one do not believe Ben's retirement talk, if Bryant returns, and this offense starts lighting up the scoreboard while winning, he'll be happy. He'll play for a few more years(2-3). He was just emotional after getting his butt kicked during the conference championship game, it's a long season, I'm sure it's mentally draining.


(OT: Has anyone heard from harrison'samonster, or Buddha Bus lately? Use to post a lot at SF)

El-Gonzo Jackson wrote:

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

i have to agree with mel kiper here. all of watsons hype is because of 2 games. his over all body of work is some what less impressive.  as mel points out , half way through the season he was pegged as a second rounder at best.

read article
http://www.tigernet.com/story/football/Mel-Kiper-Deshaun-Watson-win-Heisman-reason-15763

Mel is just a hater and probably only watched 2 Clemson games in 3 seasons.  Why else would Mel not know about the 430 yards of offense Watson accounted for against Florida St. this season?

Yes, Watson throws some INT's and I think its a lot of inconsistent footwork that needs to be cleaned up, but the kid has performed for 3 seasons and performed outstanding on the biggest stage against 2 Alabama teams loaded with NFL 1st round talent.  What has Mitchell Trubisky done in the limelight?  Threw a critical pick 6 to lose a mediocre bowl game against Stanford.

If Watson is there, I still think you take him, but I honestly think he will be gone by the time the Steelers pick.  

Lets not forget Mel Kiper also said " the steelers will regret not picking Chad Pennington"

one of kiper's supporting arguments about watson is his receivers made him look better than he actually is by making unbelievable catches from poorly thrown balls. the game winning drive against alabama is a perfect example of that.

hoping the Steelers don't draft him with the 30th pick.

CB, S, or OLB my guess.