Steelers position-by-position review: Nose tackles
This is part 8 in our position-by-position review of the 2011 Pittsburgh Steelers. If you haven’t read the previous installments, please click below:
If you haven’t read Part 1 (offensive tackles), click here.
If you haven’t read Part 2 (guards), click here.
If you haven’t read Part 3 (centers), click here.
If you haven’t read Part 4 (tight ends), click here.
If you haven’t read Part 5 (wide receivers), click here.
If you haven’t read Part 6 (running backs), click here.
If you haven’t read Part 7 (quarterbacks), click here.
Now that we’ve finished reviewing the Steelers’ offense, it’s time to take a look at how the defense did in 2011.
The first position that we’re going to look at is the anchor of a 3-4 defense; the nose tackle.
Casey Hampton
Hampton has started at nose tackle for the Steelers since 2001. During that time, Hampton has been one of the premiere nose tackles in the NFL. He’s played in 5 Pro Bowls, and started on three Steelers Super Bowl teams. He was also named to the Steelers’ 75th season all-time team.
Steelers NT Casey Hampton
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. 2010 and 2011 have been the worst two consecutive seasons in Hampton’s career. He’s made fewer tackles during the past two years than he has during any other 2 year stretch in his career. Even 2001 & 2002, Hampton’s first two seasons in the NFL, were more productive.
“Big Snack” is now 34 years old. His best years are behind him. He no longer collapses the pocket the way he once did. More importantly, he suffered an ACL injury at the end of the season. It has yet to be seen how a man of his age and size will recover from such a serious injury. Moreover, Hampton has never been known for his off-season conditioning. So I doubt that he’ll work himself back into playing condition the way that a younger, more fit player might.
I’ve been saying for the past 3 years that the Steelers needed to start grooming Casey Hampton’s successor. They never did that. And now, they may not have any other choice.
Chris Hoke
Chris Hoke joined the Steelers the same year that Casey Hampton did. And he served as Hampton’s backup for that entire time. And like Hampton, time has caught up to Hoke.
Hoke is 35 years old, so he’s actually older than Hampton. And because of that, Hoke has chosen to retire.
Hoke was a capable backup to the very end. Mike Tomlin likes to say that, “The standard is the standard.” Well, no player lived up to that saying better than Chris Hoke. The defense never missed a beat when Hoke came into the game.
Thanks for your contribution, Chris. Steeler Nation appreciates it.
Steve McLendon
Steve McLendon is a gritty young player. I actually like what I’ve seen from him thus far.
But the reality is that McLendon is not a long-term solution at nose tackle. At 280 lbs., he’s just too small for the position.
In a 3-4 defense, the nose tackle is usually the heaviest man on the defensive line. Yet Ziggy Hood, Brett Keisel, and Cameron Heyward all weigh more than McLendon. So did Aaron Smith. And Casey Hampton actually outweighs him by 45 lbs. And that’s according to Hampton’s “official” weight. We all know that Hampton really weighs more than that.
So the Steelers are left with an aging veteran nose tackle who suffered a major injury, and a young backup who is actually too small for the position.
It’s becoming clear that nose tackle is a glaring need for the Steelers. In fact, it may actually be the team’s top need this off-season. Perhaps this will finally be the year that the Steelers draft one.
Hmmmmmmm, that sounds familiar.
Hopefully we get Ta’amu in the first or 2nd, depending on how high scouts are on him. Poe will be long gone by the time we pick. If we got Hightower in rd. 1 and Ta’amu in rd.2, I’d be happy.
1Dan,
I would be quite happy to see that happen in rounds 1 & 2 also.
Poe will be long gone, and that’s probably a good thing. Once again, fans are falling in love with a workout wonder. But he’s not that good.
I lived in Memphis, TN for most of the 2000′s. Because of that, I follow the Memphis Tigers pretty closely. I used to have season tickets to their games.
So I’ve seen Poe play many times. And I’m shocked that he is getting the attention that he is. I was never impressed by him in college. Not once.
I am always concerned by guys who have tremendous size, yet they don’t perform well against inferior competition. And trust me when I say that C-USA is inferior. Tulane, Rice, Tulsa, East Carolina, and UAB aren’t exactly known as football powerhouses.
Despite playing in C-USA, Poe didn’t dominate. He has lots of Poe-tential, but he has never shown any of it on film.
I remember having similar discussions with you guys a few years ago about a guy named Jarron Gilbert. Gilbert was a freak athlete who wowed people at the Combine, but he never did anything impressive in college while playing for San Jose State. Steelers fans kept saying that the Steelers had to take him in the first round. And I kept saying, “no they don’t”. As it turns out, Gilbert has played for 3 different teams in his 3 seasons in the NFL. He has never started a game, and he’s accumulated a total of 2 tackles during his entire career.
Poe has the potential to be the same type of bust. He needs somebody to get into his head and make him play up to his potential. So far, he’s never done that. He’s lazy. He was 2nd team All-CUSA. And some publications voted him 3rd team All-CUSA. If he can’t even make 1st team in Conference USA, what makes anyone think that he’s a first round draft pick in the NFL?
As I always say, “Don’t believe the hype”. The NFL Scouting Combine is stupid. But of course, my readers already know that.
2I think Hampton will miss Hoke more than anyone. Hoke did most of the film study. But still, I don’t see them letting Hampton go until after the season. He’ll start on the PUP, hopefully come back and give us 13 good games, and then retire with another big ring on his finger.
At least that’s how it looks in my dreams.
