State of the 2014 Steelers

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QB: Big Ben, Landry Jones, Bruce Gradkowski

RB: Le'veon Bell, LeGarrette Blount

WR1: Antonio Brown, Lance Moore

WR2: _______, Markus Wheaton , DHB

TE: Heath Miller, Matt Spaeth, David Paulson

LT: _________, Kelvin Beachum

LG: Ramon Foster

C: Maurkice Pouncey, Cody Wallace

RG: David DeCastro

RT: Marcus Gilbert, Mike Adams

 

DE: Cam Heyward, Nick Williams, ________

DT: Cam Thomas, Steve McLendon

OLB: Jason Worilds, Jarvis Jones, Chris Carter, _______

ILB: Lawrence Timmons, Vince Williams

CB: Ike Taylor, _________, William Gay, Cortez Allen

FS: Mike Mitchell, _______

SS: Troy Polamalu, Shamarko Thomas

 

K: Shaun Suisham

P: Brad Wing

 

This is the offseason I've been looking forward to the most in last few years. We lost a lot of players in free agency which is clearly visible when you look at the roster above but we've also made a few moves. There's still a lot of work left to do.

 

I like our signings so far. Cam Thomas is the best one,imo because we've always had big issues at NT since Casey Hampton. I was happy when McLendon got the starting duties but it was clear that he's inexperienced and Cam Thomas will fix this problem.

 

Lance Moore is an under-the-radar signing. Seems like he had nothing to do around Jimmy Graham and Marques Colston and I think he might breakout player for us next season. He's currently behind AB on the depth chart but I expect him to get a decent amount of minutes next season.

 

Mike Mitchell filled a pressing need for us but I'm still not sure we're set at FS. I expect us to take another one in the draft but I'll talk about that later.

 

And now.....on to the other needs. This is a really good draft class and Kevin Colbert expressed that during one press conference so I guess we won't waste our draft picks cause each one is very worthy.

 

Draft needs

 

CB - Our CB situation is awful to say the least. Ike Taylor is good but you could see that his age is becoming a problem. I'd be really happy if we got Justin Gilbert or Darqueze Dennard in the first round.

 

WR - We lost Sanders and Cotchery in the FA and both of those guys were very good last season. the WR2 spot is right now in Markus Wheaton's hands but he'll easily lose it after the draft. This WR class is very deep and you could a great WR even in the 3rd round. I got my eye on guys like Jordan Matthews and Davante Adams in the second.

 

OT - This is another second/third round need. We need a better player than Kelvin Beachum at LT and guys like Antonio Richardson/Morgan Moses could fix that problem.

 

FS - Mike Mitchell is there but we need a young guy to back him up. We're usually matched with HaHa Clinton-Dix at 15 and I used to like him but after watching his tape once more he smells like a bust to me.

 

OLB - After Woodley's departure we have Jason Worilds and Jarvis Jones, who had a rather unimpressive rookie campaign, as our top two on the depth chart. We could get a pass rusher on day 3.

 

DE - Cam Heyward is a beast but Nick Williams next to him makes me fringe. There aren't many good 3-4 DEs in this draft so this is a need that might be addressed in FA, but who knows,we may surprise you all.

 

Other needs: C and OG

 

Maurkice Pouncey got injured badly and then we signed Fernando Velasco but injury gods don't let our offensive linemen stay healthy. Not sure if there are any decent centers in the free agency but we could draft one late, maybe Tyler Larsen.