Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

When I woke up this morning, I ran to my computer to confirm that the Steelers had actually taken David DeCastro with the 24th pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.  I just couldn’t be sure that I hadn’t dreamed it.  After all, nobody thought that a player of DeCastro’s talent could possibly fall all the way to the Steelers at #24.

So when I logged onto my computer and read the headlines, I was relieved to find that it wasn’t a dream.  The Steelers had actually taken DeCastro.

Unfortunately, I also saw lots of comments from Steelers fans criticizing the pick.  Some of the complaints that I heard were, “They should have taken a cornerback”, or “Hightower would have been a better pick”, or “Zeitler is a better fit”, or “We needed a nose tackle more than we needed a guard”.

I usually try not to argue with fans, but in this case, I feel that I have to.  David DeCastro was the best selection that the Steelers could have made.  Nobody else was even close.

“They should have taken a cornerback”

For those of you who think that the Steelers should have taken a cornerback, I challenge you to name a cornerback who was available who is a better player than DeCastro.  Many believe that DeCastro is the best guard to come out of college since Steve Hutchinson.  Morris Claiborne was the only cornerback who was thought to be a definite 1st round talent, and he was long gone.  Stephon Gilmore and Dre Kirkpatrick were also off the board.  So were the Steelers supposed to reach and take a 2nd or 3rd round talent in the 1st round simply to get a cornerback?  I don’t think so.  The Steelers will probably take a CB in this draft.  But they won’t reach for him.

“Hightower would have been a better pick”

When the Steelers pick came up, they had their choice between David DeCastro and Alabama linebacker Dont’a Hightower.  And they chose DeCastro.  So that says a lot about how the team graded the two players.  Hightower was selected by the New England Patriots on the very next pick.  Hightower is a very good player.  But DeCastro is a better player who fills a more important need.

“Zeitler is a better fit”

What????!!!!  This comment is so stupid that I’m tempted to ignore it completely.  DeCastro is a better run blocker.  DeCastro is a better pass blocker.  DeCastro is better at running pulls and traps.  He’s better in every way.  NOBODY had Zeitler rated higher than DeCastro.  Picking Zeitler ahead of DeCastro would have been like selecting Batman ahead of Superman if you were starting a super hero team.  Only an idiot would take Batman before Superman.  But it would take an even bigger idiot to take Zeitler before DeCastro.

“We needed a nose tackle more than we needed a guard”.

We definitely need a nose tackle.  There’s no doubt about it.  In fact, nose tackle is the only position that even comes close to guard in terms of the team’s needs.  But there were no 1st round talents at nose tackle in this year’s draft.  Dontari Poe is a workout wonder who didn’t show 1st round talent in actual football games.  And all of the other nose tackles in this year’s draft are 2nd or 3rd round talents at best.  So should the Steelers have reached for a player in the 1st round that they could probably get in the 2nd round?

I won’t be surprised if the Steelers take a player like Alemeda Ta’amu in the 2nd round.  After all, they do need a nose tackle.  But if a better player is available who plays a different position, then I expect the Steelers to pick the better player.

The Steelers have always followed a philosophy of taking the best player available, regardless of what position he plays.  That philosophy has served them well over the years.  And they have six Lombardi Trophies to prove it.

The Steelers don’t usually draft for need.  Instead, they take the best player available.  But in this particular instance, the best player available also happened to fill their greatest need.

I wrote here that the Steelers top need in this year’s draft was a guard.  I said that it was more important than drafting a nose tackle, inside linebacker, or any other position.  So you can imagine how happy I was to see David DeCastro, the unanimous pick as the top interior lineman in this year’s draft, still sitting there when the 24th pick came up?

DeCastro was the starting right guard for Stanford University.  He’s 6’5″, 316 lbs., and was best known for keeping this year’s #1 pick Andrew Luck’s jersey clean.  Now he’ll get the opportunity to do the same thing for Ben Roethlisberger.

David DeCastro

DeCastro was a three year starter for Stanford after being redshirted his freshman year.  He started every game during his 3-year college career, so there are no durability issues with DeCastro.  He was voted 1st team All-American, and was a finalist for the Outland Trophy (but lost to Alabama’s Barrett Jones) following his junior season.  He bypassed his senior season to enter the draft.

Most experts predicted that DeCastro would be selected within the top 15 spots in the draft.  The Steelers barely considered him, since they were certain that there was no way that he would be available to them at #24.

“We really didn’t think David would be there at 24 quite honestly,” said Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert. “We valued him that high. We said there were a few special players in this draft, and he was one of them.”

DeCastro is viewed as one of the best guards to come along in the past decade.  What makes him unique is that he’s a hybrid.  Offensive guards typically fall into one of two camps.  There are the “road graders”, who are big burly guys who excel primarily in run blocking (think Chris Kemoeatu).  And then there are the finesse guys who aren’t as big and strong as the road graders, but who are better at pass blocking and getting out on pulls and traps (think Alan Faneca).  But DeCastro is a combination of the two.  He may be the best run blocker in the draft.  But he’s also the best at pulling and trapping.  That’s why he’s often compared to legendary guard Steve Hutchinson.

“When you watch this team (Stanford) run the football, 80 percent of the time David DeCastro was leading the way,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

Stanford played a pro style offense, so DeCastro should be well prepared for the NFL.  While he played right guard exclusively at Stanford, the Steelers think that he could play either left or right guard.

The Steelers selected offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert in the 2nd round last year, and they took center Maurkice Pouncey in the 1st round the year before.  So DeCastro is a continuation of the team’s concerted effort to upgrade their offensive line.

I never thought I’d be so happy to see the Steelers draft a guard.  But then again, I didn’t think David DeCastro would be available at pick #24.

Go Steelers!

The NFL Draft begins tomorrow (Thursday, April 26, 2012) at 8:00 p.m. ET.  So time is running out to enter our Steelers mock draft contest.

For those of you who aren’t aware of our mock draft contest, here are the rules:

1. Do a complete 32 team mock draft for the first round (include all 32 teams, not just the Steelers).
2. Pick who you think the Steelers will pick in rounds 2-7.  So it will be a Steelers-only mock draft for rounds 2-7.  Do not guess any other team’s picks for rounds 2-7 except the Steelers’.  This is about the Steelers.  We don’t really care who any others teams pick in rounds 2-7.
3. Pick all 10 players who you think the Steelers will pick. Remember, the Steelers have four 7th round picks.
4. Each correct answer for other teams’ picks will be worth 1 point.  Each correct answer for a Steelers pick will be worth 2 points.  However, if you correctly pick a player taken by the Steelers, but pick him in the wrong round, I’ll award you one point for that pick.
5. The person with the most points wins.
6. In case of a tie, the person with the most correct answers on Steelers’ picks will win.
7. If there’s still a tie after the tie-breaker, then I’ll do a random drawing to select the winner.

In order to prevent people from copying other people’s answers, DO NOT submit your entries as a comment to this post.  Instead, e-mail your entry to the following e-mail address:

admin@steelerstoday.com

Only e-mailed entries will be accepted.  Besides, do you really want other people copying your winning entry?

Only one entry will be allowed per person.  So if you send in more than one entry, I’ll only accept the first one that I receive from you.

The deadline for submitting your entry is midnight on April 25th.  But please try to get your entries in earlier than that.

The winner will receive a valuable prize that is too incredible to describe here.  Just trust us, you’re gonna want it.

The winner will be announced right here on Steelers Today following the draft.  Good luck!

Other announcements

In an attempt to give some of you a helping hand in our mock draft contest, our friends over at Fan Speak (Fanspeak.com) are giving Steelers Today readers a special discount on their 2012 NFL Draft Guide.  The guide usually sells for $4.95, but if you enter the promotion code “Steelers”, you will be able to purchase the guide for the super low price of only $2.50.  That’s practically free!

The Draft Guide is a PDF file, so you don’t have to worry about receiving it before tomorrow’s NFL Draft.  Once you purchase the guide, it will be e-mailed directly to you.

Once you click on the link and go to the page to buy the guide, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page where it says “Get Your Copy Today”.  Then enter the promotion code “Steelers”.  Then hit the “Buy Now” button and complete your purchase.

The Steelers have so many questions at offensive tackle.  Will Marcus Gilbert be successful moving to the left side?  Can Willie Colon stay healthy?  Will Max Starks recover from his injury?

Because of all of this uncertainty, it is almost certain that the Steelers will select at least one offensive tackle in the upcoming NFL Draft.  So Steelers Today is taking a look at a few of the tackles who might find themselves selected by the Steelers.

We’re not going to comment on players like Matt Kalil and Riley Reiff.  There’s no way that they’ll be around when the Steelers pick.  But here are a few that we believe could find themselves wearing black and gold in the near future.

Mike Adams – Mike Adams is a very big guy (6’7″, 325 lbs.) who definitely looks like an NFL offensive tackle.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t always play like one.  He has questionable technique and ends up on the ground way too often.  But you can’t teach size, so the Steelers might select him with the hope of coaching him up.  However, the fact that Adams was one of the players who was suspended for 5 games due to being involved in the Ohio State tattoo scandal will definitely not be viewed favorably by the Steelers.

Bobbie Massie – The Steelers didn’t bring many offensive tackles into Pittsburgh for visits.  Bobbie Massie was one of the few that they did fly into the ‘Burgh.  You decide what that means.

Massie is a big, physical tackle who competed successfully against SEC competition.  I think he’d make a great right tackle for the Steelers.  However, some teams will see him as a potential left tackle, and that may drive his value higher than the Steelers see him.

Matt McCants -  McCants is a player that most fans aren’t familiar with.  He plays in CUSA, which is a conference that I happen to follow (because the University of Memphis plays in it).  McCants is big and raw.  REALLY raw.  But he’s pretty athletic for his size.  I think that Steelers’ offensive line coach Sean Kugler can turn him into a good player.

Kelechi Osemele – He played left tackle at Iowa State, but I see him as primarily a guard in the NFL.  However, most people see him as a tackle, and I think that he could make it at right tackle with lots of hard work.  But at 6’5″, 335 lbs., he certainly looks like an NFL offensive tackle.

Levy Adcock – Adcock is a guy who is definitely worth the risk as a late round (6th or 7th) selection.  He’s big, strong, and in desperate need of better coaching.  He has a nasty temperament and could be Willie Colon’s eventual replacement at right tackle.  He could also play right guard.

Here is a nice mini-documentary about the Immaculate Reception that was done by the folks over a Bleacher Report.

I like the fact that the video not only discusses the actual play, but it also highlights the turning point that the play was in the history of Steelers football.

Many young fans don’t remember that the Steelers were the worst team in football for decades.  They were the NFL’s version of the Chicago Cubs; lovable losers.

But Chuck Noll, Joe Green, Terry Bradshaw, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, Lynn Swann, and a host of others helped change all that.  And the critical point in that change was the Immaculate Reception.  Enjoy!