Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

With their final pick in the 7th round (they had 4 of them), the Steelers selected Kelvin Beachum, an offensive tackle from SMU.

Kelvin Beachum was a 4-year starter at SMU.  He started all 4 years at left tackle.

What’s particularly impressive is that Beachum was able to start as a freshman at a position that is as important as left tackle.

What makes his accomplishment even more impressive is that SMU was a pass-oriented offense.  So the tackle position was critical to their success.

Beachum was recognized for his performance by being named First Team Conference USA as a senior.

Kelvin Beachum

Standing only 6’3″, Beachum is considered short by offensive tackle standards.

He’s not particularly strong.  At times he struggled to generate a good push on his man.  His lack of arm strength was further demonstrated when he was only able to bench press 19 times at the NFL Scouting Combine.  I’m not a fan of the Combine, but in this case, his combine results reflect his on-field performance.

Besides his height problem, he also has short arms and only average foot quickness.  That will probably prevent him from playing tackle at the pro level.  That’s why many are projecting that he’ll have to be moved inside to guard if he’s to make it in the NFL.

Beachum is definitely a project.  But he’s young, and he has time to develop.

Welcome to the Steelers, kid.  We look forward to seeing you at training camp.

With the 246th pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Texas A&M cornerback Terrence Frederick.

Frederick is 5′ 10.5″, 180 lbs., which is small for an NFL player, but not overly small for a cornerback.  Unfortunately, Frederick doesn’t bring any other remarkable traits to complement his non-remarkable size.

He’s not an exceptional cover corner.  He doesn’t have top end speed, and has a tendency to bite on fakes.  In fact, he’s probably best utilized in a zone defense.

He’s not a big hitter.  But at 180 lbs., I don’t think anyone expects him to be.  But to his credit, he’s a hard worker who is willing to make tackles in the running game.

Terrence Frederick

He doesn’t have great height, and he’s not going to be able to challenge bigger receivers vertically.

One thing that will work in his favor is that he was often used in the slot in nickel packages at Texas A&M.  That’s the only place that he has any possibility of seeing action as a rookie (if he even makes the team), so that should work to his advantage.

But the reality is that Frederick was only 7 picks away from being the 2012 Mr. Irrelevant.  So I think most Steelers fans understand that his odds of making the team are slim at best.  But we wish him good luck.  The Steelers need as many good cornerbacks as they can find.

With the 240th pick in the 7th round, the Pittsburgh Steelers select David Paulson, a wide receiver out of Oregon.

Paulson is an interesting pick.  In an era when tight ends are becoming more like wide receivers, the Steelers drafted a player who isn’t going to light up the scoreboard.

David Paulson doesn’t have blazing speed.  In fact, he’s rather slow.  Nor is he an amazing athlete.  But he has very good hands, and can make catches with defenders draped on him.  More importantly, he’s a hard worker who isn’t afraid to block.

Paulson played more like a wide receiver than a tight end in Oregon’s spread offense.  He often lined up in the slot, or was split wide.

David Paulson

While he only had 31 catches for 438 yards  and 6 touchdowns as a senior, he was voted Co-MVP on offense by his Oregon Ducks teammates.  That says a lot about how much his team thought about his contribution.

Paulson’s size is probably going to be a disadvantage in the NFL.  Standing only 6’3″, and weighing 243 lbs., he’s much smaller than Heath Miller (6’5″, 256 lbs.), Leonard Pope (6’8″, 264 lbs.), or David Johnson (6’2″, 260 lbs.).  He’s not big enough to be a bruising blocker, and he’s not tall enough or fast enough to excel as a receiver.  Therefore, he may be best used as an H-back like David Johnson.  But until we know more about what new offensive coordinator Todd Haley plans to do, it’s hard to guess how Paulson might be used.

With Heath Miller and Leonard Pope on the roster, it’s not likely that Paulson will see much playing time at tight end.  Moreover, he’s at a weight disadvantage versus David Johnson at H-back.  So he’ll have his work cut out for him at training camp.  But with hard work, who knows what can happen.  And one thing that David Paulson will definitely do is work hard.

