Kiper grades Steelers draft as tied for worst

[stairway 2 seven]

https://steelersdepot.com/2021/05/steel ... -kiper-jr/

[Jizz Mop]

Colbert crushed it!

[Jobu]

And in related news...Kiper grades the Ravens next ten drafts a 5 A+.

[K_C_]

Obviously nobody knows how this draft will work out but it sure doesn’t look to me like they did enough work to fix the o-line.

Not by a long shot.

[Jizz Mop]

Obviously nobody knows how this draft will work out but it sure doesn’t look to me like they did enough work to fix the o-line.

Not by a long shot.

I hate the TE selection in 2nd

Horrible

That was Oline and Oline only. C or OT.

I hate this draft.

[jeemie]

https://steelersdepot.com/2021/05/steel ... -kiper-jr/

I hate the criticism “they drafted him too high”.

If a player becomes a good player, who the fuck cares at what position you drafted him?

A player is either going to be a success or not. Draft position is irrelevant.

[K_C_]

Obviously nobody knows how this draft will work out but it sure doesn’t look to me like they did enough work to fix the o-line.

Not by a long shot.

I hate the TE selection in 2nd

Horrible

That was Oline and Oline only. C or OT.

I hate this draft.

Again, we truly don't know. I get the sentiment and was shocked also when they didn't take an o-lineman.

But that TE is highly skilled and very well might surprise as early as next season. We have a massive gaping hole at TE.

But yeah, by the looks of things I'm scared shitless if I'm Najee Harris.

[ToddHaleysNineIron]

I will say this, the team is coming into this season with a new offensive coordinator, and a mandate to run the football better.

It's quite possible as this draft fell - the players they felt would fit the scheme, fit what they want to do, would be available in later rounds.

So like a puzzle, they took players that fit when they had to take them.
A running back in R1... Kiper hates it.
A TE in R2.. Everyone hates it, but maybe this is when they needed to take him considering they need the flexible do a bit of everything TE rather than the "This one blocks, this one catches" setup.
They get the G/C in R3... perhaps he fits what they want to do and they had the luxury of waiting for him here.
They get a T in R4... again, he might check all their boxes, and they might like what they have more than people think for what they want to do.

Drafting what a team is doing, especially today when they do quite a bit of homework on a guy to see if he's a fit, is silly.

You take your best guess, and you take what you think will fit, and where you think they will go.

The names are uninspiring for what they could have selected, but those may not have been fits for what they want to do or "needs"
in terms of how we see the "needs" vs they do or Kiper does.

TLDR... Kiper has no idea what any team is actually trying to do - he lines up players on a big board, and then just looks to see when you drafted your set. You could run a draft simulator and pick the best guy available, and he'd give you an A+ regardless of whether any of those players fit what you need.... "Oh I see you took a DE best suited as an outside 4-3 DE for your 3-4 defense who has 3 pro bowl starters on the d-line and has 7 players signed with NFL experience, that's great value because he should have gone 20 picks earlier, A+ for your team!"

[955876]

sure doesn’t look to me like they did enough work to fix the o-line.

Not by a long shot.

More than one way to skin a cat babaaay.

Last year Jibbs, Sphincter, & Ben figured best way to work around the bad oline was to have Ben play hot potato all season with the goal being get the ball out of Ben’s hands as fast as humanely possible.

Now they have Harris to hand it to all the other times.

Plus they’ve already anointed Jag Banner as a starting T so in their minds project complete.

It is almost to the point that it feels like Jibbs builds teams now by leaving an obvious hole all the while giving the impression that hole has been addressed.

Built in excuse sort of thing.

I don’t know if this draft is any good or not.

But that TE had better be a baller and that oline had better not be a cluster fuck.

Otherwise Tombert has some serious splaining to do.

[franco32]

All I know is that TE was a massive need. I lost count during games how often Ebron was blown up forcing our RBs to run arcs to try to get around the destruction on any off tackle run play.

If Freiermuth improves the run blocking, then that is a big positive. He's not Mark Bruener as a blocker but he sure is better than Ebron in that respect.

[jebrick]

https://steelersdepot.com/2021/05/steel ... -kiper-jr/

I hate the criticism “they drafted him too high”.

If a player becomes a good player, who the fuck cares at what position you drafted him?

A player is either going to be a success or not. Draft position is irrelevant.

Totally agree. They do not set the value of the picks. It is set in the draft by the experts. Can the players out play their draft position? We will see but grading a draft before anyone has played a game yet is stupid but hey, click here

[Professor Half Wit]

Obviously nobody knows how this draft will work out but it sure doesn’t look to me like they did enough work to fix the o-line.

Not by a long shot.

I hate the TE selection in 2nd

Horrible

That was Oline and Oline only. C or OT.

I hate this draft.

Again, we truly don't know. I get the sentiment and was shocked also when they didn't take an o-lineman.

But that TE is highly skilled and very well might surprise as early as next season. We have a massive gaping hole at TE.

But yeah, by the looks of things I'm scared shitless if I'm Najee Harris.