3@Admin:
I agree with you on Poe. Workout warriors don’t often pan out. I kinda happy that he dominated at the combine, because that means more talent falls to the Steelers.
And, Poe-tential? Seriously
I think if Hampton returns to the field this year, he’ll be a shell of his former self. An older big man like that coming off of a late season torn ACL is always going to struggle coming back. That, and his skills are eroding to begin with. We need to pick up an NT in the draft. Fortunately, in addition to Ta’amu, there are actually a few more NTs I like this year.
4This leaves us with some serious questions. Do we need to sign a veteran free agent NT? If Snack can’t play at the beginning of the season that leaves us with McClendon and Ziggy as a fill-in. That’s not enough depth and the draft may not yield a player ready to play day 1 in the Steelers’ system. We also don’t have much defensive end depth and relying on Ziggy to play NT stretches our defensive end position.
5@Dan R.
I think the Steelers will draft someone in the early rounds, and rotate that player and McClendon until Hampton is healthy. They don’t really have the cap space to bring in a vet, unless it was someone who would be willing to play at the vet minimum or close to it. I kinda thought that they would release Hampton and bring a cheaper guy in, but it looks like they will hold on to Snack for another year, and draft his successor this year.
6ILB-OG-NT-RB-WR-DL-OL IN THAT ORDER YOU FILL IN THE NAMES..
7@Dan
I was thinking a veteran NT near the minimum because they rarely start rookies, and usually when they do, it is not by design.
8@Jim,
9I agree that Hampton will miss Hoke. As you said, Hoke did the majority of his film study for him. He was like Hamp’s personal coach on the sidelines.
@Dan,
I agree. There are a few NT’s that I like in this year’s draft. I don’t want to get into it that much at this point, because after I finish the position-by-position review, then I’m going to start talking about suggested player to fill the Steelers’ needs.
However, since you mentioned it, I’ll say a few things about the NT’s. As I’ve already said, Poe is WAAAAAAAYYYYYY over-rated. He played in a small conference and wasn’t 1st team all conference. Moreover, his team only won 2 games. That’s right, 2. And they only won 1 game in their conference. How many first round picks only win 2 games?
Ta’amu in the 2nd (or better yet, 3rd) round would be a great pick. He played for a good team in a competitive conference. He doesn’t have as much power as you’d expect at his size, but weight room time, and coaching should fix that. And you can’t beat his Samoan genetics. He’s naturally huge!
But the guy that I think may have the greatest impact isn’t mentioned very often. Here’s a few hints. Let’s see who guesses who I mean.
-He played against the toughest competition of any NT in the draft.
-He’s overlooked because he’s “too short” for the position (Just like Casey Hampton), but short equals leverage. Just ask James Harrison and Big Snack.
-He played in a 3-4 system in college.
-His team had more success than any other NT coming out this year.
-He’s injured, and could slip to the 4th or even 5th round due to the injury.
-He’s a much better player than Ta’amu, but he doesn’t have Ta’amu’s natural size.
Anybody know who I’m talking about?
10Josh Chapman from Alabama? He’s one of the guys I was thinking of, but I don’t know the extent of his injury.
I also like Nick Jean-Baptiste, who was a bowling ball at the senior bowl this year.
11Bingo, Dan!
IMO, being the unmovable nose tackle on a National Championship team, and competing in the SEC, is far more impressive than 44 bench presses at the NFL Combine.
12I keep reading all the Mock drafts and it went from drafting Poe to the ILB from Bama. I agree Poe is probably not going to be there @ 24, no way would I move up for him and the Steelers will probably draft the Bama kid. If they get the NT from Washington in 2 I would also be happy. If they draft 2 kids for the DL in this draft I will be happy along with a guard. Big Snack barely has tread on the tires and Mcclendon is a quality player, but too small to play that position all game.
13We all saw this coming. Well, all of us except the front office. I agree, Poe is overrated and will be gone before we get a shot at him. I love Ta’amu on round 2, but with the Colts drafting high and transitioning to the 3-4 he may be long gone by then. My homework on Ta’amu and has shown that they both were big and strong, but don’t play with solid leverage consistently. That can be improved with coaching. Chapman its interesting and will be drafted lower than he should due to the injury.
14#Ta’amu and Baptiste#
15J.R.,
I’m surprised that you mentioned Nicolas Jean-Baptiste out of Baylor. I’m not so sure about him. He definitely has the size to be an NFL nose tackle. And he was pretty productive in college. But he’s the anti-Poe, in my opinion. He’s not particularly strong or athletic, and he has short arms and allows O-linemen to grab and control him. Some are even projecting that he could go undrafted. The fact that he didn’t even get invited to the NFL Scouting Combine probably supports that theory. But he played okay on a poor defensive team, and he caught some people’s attention at the East-West Shrine game.
It’ll be interesting to see how he fares in the draft. He’d definitely a “boom or bust” prospect. But I wouldn’t have a problem with the Steelers giving him a shot in the 6th or 7th round. Those late picks never make the team anyway. But if they took him in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th round, I’d probably be a little concerned.
But of course, Brett Keisel was a 7th round pick, so you never know what could happen.
16I totally agree about Baptiste. I wouldn’t touch him before round 5.
17I like your analysis but it makes things more complicated I was hoping we draft donta the first round and Zietler a good lineman in the second and take a St in the third we might have to take one sooner and I thought the same right when we sighned big snack to a three year deal I was hoping that year we would find a guy to groom behind him for two years
18