I guess the rant was a bit much but like i said, its so common now that its hard to find kids who don't do it.  Are gm's supposed to limit themselves to players who have never done it?


I would imagine the percentage of NFL players that haven't smoked weed is in the minority (very, very minority). That being said, SMURPH has been on this board for quite some time and his comment, I'm sure, was not intended to start a sh*t storm. As Steeler fans, we, along with our team's GM, have pretty damn high standards. The fact that Colbert took Adams in the second answered your question about their limitations. Superbowl trophies numbers 5 and 6 were achieved with some pretty darn strict principles in place as a franchise. Given Colbert and Co.'s ability to find talent, I can imagine having a 7th trophy (or 8th) if character was not a factor. Mike Adams manned up and revealed what I believe to be his true character when he drove his ass to the Burgh to apologize personally to Tomlin and Colbert. Keep in mind, they parted with Holmes for a used urinal cake on account of his fiend'n for green (among other things).
  

steelersun89,
I see you have just joined us in January, so you must not know that bb is one of our more respected posters here. Please be courteous in your reply's to him.

As far as Pot smoking players goes, we just went through losing a former 1st round pick in Santonio Holmes for pot related problems so were going to be a bit defensive when it comes to this situation.

I am on vacation, playing pinball and drinking Yeungling. I am willing to buy into Adams for now. My initial thought was whiskey tango foxtrot. After the smoke cleared I even changed my aviator to support this kid. ( Johnny Dickshot j and his wife will drank a shot for this post since I used the word "kid")

Love the avatar ny! 

GO BUCKS!

For fun I Googled "david decastro Steelers" and stole this morsel of info from ESPN...

[Ravens'] Director of player personnel Eric DeCosta said DeCastro and Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower were not among the seven players the team would've traded up for in the first round. He also indicated Adams wasn't high on the Ravens' board either. “Mike Adams specifically was not a player of great interest to the Ravens because of off-field concerns,” DeCosta said on the team's official website. “We always consider moving up based on scout opinions and coaching evaluations. We didn’t see any tackles in this draft other than [USC left tackle Matt] Kalil that we would have considered moving up to take in the first round.” Hensley's slant: The Ravens will get an up-close look at the development of DeCastro and Adams, who are expected to be fixtures on Pittsburgh's offensive line for years. We'll see if Baltimore's opinion on those two players changes over the years. The Ravens won't be doing them any favors by lining up Haloti Ngata and Terrell Suggs across from them.

I believe DeCosta, as the Ravens aren't a team to trade up for anyone. Lots of things can be derived from this though. Thoughts?

 

Speaking of DeCastro, CBS has him listed as the Steelers' starting RG, and Foster over at LG. If the Steelers are actually planning this, what is the idea? Do they wanna flip their runs to the left side this season? Foster is not a puller, so while Gilbert, Foster, DeCastro, and Colon are all great drive blockers, I have to think Haley plans to cut down on runs to the right.

Lots of things can be derived from this though. Thoughts?

I don't put much stock in those words for two reasons:

A. As you mentioned, Baltimore rarely trades up.

Heck, clearly neither of them were on Pittsburgh's list to trade up for, or they would have jumped to ensure they got DeCastro rather than praying he fell all the way.

B. Baltimore didn't draft either of them -- and they went to rival teams.

Why in the world would they admit to wanting guys they weren't able to draft who went to their rivals? 

"Oh that DeCastro kid? We loved him. Gonna be a perrenial Pro Bowler. Really a shame we missed out. Hightower? Really kicking ourselves for not trading up for that guy. He could have been the next Ray Lewis."

No GM is ever going to admit to any of that ^^^. Whether its true or not.


The answer he gives implies that the Ravens are satisfied with their draft and got who they wanted, which is what Raven fans want to hear.

Demo- this is how ESPN projects our o-line. LT Mike Adams: If he isn't the starter here as a rookie, the second-round pick should be at this spot by next season. LG Willie Colon: The Steelers thought about moving Colon from tackle to guard last season. The addition of Adams makes it more viable this year. C Maurkice Pouncey: Ankle injuries have hurt the Pro Bowl lineman in his first two NFL seasons. RG David DeCastro: The first-round pick could flip to left guard but he played primarily on the right side at Stanford. RT Marcus Gilbert: He continued to get better and better every week as a rookie last season.

 

this is how ESPN projects our o-line.

Clearly my work is not done on here. ESPN predicted that Ryan Leaf would be better than Peyton Manning, they had a Draft Guru tell us this.... 'nuff said.

My thoughts, Max Starks is a proven veteran, Ben Roethlisberger is the Franchise, make no bones about it. Sean Kugler will sort out the players by the end of August, right now it's all specualtion.  My instincts tell me this.

LT- Marcus Gilbert
LG- Ramon Foster
C- Maurkice Pouncey
RG- David DeCastro
RT- Willie Colon

Somehow Gilbert might beat out Starks, again speculation. I watched that NE game where they kept Baby Bunch off the field and ran their ass over. Gilbert was knocking the inferior Patriot LB's backwards, he has really good feet. I feel he is a solid OT and it would not shock me to see him at LT and Willie Colon at RT until Mike Adams is ready to start. Willie Colon may be built like an OG, but he has never played the position.

Aa far as the Ravens draft, it's a mild case of sour grapes. and more Bullcrap than anything. FIrst off at 29 all thier first tier guys were gone so they moved back. That tells me teams picking ahead of them took the players they wanted.  Anyone who has ever spent an entire fall watching College Football would realize that David DeCastro was the best OG prospect to come out and enter the draft since Steve Hutchinson. He is that good.  The Ravens could not have moved up anyways. The Titans at 20 were locked onto BPA and they needed speed at WR, typically AFC teams don't trade with each other unless you have multiple picks in the first round and have leverage. 21 The Bengals traded to NE who took Chandler Jones. Belichick needs to patch up that abortion called a Defense he has up in Fuxboro. At 22 The Browns got a QB who is looks to be more durable than Colt McCoy, and they would not have traded withing the Division. At 23 the Lions needed OL help and to their liking Reilly Reif was there for the taking. At 24, the Steelers immediately sent up their card, despite Keith Butler standing on his desk.

Ask yourself this, right now on paper who would you rather have David DeCastro and Mike Adams, or Courtney Upshaw and Keleche Osemele. DeCastro and Adams are top 15 and 25 talents respectively. Upshaw has alligator arms, weight concerns, and that is why he fell. Osemele does not have the footwork to play OT, he will be a good OG however, but nowhere near what DeCastro projects to be.  I do buy into the Ravens not having Adams high, if at all, just because of the tatoos and the weed. The DeCastro comment is debatable because as I pointed out, really not a lot of teams they could have traded with. Again the only one that did trade was a dvision rival everyone else was staying pat. DId they try to move up and won't admit to it, possibly. Could they have moved up, probably not.


Bigbenzdaman,

You  got it right, the Ravens are never going to admit the Steelers and Patriots took 2 players high on their board.  They moved up for Michael Oher but it has been an ongoing evaluatoin wether or not he is a LT or a RT. From what I saw out of our Rookie RT last year, I think Marcus Gilbert may be the steal of the second round last year. THe Lions saw something in Oher's game they did not like enough to take him at 20, they took  Brandon Pettigrew instead, at the time I thought that was risky. My point was the Lions needed a LT for Matthew Stafford, who ended up getting the bejesus beat out of him.

nyb

That is one mean-looking dude.  Hope they have enough food to feed him.

I think they plan on feeding him Ravens.

This is the 2009 draft thread, now is the time to be arguing about the 2009 draft.  Arguing about this years draft or even last years draft is pointless, it always amuses me when people spend time arguing over who won the draft, you don't know for three seasons.  Who wins on paper means nothing when they play the game.

2009 NFL Draft contributors
Ravens:
Michael Oher
Paul Kruger
Ladirius Webb

Steelers:
Ziggy Hood
Mike Wallace
Keenan Lewis
David Johnson

The third round picks are the stars, Webb and Wallace are two top players at there positions.  I'd give the Ravens the edge, but it's close.  If I include Urbik, it might go to the Steelers, but he was a bust for them, only emerging as a solid starter after moving on to the Bills.

sthomas,

That's a fair comparison - but I'll go even further and suggest you can't make this until their careers are over...

Folks,

Rookie camp is on-going..  I posted a few pages ago about a long shot undrafted free agent Ryan Lee.. If you go to the Steelers.com site and watch a couple of the videos and scroll thru the pictures - The Steelers have him snapping the ball.  He played LG RG and some RT at Furman - in the post season bowl game that he played in - they had him play center the whole game..  Never played center before that game.. "position flexibility"   The kid is a real long shot - especially if they decide to bring Starks back.. He'll need to beat out Legursky and Essex,  as well as Beachum and a couple other undrafted and off season signees.. to have a shot at the 53..    

Not a lot of buzz on Maze from Alabama yet - I had a feeling that there would be - but have not heard too much about him out of this first mini camp for rookies...

Anybody hear anything else from mini camp this weekend.

enjoy,

bb

My thoughts, Max Starks is a proven veteran, Ben Roethlisberger is the Franchise, make no bones about it. Sean Kugler will sort out the players by the end of August, right now it's all specualtion.  My instincts tell me this.

Max Starks is still a free agent and has yet to be re-signed. My instincts tell me he's out of the picture for good barring another round of freak injuries.

I watched that NE game where they kept Baby Bunch off the field and ran their ass over. Gilbert was knocking the inferior Patriot LB's backwards, he has really good feet. I feel he is a solid OT and it would not shock me to see him at LT and Willie Colon at RT until Mike Adams is ready to start. Willie Colon may be built like an OG, but he has never played the position.

Stellar point about Colon. I can't find it, but Mike Tomlin once indicated that he and Kugler have no immediate plans to move Colon over to guard. That was before the draft, but I honestly don't find any reason to move Colon over even now. The player to move inside would be Gilbert, if anyone. He does have experience at guard (even at Hofstra, Colon never played guard), which is part of why he was drafted. Ramon Foster may end up losing the numbers game. If you believe ESPN, Foster's a restricted free agent, which is wrong. He's unrestricted. Next offseason I wouldn't be shocked to lose him to Steelers West or Arians's Blue Man Group.

Honestly, would you be upset with this line?

LT - Mike Adams
LG - Marcus Gilbert
C - Maurkice Pouncey
RG - David DeCastro
RT - Willie Colon

Colon provides a good veteran presence for this group of kids.

The Ravens could not have moved up anyways. The Titans at 20 were locked onto BPA and they needed speed at WR, typically AFC teams don't trade with each other unless you have multiple picks in the first round and have leverage.

The Titans wouldn't trade with the Ravens or Steelers anyway.

Speaking of which, I miss the Titans being in our division, but I don't know who I would send South in exchange.

21 The Bengals traded to NE who took Chandler Jones. Belichick needs to patch up that abortion called a Defense he has up in Fuxboro.

If you ask me this was a typical dud draft from Belicheck. Jones was an extremely late riser who at the start of the month was a mid- to late-second rounder. Hightower, meanwhile, is not a good fit for their scheme. Belicheck has been praised over the years for taking "talented players and making them fit his scheme."  That's making up excuses for him. Any other team would be bashed for trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Hightower won't realize his potential in New England and will wash out just like every other defensive player draft pick has since Belicheck got to New England, with the exceptions of Richard Seymour and Vince Wilfork.

I also prefer our draft to the Ravens', and that includes our first two picks. I was not happy with Mike Adams at first, knowing his character concerns, but that was before I learned about the measures he took to patch things up. I don't think we have to worry about that with him, and he'll eventually be a good tackle for us. I really wanted Lavonte David, but we got a similar player in Sean Spence later on.

I like what the Ravens did too though. I question Upshaw's ability to be a pass-rusher standing up - he might have to have his hand on the ground on 3rd downs. He might do a great job of setting the edge, though, which if not for his stiffness in coverage would make him another Jarrett Johnson. He wasn't going to start this season before Suggs's injury, since the Ravens believe in Paul Kruger. Now he may have to.

You got it right, the Ravens are never going to admit the Steelers and Patriots took 2 players high on their board.  They moved up for Michael Oher but it has been an ongoing evaluatoin wether or not he is a LT or a RT. From what I saw out of our Rookie RT last year, I think Marcus Gilbert may be the steal of the second round last year. THe Lions saw something in Oher's game they did not like enough to take him at 20, they took  Brandon Pettigrew instead, at the time I thought that was risky.

It's worth noting that Marcus Gilbert was tied with Duane Brown for having the 13th best "pass blocking efficiency" rating in the NFL last season according to profootballfocus. Max Starks was 18th. Michael Oher was nowhere in the Top 20.

The Steelers have signed their fourth-round draft pick from the 2012 NFL Draft, nose tackle Alameda Ta’amu (al-uh-MEE-duh tah-AH-moo). Financial terms of the four-year deal were not disclosed.

Ta’amu (6-2, 348), who was the 109^th overall pick, played collegiately at the University of Washington. He started 42-of-50 games at left defensive tackle, producing 109 tackles (57 solo) with 7.5 sacks and 16.5 tackles for loss. He was named All-Pac 12 Conference honorable mention in each of his last two seasons and was the team’s Defensive Lineman of the Year in 2010 after recording a career-high 39 tackles.

-----------------------

That's from steelers.com web site...    Also SteelersDepot.com has the terms of the contract posted.....  One done- 8 to go... 

enjoy,

bb

The Steelers have signed their fifth-round draft pick from the 2012 NFL Draft, running back Chris Rainey. Financial terms of the four-year deal were not disclosed.

Rainey (5-8, 178), who was the 159^th overall pick, played collegiately at the University of Florida. He started 19-of-52 games for the Gators, six as a slot receiver and 13 at tailback. He finished his career ranked ninth in school history with 2,464 yards rushing on 396 carries (6.2 avg.). Rainey scored 21 touchdowns multiple ways: 13 rushing, six receiving and two on punt returns. He set the Southeastern Conference career-record with six blocked punts. Rainey became the first Florida player to record a rushing, receiving and return touchdown in the same game, accomplishing the feat versus Florida Atlantic in the 2011 season opener.

Rainey is the Steelers’ second draft pick of the 2012 NFL Draft to sign, joining fourth-round selection Alameda Ta’amu.

------------------

2 done - 7 to go...  Nice to see the steelers getting these guys inked...

enjoy,

bb

Anyone other than me have a player the Steelers passed on that you think will turn out to be a solid pro. My choice is obviously Justin Bethel. Codarro Law signed with the Seachicken Chits.

If ONE Pitt player can prove anyone wrong, I hope it's Brandon Lindsey. I like how he has a chip on his shoulder. Very surprised with all those pass rushers available in the 7th round they went with David Paulson. THey are very deep at TE already.

I like how he has a chip on his shoulder. Very surprised with all those pass rushers available in the 7th round they went with David Paulson.

--------------------

NY,

I was posting over on steelersdepot and mentioned Paulson and that you can time his 40 with a sun dial.. 4.93 at the combine - not good for a TE fighting for a spot for a position that appears very deep...  Some Oregon fan blasted me..  "He cant be slow - nobody is slow that plays for Oregon"...   I responded..   Oh yeah - even their Olinemen run sub 4.5 40's.... 

I think Paulson is a real long shot to make this team let alone the P.S.   Need to see Brandon Lindsey at the pro level - we'll be able to tell very soon if he has what it takes to play OLB for the Steelers..  He'll be going up 2nd and 3rd team OT's and TE's... also see how he plays the run and if he shows up on ST... 

enjoy,


b

I was posting over on steelersdepot and mentioned Paulson and that you can time his 40 with a sun dial.. 4.93 at the combine - not good for a TE fighting for a spot for a position that appears very deep...  Some Oregon fan blasted me..  "He cant be slow - nobody is slow that plays for Oregon"...   I responded..   Oh yeah - even their Olinemen run sub 4.5 40's.... 

In all fairness to the guy he did run 4.62 at his Pro Day. Not sure what happened at the combine.

In all fairness to the guy he did run 4.62 at his Pro Day.

-------------------

Wind aided and down hill?    Pro downs are set up for "Ideal conditions"....    I dont know the young man - but being fair to the young man ....  He's a long shot.....  I'll be real surprised if he makes the 53...

enjoy,

bb

Pro downs = Pro Days

sheez,

bb