Hell, if I'm Rudolph I'm nervous, too. Gotta be wondering how long before he gets pancaked after Roethlisberger ends his career on some season ending injury from getting pancaked.

[VeritasSteel]

It is easy to pick horses if you aren't betting your baby's milk money. Mel is great at what he does- evaluating players in a year by year vacuum. What Mel hasn't proven he can do is run personnel for a team or know how the salary cap works well enough to keep a team competitive. And neither have we.

The reality is you, me, and others don't know enough about picking players consistently well enough to do it for a living. Colbert is the 2nd rated GM and and the longest tenured GM (that doesn't own the team). He's been doing it longer than anyone- and deserves at least the benefit of the doubt. We can all throw Jarvis Jones in his face but then he can lay out how he got the best RB and WR in the league at the same time or how he saw that TJ was going to be a monster. Or that other GMs are always waiting to poach his late round WR talent in Free Agency.

I believe the Steelers got value in the 2nd Round pick. He and the first LB drafted kicked each others asses to a stand still in all aspects of the game in practice. The word is their battles were the stuff of folklore. I like our kid to come out and act like he belongs from day one. With some coaching this kid looks like he's going to put in the work to get there.

As far as the OL. The veteran players love the picks and understand what Colbert is trying to do. OL is getting nasty, hard nosed players that aint taking no shit-without breaking the bank.

IMO we are not talking about that EDGE kid we got from Miami enough. (insert your deity here) take the wheel!!!! From what I saw he was wrecking games, sacking and skrippin' everything that moved!!!

Point is there is plenty to like about this draft if you aren't sulking about your mock or buy into the bullshit that people write to get you to read something.

[Jobu]

It is easy to pick horses if you aren't betting your baby's milk money. Mel is great at what he does- evaluating players in a year by year vacuum. What Mel hasn't proven he can do is run personnel for a team or know how the salary cap works well enough to keep a team competitive. And neither have we.

The reality is you, me, and others don't know enough about picking players consistently well enough to do it for a living. Colbert is the 2nd rated GM and and the longest tenured GM (that doesn't own the team). He's been doing it longer than anyone- and deserves at least the benefit of the doubt. We can all throw Jarvis Jones in his face but then he can lay out how he got the best RB and WR in the league at the same time or how he saw that TJ was going to be a monster. Or that other GMs are always waiting to poach his late round WR talent in Free Agency.

I believe the Steelers got value in the 2nd Round pick. He and the first LB drafted kicked each others asses to a stand still in all aspects of the game in practice. The word is their battles were the stuff of folklore. I like our kid to come out and act like he belongs from day one. With some coaching this kid looks like he's going to put in the work to get there.

As far as the OL. The veteran players love the picks and understand what Colbert is trying to do. OL is getting nasty, hard nosed players that aint taking no shit-without breaking the bank.

IMO we are not talking about that EDGE kid we got from Miami enough. (insert your deity here) take the wheel!!!! From what I saw he was wrecking games, sacking and skrippin' everything that moved!!!

Point is there is plenty to like about this draft if you aren't sulking about your mock or buy into the bullshit that people write to get you to read something.

Mike drop...

[cop1211]

I agree with Kiper.

[Steelperch]

Obviously nobody knows how this draft will work out but it sure doesn’t look to me like they did enough work to fix the o-line.

Not by a long shot.

I hate the TE selection in 2nd

Horrible

That was Oline and Oline only. C or OT.

I hate this draft.

Which OL would you have taken in round 2 and 3?

[SteelerDayTrader]

After some time to calm down I think its a good draft.

RB C TE.....the Steelers were the worst in the NFL at 3 positions.....they got notably better in all 3.....that will make a big difference

Im not sure what to think about Moore and LT....ive read many conflicting reports.....he does have experience and some good tape.

After that.....idk.....but i will give the Steelers the benefit of the doubt for now

[stillthere]

Mel Kiper's WORST NFL Draft Takes of ALL TIME
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUPCpqbJO9Q

18 mins

[jmacinwbp]

So what, he didn't like last year's Steelers draft either :

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.behind ... ns-bengals


anyone still dissing our 2020 draft? anyone?? anyone??? Bueller????

[jebrick]

So what, he didn't like last year's Steelers draft either :

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.behind ... ns-bengals


anyone still dissing our 2020 draft? anyone?? anyone??? Bueller????

Steelers must have had a great draft then

[Jizz Mop]

Obviously nobody knows how this draft will work out but it sure doesn’t look to me like they did enough work to fix the o-line.

Not by a long shot.

I hate the TE selection in 2nd

Horrible

That was Oline and Oline only. C or OT.

I hate this draft.

Which OL would you have taken in round 2 and 3?

What I had in mock contest

Meinerz and then Hudson

Listen, I hope Fry-er-muuuuuuth ends up being awesome

I was more about a quick and impactful overhaul of the Oline, sadly that did not happen. I think expecting Banner to be a legit tackle is no sure thing. Not big on Chuks either.

Moore isn’t the answer, Green looks and sounds like a baller so we shall see.

[stinger8]

All I know is that TE was a massive need. I lost count during games how often Ebron was blown up forcing our RBs to run arcs to try to get around the destruction on any off tackle run play.

If Freiermuth improves the run blocking, then that is a big positive. He's not Mark Bruener as a blocker but he sure is better than Ebron in that respect.

Thats a pretty low bar you proposed. Finding literally any TE roaming the streets would be a better blocker, hell I bet the punter they drafted is a better blocker than Ebron. Could have drafted a TE in 6th round and said we wanted to improve our TE blocking personnel.

[VeritasSteel]

After watching that I came away with a few thoughts

1. Damn I wish I could imbed YouTube videos look like that on my posts

2. Suddenly Kiper's Baltimore love and giving the Steelers consistently poor marks makes sense

3. Mel's true talent is his almost instant recall on information- not his ability to do anything football FO related with it.

4. Essentially he is us. He is the pinnacle of what a person can do who loves football and doesn't have the physical talent or the analytical brain to ever been invited to do it professionally .

The problem with evaluating talent purely on stats, film, and measurable data is you never get a sense of what you are dealing with until you sit down and talk with the young man. Like it or not the Steelers have a "type". When they get away from that to draft the BPA to fill a need- it shows. That guy gives us some much trouble discipline wise, contract wise, and performance wise (Mendenhall, Holmes, Jones, and Burns) were all drafted as BPAs to fill needs and all of them had issues fitting into our culture. That's the shit that people like you, me and Mel never realize has the potential to happen when the pick is being decided on.

[ToddHaleysNineIron]

All I know is that TE was a massive need. I lost count during games how often Ebron was blown up forcing our RBs to run arcs to try to get around the destruction on any off tackle run play.

If Freiermuth improves the run blocking, then that is a big positive. He's not Mark Bruener as a blocker but he sure is better than Ebron in that respect.

Thats a pretty low bar you proposed. Finding literally any TE roaming the streets would be a better blocker, hell I bet the punter they drafted is a better blocker than Ebron. Could have drafted a TE in 6th round and said we wanted to improve our TE blocking personnel.

I'm certain that was an option - but when that guy comes on to the field, he's going to do one thing and one thing only, and it's not catching a pass. He's easy to defend, the guy who can kind of do both - that keeps you guessing a bit.

Steelers need a bit more guessing from other teams. They are entirely too predictable right now. I think the top two picks will help greatly with that.

[stillthere]

After watching that I came away with a few thoughts

1. Damn I wish I could imbed YouTube videos look like that on my posts

2. Suddenly Kiper's Baltimore love makes sense

3. Mel's true talent is his almost instant recall on information- not his ability to do anything football FO related with it.

4. Essentially he is us. He is the pinnacle of what a person can do who loves football and doesn't have the physical talent or the analytical brain to ever been invited to do it professionally .

The problem with evaluating talent purely on stats, film, and measurable data is you never get a sense of what you are dealing with until you sit down and talk with the young man. Like it or not the Steelers have a "type". When they get away from that to draft the BPA to fill a need- it shows. That guy gives us some much trouble discipline wise, contract wise, and performance wise (Mendenhall, Holmes, Jones, and Burns) were all drafted as BPAs to fill needs and all of them had issues fitting into our culture. That's the shit that people like you, me and Mel never realize has the potential to happen when the pick is being decided on.

To embed you hit the "youtube" button the eliminate everything from (https: to the =) leaving a string of alphanumberics
like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcuYDo1U6n8

would be whittled down to just

jcuYDo1U6n8

inside the [youtube][/youtube]

then just add a URL with the original https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcuYDo1U6n8

and it should look like
____________________________________


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcuYDo1U6n8

[yygy]

As long as the Steelers

A. Keep the QB succession intact
B. Go hired gun for the D backfield

I’ll go along with them. Team has way more expertise than media and fans collectively or individually.

I trust their evaluations. Only two major mistakes I see from them are unjustified belief in quarterback and CB talent

[R_S]

Grading a draft the day after is a fools errand. I have to believe Kiper and the other draftniks know that, but its there job because readers eat the shit and ask for seconds.

[stillthere]

found this nugget reading elsewhere. Interesting.

The 2003 draft that landed Ike Taylor and Troy polamalu was given a C-. Steelers were also given low draft grades for selecting an overweight DT with limited movement ( Casey Hampton) A TE who didn’t do any PRE draft workouts and a position the Steelers never utilize ( Heath Miller) however..got an A plus in the 2008 draft because Mendenhall, Sweed, Bruce Davis were all steals lol.

[jebrick]

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/so ... ood-draft/

The NFL draft is a hard thing to figure out even if you are among the best talent evaluators in the world. There isn’t a proven formula for consistently picking diamonds in the rough — and the same goes for us media folks who evaluate the evaluators. While it’s hard to resist the urge to make instant judgments on which teams did or didn’t have a good draft, those assessments mean very little. Truth is, there is almost no correlation between a team’s draft grades and its future performance — or even the performances of its players specifically from that draft, when judged in retrospect.

[Jobu]

There is only one sure fire way to immediately grade a draft...
They picked my guys = Super Bowl
They didn’t pick my guys = fire everyone
The end.