Steelers select David Paulson in 7th round
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.
I was really confused by this pick initially, but now I am even more. You didn’t even mention Weslye Saunders in the crowded stable of Steelers TE’s. He doesn’t have the upside like Clemons to be a future starter at TE, and we’ve already got good depth. To me, this can only signal that H-back/fullback is going to play a key role in Haley’s playbook and he wants some competition for DJ, which is interesting.
1Now that I think of it, Haley did bring in LeRon McClain when he was in KC (unless that was all Pioli), so it would seem he likes fullbacks. Maybe this pick does make more sense now.
2have him drop 20 lbs and make him a red zone threat, great hands and size for a wide out in the red zone. he can muscle the small corners, and force teams to spread their lbs out more to stop him. BROWN, MILLER, WALLACE, PAULSON WOULD BE TOUGH TO HANDLE.
3Great O-line draft picks but the icing on the cake is Terrell Suggs tearing his achilles tendon – out for the 2012 season – bad news for the Ravens good news for the Black and Gold
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