Steelers Source

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.

Bryant McFadden

The big news of the day wasn’t who the Steelers drafted, but who they brought back. In a trade with the Arizona Cardinals where the Steelers gave up a 5th Round pick they received cornerback Bryant McFadden and the Cardinals 6th Round pick. McFadden had been the starting cornerback on the Steelers Super Bowl XLIII team, and after that season signed a 2 year deal with the Cardinals for $10 million as an unrestricted free agent.

This deal had been in the works with Arizona for the past few days and explains the thinking behind not taking a cornerback in the early rounds of the NFL Draft. Maybe William Gay can split cab fare with Trai Essex on the trip out of the starting lineup.

With the returns of Larry Foote, Antwaan Randle El, Byron Leftwich, and now McFadden, I’ve been having a hard time getting the image out of my head from the movie the Blues Brothers when they say, “We’re putting the band back together.” Should we just be done with it and sign up Alan Faneca and Joey Porter?

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.

A couple of weeks ago, I walked through my list of the Top 10 Steelers Draft Busts. Today the compendium volume for Gems and again this list is limited to the past 10 years. My other rule on this one is that I’m not going to look at 1st Round picks. Honestly you should hit on those. If you aren’t sure on someone make a safer pick. The downside is enormous. I don’t remember anyone talking before the 1998 draft about Ryan Leaf being a high character guy, or from back in my day that Walter Abercrombie was the second coming of Jim Brown. All of that being said, the Steelers have be great at this for the past decade. Most impressive is that they have pulled a number of draft day trades to move up a few picks to get their guy. The list is awesome and I’d put it up against anyone else in the league:

• Rashard Mendenhall (so far, so good)
• Lawrence Timmons
• Santonio Holmes
• Heath Miller
• Ben Roethlisberger
• Troy Polamalu
• Casey Hampton

So in gem order going from 1 to 10 with number 10 being the find on draft day:

1. 2006 -- Willie Colon (OT), Hofstra, 4th round. 1,100 yards and 4.6 yards per carry this season
2. 2004 -- Max Starks (OT), Florida, 3rd round. 88 games played with 61 career starts.
3. 2000 -- Clark Haggans (LB), Colorado State, 5th round. Including his past 2 years in Arizona (the Steelers of the Southwest) he has appeared in 134 games with 408 total tackles, and 38.5 sacks.
4. 2005 -- Bryant McFadden (CB), Florida State, 2nd round. Another four year guy in Pittsburgh until a move to (surprise) Arizona but a solid performer.
5. 2002 -- Antwaan Randle El (QB/ATH), Indiana, 2nd round. Only four years in Pittsburgh until a big payday in Washington, but was a game changer in Pittsburgh. Brought a wildcat type offense years before anyone ever used the word wildcat.
6. 2002 -- Larry Foote (LB), Michigan, 4th round. Spent 7 years in Pittsburgh and compiled 431 tackles with 20 passes defended.
7. 1998 -- Deshea Townsend (CB), Alabama, 4th round. 12 year veteran with 369 career tackles and 21 picks.
8. 1999 -- Aaron Smith (DE), Northern Colorado, 4th round. Great pick here. 11 years in Pittsburgh with 385 tackles and 44 sacks. Defensive ends who can play in a 3-4 defense don’t come in the 4th round very often.
9. 1999 -- Joey Porter (LB), Colorado State, 3rd round. 8 years with 60 sacks. Leader on the defense with a nasty attitude. Some were turned of by his bulletin board material, but I loved Joey and he almost always backed it up on the field.
10. 1998 -- Hines Ward (QB/ATH), Georgia, 3rd  round. Hall of fame career spanning 12 years so far and becoming the Steelers all time leading receiver in yards. I will always think of him as striking fear into defenses with guys looking around for the block that is going to knock them out. Let’s re-live the busting on Keith Rivers’ jaw in Cincinnati: