Steelers Source

Captain's Patch

The captains for this years Steelers team have been announced, and in this year’s edition there is one notable exclusion in Ben Roethlisberger. Noteable but hardly surprising since his antics will most likely put the Steelers in a serious hole coming back from the bye week in week 6 of the season. Named offensive captains this year were wide receiver Hines Ward and tight end Heath Miller. The defense selected linebackers James Farrior and Keyaron Fox. I thought the selection of Fox was a nice touch for someone who is not a big name player.

Farrior and Foote

Here is an article from Yahoo Sports that goes into a bit more depth on the battle at linebacker this year between James Farrior and Larry Foote.  One of the more interesting quotes from Foote indicating that no matter what each should see a good bit of playing time this year:

“Right now on paper I am (a backup), but the coaches told me I’m going to play,” Foote said. “It’s up to my talent and how fast I get back into the swing of things that will determine my playing time. I’m just trying to put my cards on the table and see what happens.”

I am working my way up from the back of the defense and part 2 of my training camp series is on linebackers. The contestants (and there are plenty) in Latrobe this year are:

Last year when the Steelers cut down to their final 53 man roster, then kept 8 linebackers, so a fair number of players listed above are not going to see the regular season. The no brainers are James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley on the outside. The starters at inside linebacker is a little more interesting. I am hoping that this year is really the coming out party for Lawrence Timmons. At the other inside spot there were plenty of screams last season, your truly included, that James Farrior had lost too much speed and could not play on third down any longer. That has to also be on the mind of the Steelers and was in large part the reason for bringing Larry Foote back. I’m going to give Foote the starting nod, and while he’ll make the roster, I wouldn’t be stunned to see this as Farrior’s last year.

For those who are counting that is 5 of 8 spots on the roster filled. Considering their draft positions, it is pretty much a lock that Jason Worilds and Thaddeus Gibson are going to make the team. I see the last spot as a competition between Keyaron Fox, Andre Frazier, and Stevenson Sylvester, with Fox getting the nod. A very real possibility is that the Steelers will put either Worilds or Gibson on the roster as a defensive end and thereby be able to keep Fox plus one.

Larry Foote

Anybody remember that guy “The Amazing Kreskin”? His shtick was that he made predictions of the future, probably bent spoons, and a bunch of other nonsense. Well about a month back I wrote a post evaluating the defensive situation on the current roster. In that article I suggested that an avenue to consider for replacing James Farrior would to bring Larry Foote back to the Steel City. Guess who’s coming to dinner on Monday? Foote met earlier in the week with both the hapless Washington Redskins and the Steelers’ AAA affiliate in the NFC (e.g., the Arizona Cardinals). No deal was reached with either team and Foote is traveling to Pittsburgh for a meeting and physical on Monday. My amazing prediction comes true and Larry Foote is a Steeler again by dinner on Monday. Farrior never sees another third down play again. Forget Kreskin, you’ve got me.

I’m going to save the draft preview/analysis until we get a bit closer to April.  So today I’m just going to restrict this posting to looking at where the needs are in terms of gaps in the current roster. I’m going to do two installments and start today with the Defense.

I think that here is where most of the needs are. The defense showed this year that they are getting a bit long in the tooth. So starting at the front line and working back:

1. Defensive Line – I think there are a couple of big ones here. At end, Brett Keisel has been more than serviceable but he’s not getting any younger. I wouldn’t call this a crisis, maybe Ziggy Hood will develop and be a major contributor this season. Then again maybe he won’t. I think everyone has heard enough about the Casey Hampton situation. All indicators are that the Steelers are going to franchise tag him. Hopefully the thought of freedom will motivate him for a good year.  No matter, we need to be planning an eventual replacement.
2. Linebacker – Sorry, James Farrior has been a warrior since arriving in Pittsburgh, but can’t cover anymore and is a gotsta go situation. A name from the past is Larry Foote who is a free agent up in Detroit. I know the Steelers are not very active in the free agent market but it might be worth a phone call to see if Mr. Foote has had enough of the Motor City and would give the Steelers a home town type discount.
3. Secondary – Alright here is why I went from the defensive front and worked back. Every time I think about that secondary it makes me want to throw up. At the safety positions the Steelers need to make resigning Ryan Clark a priority, since at the moment there are not any real options. Strong safety depth is also critical as we learned the hard way with Troy Polamalu’s Madden Curse season. Other than a good laugh, no comment necessary on Tyrone Carter. I have no answers at cornerback. Everyone on the current roster stank up Heinz Field this past year. Maybe Ike Taylor can pull it together again. We saw that last year’s draft picks (Trae Williams and Joe Burnett) and not ready and never may be.