Monday, January 14, 2008

Malcolm

Malcolm Jenkins is staying at Ohio State for his senior year.  He was projected to go in the top 10-15 players selected in the 2008 draft.  This will change the draft boards, and it will be interesting to see where the team that need a shut down corner go...

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Looking Forward

Obviously, the Steelers have to improve in several areas to just remain competitive, much less win the AFC North again in 2008. There are two real "big picture" type things that needs to be addressed:

1. Offensive identity - who are the Steelers on offense? A power running team? A finesse offense? Or some where in between? Without a FB like Krieder, it really becomes hard to over-power opposing defenses in the hole.
2. As a corollary to #1, how will the OL look?

Offensive Identity
If the Steelers can get a good slot reciever/KR guy, they can really open up this offense. A 3WR formation with Miller and FWP really makes defenses pick their poison. Do you go nickle to stop the pass, or do you stay in the base-D to play FWP and hope you can stop the pass?

A good slot reciever will take a lot of coverage from Ward and Holmes. Maybe they draft a big WR to play the X or Z and put Ward in the Y on 3 WR sets? Maybe Nate Washington develops enough to be reliable and dangerous, instead of just dangerous. Whatever happens, I think Steeler fans will say good bye to the "power offense" in which Bettis excelled.

Of course, Tomlin added a couple REALLY big OL-men to the roster at the end of the season, so maybe he's going big, and I'm totally off base.

OL
The o-line has more than a few departures in FA this year. The big and obvious one is Faneca, but Starks could hurt too. I think the Steelers would do good if they re-signed Starks. I love Faneca, but he will begine to decline in a few years. The line could look like this: Smith - TBD - Simmons - Colon -Starks. The LG position could be decided in camp between Chris Kemoeatu, a FA or a draft selection. Mahan has to be pulled from the center position, as he gets dominated and the play, run or pass, gets blown up. The 1st and 2nd draft picks should be OL selections. There are no centers in the draft generally projectd earlier than the 3 round, so the picks will be OT/OG. BTW, some folks are fond of suggesting Starks at OG. He's WAAAY to tall to play guard. He'll fill all of the throwing lanes...

The draft will really tell which direction this team is going. I think Tomlin has a long term plan, and we'll begin to see it after the draft.

Random Thoughts...
Timmons. Interesting dude...and not because he knocked Ricky out of the Miami mud wretling match. He is built like a prototypical Cover-2 MLB (see Derrick Brooks). He's not big for a MLB (see Levon Kirkland), and has a lot of speed. With Woodley taking over Haggan's spot, where does Timmons go in a base 3-4? If he takes either Foote's of Farrior's spot, then I think we'll see Timmons lining up man over the opposing TE in passing plays, as he has the speed to cover them. This will free up Polamalu to range in the robber role. Or, he can be used as the MLB is used in a Tampa-2 - playing deep middle - and doing it out of a base 3-4. Hopefully, Timmons does not get lost in the trash during the running game and can help stop the run. You can count on him seeing a lot of time in 2008 in the nickle and dime packages, too. He seems to have a good nose for the ball. Hope he stays healthy!

More Random Thoughts on LBs
I think a Woodley - Farrior - Timmons - Harrison LB corp is quite formidable and full of play makers! Also helps the secondary when the QB is running for his life...

Thoughts on DL
Hampton did not seem dominant inside this year. Perhaps he (gasp!) needs to trim down a bit. Smith is a stud, but will not last too many more years. Other than those two, we need help in quality and depth on DL. Hopefully, this is addressed in FA.

Next post - 2008 draft specifics - especially as juniors declare or stay in school.