• Please be aware we've switched the forums to their own URL. (again) You'll find the new website address to be www.steelernationforum.com Thanks
  • Please clear your private messages. Your inbox is close to being full.

What is realistic expectation this year?

S

SteelerSask2

Regular Member
Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2014
Messages
16,326
Reaction score
16,431
Points
113
Location
Western Canada
Don't get me wrong. I'm excited they took athletes. All three are big strong and fast. I just feel that the tag raw is on all three and this team is ready to compete for a title now. I'm assuming Burns will play in the multi corner packages. More by the fact that they just don't have much in front of him. What is reasonable to expect of these guys as I know some of you know these guys far better than me. Can't see Davis starting though not much in front of him either. Hargrave maybe sub packages. Sounds like he has a good get off but really unpolished pass rush moves and counters.
 
Jesus dude you need to take a chill pill. They shouldve went to the Super Bowl with Antwon Blake.
 
They have starting holes at CB, Safety and NT is it reasonable to expect any of these guys would be ready to play meaningfully this year. They did nothing on defense in FA to address any of these needs.
 
Hargrave is going to be more than a sub package guy. He'll take the starting NT position from McCullers unless Big Mac shows vast improvement. If we go into the season with Golden as the starting SS, I'd assume it won't be long (maybe by game 7) til Davis takes over (and I fully admit I know nothing about the kid other than the highlight videos/articles I've been reading tonight). The one with the hardest path to start is Burns ... and truthfully he only has Cockrell to beat out there.
 
Several media honchos have us in the Super Bowl.

I'll go with that.

Offense stays healthy, defense becomes competent, it can happen.
 
Our secondary was 30 out of 32 last year. I think it's realistic to say that even with to rookies starting in the secondary we can do much better than that. We should have went to the superbowl with that garbage secondary, again I think it's realistic to think that Lake will finally be able to develop the secondary the way he wants it and we will be fast as hell. You can't teach speed. I'll go with stairway to 7.
 
I just don't know what rookies you could have drafted at 25, 58 and 89 are going to be that magic that gets them over the top. Remember, we ain't just talking playoffs or something, it is a Super Bowl championship. They are rookies, for crying out loud. Even that great draft class of '74, except for Lambert, were sharing playing time with veterans. The vets already there are really who won the first one.

If these guys can contribute that is what matters. We'll see.

I'm waiting though on a thread from someone who was ripping the Steelers for going Burns over Billings saying they were wrong. Pretty sure that is not going to happen. I feel bad for the kid, but it illustrates the fact that while a number of you on here are much more knowledgeable than the average guy about the players, you just don't have the access that the FO, coaches and scouts have.
 
All 3 picks will contribute this year and come playoff time as the defensive unit becomes more comfortable with each other then they will really start to gel.
 
I think the rawness of these picks is an obvious and legitimate concern for a team in contention for the Super Bowl. It's reasonable to suspect their rookie contribution may be limited. The 2016 Steeler Rookie of the Year might be drafted today.
 
SteelBuckeye said:
Hargrave is going to be more than a sub package guy. He'll take the starting NT position from McCullers unless Big Mac shows vast improvement.
Click to expand...

McClendon is a NY Jet....if I'm not mistaken. So it's just McCullers as of now.
 
I think they plan to lean heavily on the development of the young CBs already on the roster in 2016, such as Golson and Cockrell.

The play of those two, as well as Dupree, will probably be the key to this upcoming season, as the pass defense is the big question mark with the Steelers right now.

I'm not expecting much from Burns or Davis as rookies.
 
Expectations are no different this year than any. SB or nothing.

With that said, credit needs to be given to the Steelers draft room. For once, that I can remember, we didn't just pick BPA. We took BPA at positions of need with our first 3 picks. We addressed the secondary with 2 big speedsters and we addressed the D-line with a 3-down DT. Overall, I give them an A- but only time will tell. All three of the players can and hopefully will see the field this year.
 
I'll give my 2 cents worth because that's probably the most it's really worth. It seems every year we moan that the draft didn't address our needs. Well, within our budgetary constraints it seems to have done that in the first 3 rounds.

Truthfully, we needed D back help that was over 5'10" and I'm probably being liberal at 5'10". Both D backs are legit 6'. Sure they are raw but at our draft position were we going to get anyone better?

The D lineman is classic Stiller. Put him in with Heyward and Tuitt and hopefully much more pressure.
 
TDX27 said:
Expectations are no different this year than any. SB or nothing. With that said, credit needs to be given to the Steelers draft room. For once, that I can remember, we didn't just pick BPA. We took BPA at positions of need with our first 3 picks. We addressed the secondary with 2 big speedsters and we addressed the D-line with a 3-down DT. Overall, I give them an A- but only time will tell. All three of the players can and hopefully will see the field this year.
Click to expand...
I agree with this.

There was a palpable deficit of size-speed-talent in our secondary. The Steelers went bold and they went big in addressing that going Burns-Davis back to back to start the draft. Burns will be worked into the rotation, he has all the skills in the world to be a big-time starting corner for years to come. Is that not what you want from a first round pick? He probably will reach his potential a few years down the line, as you'd expect from a soon to be 21 year old who was a two-sport star in college. And there's no reason to think Burns won't help in the short term either. He will get on the field in nickel & dime packages, shoring up a secondary that's been downright terrible. With Burns and Senquez Golson, you're now adding two top prospects to the mix, which can do nothing but help.

I predict Sean Davis will ease into the starting SS spot as the games go on. He'll probably be slotted in behind Golden at Latrobe, but I doubt that will last too long. He is everything you'd want from a blue chip safety, size, speed, smarts while adding position flexibility. It wouldn't shock me if he beats out Golden for the starting spot outright. I believe he will be given that opportunity by Lake & Butler.

And as far as Hargrave, all you need to do is watch John Mitchell rave about him. That never happens, Mitchell loathes rookies, always has. You can tell this was his guy, this is the kid he had identified and targeted. I see Hargrave as the starter at NT to start the season, while staying on the field on third downs. That is an incredible pick in the third round, if there ever was one.

So yeah, all things considered you could say I'm pretty stoked about our picks thus far. No reason we can't keep adding pieces today. Looking forward to it.
 
Last edited:
CharlesDavenport said:
Super Bowl.

Tomlin sucks.
Click to expand...
I'm getting tired of the "Tomlin sucks" B.S.

If we had forums like this during the Chas Noll era I suspect you would be regurgitating the same thing.

SAD, especially considering the injuries this team played through last year and never quit. I attribute that to a good coach and staff who held a team together with a solid excellent QB.

I always want to win the Super Bowl, and frankly a lot of Stiller fans now feel it is our birthright.

Being 65, I understand there are 31 other teams in the NFL vying for the same thing.

Perhaps a 1-13 season ( now 1-15) would bring some people back to reality.
 
I totally agree with this Steelers Depot article, that the clock is ticking for Lake. No more excuses of having mid-to-lower round, questionable talent to work with. Colbert went to bat and has restocked the secondary. It's time to see - hopefully significant - improvement in the near future.

http://www.Invalid Link - Check SN Home Page/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Carnell_Lake_Steelers_2015_Draft.jpg


Restocked With Talent, No Excuses Left For Lake’s Developing Secondary
http://www.Invalid Link - Check SN ...t-no-excuses-left-lakes-developing-secondary/

The Pittsburgh Steelers are congratulating themselves over having addressed their pressing secondary needs in a major way after they added both a cornerback and a safety within the first two rounds of the 2016 NFL Draft, which is something that team president Art Rooney II described as one of their priorities this offseason.

In doing so, they are also counting on sixth-year defensive backs coach—and former Steelers safety and cornerback—Carnell Lake to coach them up and quickly turn them into defensive contributors that should not long after have the capability of starting on a championship-worthy defensive unit.

This is something that many fans of the team have been rather vocal about, and there have been more than a few who have even called for the firing of Lake, believing that he has proven that he does not have a sufficient ability to develop talent in the secondary.

The counterargument to this has always been that the Steelers have not really done much to address the secondary in a major way, with the majority of defensive back additions during Lake’s first four years in Pittsburgh coming primarily through mid- to late-round draft picks.

In addition to the fact that the team had not given him many players with much pedigree to develop, it had also been pointed out—certainly by myself as well as many others—that the players that the Steelers drafted and failed to succeed in Pittsburgh also failed to succeed everywhere else. The thinking is, were it simply a matter of developing talent, then at least one of those players would have been developed and found success elsewhere.

That has yet to be the case, with the biggest disappointment thus far being the third-round selection of Curtis Brown during Lake’s first season with the team in 2011. It seemed for a while that the fourth-round addition of Cortez Allen would have balanced that out, but he failed to develop in to the starter that the team believed he would after some initial success.

We have not much heard the names of players such as Terry Hawthorne, Crezdon Butler, or Shaquille Richardson either, all fifth-round draft picks, where the team did once find William Gay nearly a decade ago as he enters his 10th season.

The excuses have been made for Lake, but now he seemingly has a secondary stocked with talent, infusing three new defensive backs into the mix in 2016 that were drafted in the top two rounds with the additions of cornerback Artie Burns and safety Sean Davis this season, and cornerback Senquez Golson last season, who spent the entirety of his rookie season on injured reserve. Throw in the fourth-round addition of Doran Grant for good measure.

Add in free agent signings in former second-round safety Mike Mitchell and former fourth-round cornerback Ross Cockrell, and Lake has as much pedigree in the secondary to work with as they have had in a good while, perhaps since he was in the secondary. If he fails to develop these players into a talented group, then there will be no more excuses.
 
youre only as good as the guys around you... too a point. hargrave has great guys beside him and behind him... his size speed meaness will give him a chance to shine right away. same with davis i think the plan is to throw him to the wolves right away. burns will take time but the dude has shown he can overcome. this is steel curtain 3.0 built on speed and versatility. im starting to come around on the 3.0 version!!!
 
Expectations for this season,.............same as every season 19-0 super bowl champions !!!! ONLY thing that changes is the SB count....



Salute the nation
 
so far they have selected 3 day one starters and some OL depth

19-0 Super Bowl Champions
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top