What really gets to me with the Archer bashers, who more often than not happen to be Tomlin/Colbert bashers, is that they view this pick - and Dri Archer in particular - in a complete vacuum. As if the other rookies that were picked - all of them taller, stronger and heavier than Archer - came in and made immediate contributions to their teams.
Nope, it must have been only puny Dri Archer that didn't come right in and set the league on fire. How stupid of Colbert and Tomlin to draft such an abject failure.
As an exercise in gaining a bit of perspective, let's take a quick look around to see the forest from the trees. Let's see what's going on with some of the other teams that had the wisdom and foresight not to pick Archer, but chose to go in another direction.
The Cardinals were obviously smart enough not to fall for Archer's college highlight tape. They did draft TE Troy Niklas in the second round. Niklas missed nine games to injury, and was nothing more than the third tight end when healthy. Caught three passes all year. Not bad for a second round pick, I guess. At least he's not 5-8 and 173 pounds.
The Bills picked up OG Koujandijo, also in the second round, who played a total of three snaps on special teams and failed to crack an offensive line full of holes. CB Ross Cockrell, who many thought should have been picked before tiny Dri, played in seven games on special teams, had a single tackle all year, and no other discernable stats. Probably wished they did better in the draft, but Bills fans must be relieved at least they don't have Dri Archer on their roster.
The super-sharp Bengals smartly picked up CB Dennard in the first round and DE Will Clarke in the third. And they somehow managed to not pick Dri Archer, good for them. Dennard played 62 defensive snaps all season, same number Clarke had for a struggling pass rush. Dennard had 17 total tackles, a sack and one pass defensed. Clarke played in 7 games, had three tackles for the season. But at least neither of those players are called Dri Archer.
The Browns got the highly sought-after Justin Gilbert, whose performance left a lot to be desired, and of course Johnny Football, both in the first round. But at least they're not the Steelers, throwing away their third round pick on Dri Archer.
Moving on, another team that has their **** together unlike the Steelers, the Cowboys traded up 13 spots for DE Lawrence in the second round, who missed nine games with a broken foot, finished with no starts, no sacks and only nine tackles. Job well done on not picking Dri Archer at the end of the third round.
The Broncos drafted OL Michael Shoefield in the third round, a player much bigger and taller than Dri Archer, who proceeded to not dress for a single game all year.
The Lions went with TE Eric Ebron in the first round, who scored a single TD and never totalled more than 38 yards in a game all year. In the second round they drafted Kyle Van Noy, who had hernia surgery, missed a bunch of games, finished with no sacks and had six tackles. But to the relief of Lions fans, they don't have to deal with having Dri Archer on their roster.
Another team with an FO much smarter than the Steelers, the Packers picked DT Khyti Thortnon in the third round, who underwhelmed in the pre-season, barely made the final roster, before missing the season with a torn hamstring.
The Texans picked OG Su'ao-Fila in the second round and TE Fiedorowicz in the third. Surely better picks than Dri Archer. Su'ao-Fila was mostly on the bench all year, while Fiedorowicz showed zero ball skills, not so rosy for a third round pick.
The Vikings smartly ignored Dri Archer in the third round, and went with DE Scott Crichton instead. Crichton had a total of two tackles the entire year. Now that's a front office we could all be proud of.
The mighty, unfallable Patriots drafted DT Dominique Easley in the first round, who played under a quarter of the snaps and finished the season on IR, which was a pre-draft concern with history of torn knee ligaments. But at least they didn't blow their draft by picking Dri Archer at the end of the third round.
Then you have the Saints, who did what the Steelers should have done and wisely grabbed CB Jean-Baptise in the second round. Jean-Baptiste was active for four games, and played just eight defensive snaps, even as injuries decimated the Saints' secondary. Again, no Dri Archer, no problem.
The Giants - unlike the dumbass Steelers - went the smart route and decided not to pick Dri Archer in the third round. Instead, they drafted DT Jay Bromley, who racked up a grand total of two tackles the entire season. Kudos to the Giants.
Let's sum up the Eagles draft this way: they picked eight defensive players that had zero starts, 293 defensive snaps and 10 tackles total. Their first round pick DE Marcus Smith played 68 defensive snaps all year. He failed to make a single tackle or defense a single pass. But hey, at least he's not stupid little Dri Archer getting picked at the end of the third round.
The Rams went DB early, like the Steelers should have done, and picked CB Lamarcus Joyner in the second round. Joyner spent time at the end of the year as a healthy scratch for the 6-10 Rams. At least he's ten pounds heavier than Dri Archer.
And this is just last year. We could do the same exercise with the draft from two or five, ten, fifteen years ago with the same results.
But no, for some Steelers fans the entire world has come crashing down because we dared draft little 'ol Dri Archer. :jag:
