DOG: They Came From Alabama ...2010 Slanted Draft Analysis

Alabama's Rolando McClain

As you know, we're gonna slant this toward the Stiller point of view. But we're also going to take a look at some other folks who are going to make a pro roster next year somewhere. Because who knows, they might end up wearing the Black & Gold too.

First of all let me get this out of the way. I think the best professional prospect in this upcoming draft is without a doubt, Ndamukong Suh, the Defensive Tackle from Nebraska. He's probably not going to get drafted first but he should be among the first 3 picks. He can take over a game like young Joe Greene. Whoever gets him is going to have the middle of the field controlled for the next 10 years. That said, he ain't going to the Stillers.

So who are the Stillers going to take at the #18 slot? I think there is a slight possibility that the Stillers could move up a few positions, perhaps as high as 11th, if the situation presents itself and there's a player they want badly (like when they drafted Polamalu). I'm not sure the opportunity will be there. But I'm not ruling it out on account of how many 5th round choices they have to use as bargaining chips. And how they lost out on Eric Wood last year when the Bills beat them to him. So let's say they stand pat at 18 anyway.

My choice and my prediction is ILB Rolando McClain of Alabama. At 6-4 and 255 he's the perfect eventual replacement for James Farrior, who he'd learn from his first year. He's been compared to Patrick Willis of the 49ers, Takeo Spikes, and Ray Lewis. If we get him and he plays like any of those guys we should be happy. It's been said the Broncos have their eye on McClain at 11 so I don't know how bad we want him. But what if we don't get him?

Then perhaps Markice Pouncey, a 6-5, 318, center from Florida? It's rare to draft a center this high. But we missed out on all the good centers last year and Pouncey is perhaps even better than anyone in last year's Center class. And he also has playing experience at RG and RT. Knowing how important position flexibility is to Mike Tomlin, Pouncey could be our man if McClain is gone at 18.

An outside shot as our #1 pick is cornerback Kareem Jackson, (pictured below) also of Alabama . Most project him as a second round choice and that's entirely possible. But cornerback is definitely a position of need. And you can never have too many good CBs. So we might go fishing at #18 and draft Jackson. Although I believe this will only happen if both Pouncey and McClain are both taken before we go on the clock. All I can tell you about Kareem Jackson is every time I watched Alabama play last fall this guy #3 kept making play after play. Passes broken up. Open field tackles. Tackles in the backfield. Interceptions. The dude can just play football. I would be happy to see what he could do in Black & Gold. Has to be at least better than William Gay.

So who else looks good? At this point I usually just list a bunch of players I'm rooting for to become Stillers and the reasons why. They're either some of my favorites from watching college football or I sincerely believe the Stillers have an interest in them and there's a possibility we could wind up drafting them. This draft is deep in talent all the way around. So teams like us holding a high number of mid-late round picks can use them to get bona fide pro players or trade them to get a player they covet.

At Safety, another position we need help at, the two top candidates are Eric Berry from Tennessee, and Earl Thomas from Texas. Berry is too highly rated to last 18 picks in my opinion. It's possible Earl Thomas might be there if we want him. If we don't go Safety early then a later round selection could be either Myron Rolle, the Rhodes Scholar out of Florida State or Kam Chancellor a big hitter from Virginia Tech.

If we miss out on McClain we'll still be looking at an early round choice at ILB. And my guess is we've targeted Kentucky LB Micah Johnson at 6-2 258 as our man. I hear Tomlin likes him and that's good enough for me.

Another intriguing guy for the later rounds at linebacker is A.J. Edds from Iowa. He's an outside linebacker though. Silverback is beginning to get long in the tooth now himself and we need depth at OLB as well (since so many of our OLB draft picks do not seem to have panned out recently). This guy also doubles as a long snapper. Again, position flexibility.

Along the Defensive Line I think we'll be looking at a replacement for Chris Hoke and the eventual replacement for Casey Hampton. It's not a priority in this draft, but there are two guys who will be there in the mid-rounds that I think we should consider. The first is Arthur Jones (6-4 295) from Syracuse and the other is Clarence Geathers (6-8 300) from South Carolina. Jones is coming off a knee injury but was highly regarded before that. Geathers is a huge man who would also be a huge "project" if we drafted him.

On the offensive line, I still hold out hope we can get Maurkice Pouncey. If not then lets look at our other options. Jon Asamoah was an interior force at Illinois. If he's there in the 4th I'd get him. Another guy I like but he's strictly a LT is Miami, FL's Jason Fox. Both guys have injury issues though.

At WR, with Santonio Holmes gone, the Stillers might look to add some talent here. We've signed some free agents and nobody knows quite what to make of Limas Sweed after 2 years. So I wouldn't be surprised to the the Stillers roll the dice with a WR pick again this year. I'm going to guess they're looking at Arrelious Benn from Illinois, Marty Gilliard from Cincinnati, and in the 5th or 6th round, Jordan Shipley from Texas (who could be the next Hines Ward!).

For the replacement for Willie Parker, I just don't know. I'm sure we'll draft a RB. Not sure how high because I don't have a feel for how much the organization feels they have remaining since Frank Summers is coming back. There's much speculation that Mike Tomlin likes Ole Miss RB Dexter McCluster who was surely a productive college RB. But he's very small. I'm wondering if you're going small then why not use Stephan Logan. The other back I like for us but I doubt we'll get is from Mississippi State and he's a 245lb bruiser named Anthony Dixon. Stanford TD machine, Toby Gerhart, is one of my favorites too.

I'm going to skip TEs because I think they're off the board for us this year as are punters and placekickers. But I still have to cover QBs. Up until recently I would have thought they might be off the board too. But something is going to happen to Ben Roethlisberger. So we need to be looking at a QB from somewhere. If it's the draft then there's two guys we can get in later rounds who might work. First is Dan LeFevour from Central Michigan. I've seen him play and he's decent. Deserves a chance at a #3 spot or a practice squad role. Plus he's from the MAC. And we've had pretty good success with MAC QBs... Roethlisberger, Miami,O; Batch, E. Michigan; Leftwich, Marshall (I know Marshall's not in the MAC anymore. But they were when Lefty played there). And second is West Virginia's Jarrett Brown. He played behind Pat White his whole career. His skill set is more for a pro offense than the spread he ran at WVU and I think he'd thrive under Charlie Batch in a pro offense.

So that's my take on the Stillers 2010 draft. I guess we'll all tune in at 7:30 Thursday to see if I know any more than Deion Sanders. And Fan will still text "WTF??" to me no matter who we draft!