With the 231st pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Toney Clemons, a WR from Colorado.

Clemons is a Pittsburgh native who is probably happy to be coming home.

He started his career at the University of Michigan,  and played there for 2 years before transferring to Colorado, where he finished his collegiate career.

As a senior at Colorado, he was named by the coaches as the winner of Colorado’s John Mack Award, given to the team’s most outstanding offensive player.

Toney Clemons

Steelers fans know that Ben Roethlisberger likes big receivers, and none of the Steelers’ current receivers fit that description.  But Toney Clemons will be a move in that direction.  Clemons is 6’2″ tall.  That makes him the tallest wide receiver on the Steelers roster.

Clemons is a big, physical wide receiver who isn’t afraid to go across the middle.  Because of his size, Clemons is adept at muscling cornerbacks and breaking tackles.  He’s also been known to run over a few cornerbacks and safeties.  Moreover, he’s a very physical blocker, which is sure to go over well with Steelers fans.

He’s not particularly fast in game situations.  So don’t believe the hype that you’ve probably been reading on other sites about how fast he is.  While he did run a fast time (4.36) at his pro day, he was never able to perform at that speed during games .  In fact, he didn’t excel at getting separation from his defenders, and he only scored 11 touchdowns during his entire college career.   Instead, he used his size and strength to beat his man.  That’s why his style of play is most often compared to Anquan Boldin.

We’ve already got Mike Wallace to take the top off of the defense, so I don’t think that Big Ben will mind having a receiver who is better at fighting off defenders than he is at blowing by them.

Welcome to the Steelers, kid.  You’re joining a talented group of receivers.  It’s going to take a lot of work to earn playing time.

The Steelers haven’t had a true “burner” in their backfield since Willie Parker wore black and gold.  That is until now.

With their 5th round draft pick, the Steelers selected Chris Rainey, a running back out of Florida.  Rainey is a burner.  But unlike Mike Wallace, Chris Rainey has stop and go speed.  He has amazing acceleration, and he can make ankle breaking cuts.  To demonstrate just how quickly he can accelerate, he recorded the fastest time in the 10 yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine.  He also recorded the fastest time in the 20-yard short shuttle, demonstrating his ability to change directions quickly and still maintain high speed.

Rainey was used in a variety of ways at Florida.  He was used as a traditional running back.  He also has soft hands, and catches the ball well out of the backfield.  He even lined up at wide receiver at times.  And he was used as a kick returner.

Rainey will definitely challenge Baron Batch for 3rd down duties.  His hands are just as good as Batch’s, but he’s much faster.

People have come to think of the Steelers as a power running team.  But with Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown spreading the defense, and Chris Rainey adding speed in the backfield, the Steelers have the potential to have one of the fastest offenses in the NFL.

Chris Rainey

But of course, Rainey’s not perfect.  He’s small (5’8″, 180 lbs.), and won’t be able to take a pounding.  So he’s a part-time player at best.  He’ll be almost useless running between the tackles.  But of course, the Steelers have Rashard Mendenhall, Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer, and John Clay to do that.

He’s also not much of a blocker.  At his size, he won’t provide much of an obstacle to a linebacker whose trying to get to the quarterback.  In fact, the Steelers may have to excuse him from their famous “Backs on backers” drills during training camp.  James Harrison may squash Rainey like a bug.

He also has a history of injuries dating all the way back to high school.  He’s had repeated problems with his shoulder, and has had surgery on it.  But his legs are fine, and that’s his greatest weapon.

Perhaps the biggest concern about Rainey is his character.  He was charged with a felony for stalking his girlfriend in in 2010, and he was temporarily suspended from the team.  Charges were later dropped after he completed a pre-trial intervention program.

The Steelers obviously thought that Rainey’s problems were behind him, and decided to draft him.  That’s good enough for me.

Welcome to Pittsburgh kid.  I think your speed is going to be exciting to watch.