Steelers Pre-Draft Visits And Defensive Prospect Brandon Williams Profile

With the Pittsburgh Steelers continuing to host pre-draft visitors through Thursday, one thing has become very clear: they will be focusing on defense in the 2013 NFL Draft.

The age of their defense has come into question before, but now it is a front-and-center topic. There were eight starters last season, including both safeties Troy Polamalu and Will Allen, who have at least eight years experience, with the average age of the starters being 30.55 years old. What's worse is that one of the young starters, cornerback Keenan Lewis, left for New Orleans.

The players brought in for pre-draft visits, like the Pro Day visits the Steelers made, were defensive heavy and were:

OLB John Simon (3rd round prospect) - Ohio State;
RB Christine Michael (4th rd pros.) - Texas A&M;
ILB Vince Williams (7th rd pros.) - Florida State;
OLB Jarvis Jones (1st rd pros.) - Georgia;
OLB Jamie Collins (2-3 rd pros.) - Southern Mississippi;
OLB Khaseem Greene (2-3 rd pros.) - Rutgers;
SS Jonathan Meeks (7-FA rd pros.) - Clemson;
S Phillip Thomas (2-3 rd pros.) - Fresno State;
ILB Michael Mauti (5th rd pros.) - Penn State;
OLB Malliciah Goodman (4th rd pros.) - Clemson;
WR Josh Boyce (2-3 rd pros.) - Texas Christian;
RB Johnathan Franklin (2nd rd pros.) - UCLA;
SS Shamarko Thomas (3rd rd pros.) - Syracuse;
CB Will Davis (5th rd pros.) - Utah State;
G Nic Embernate (6-7 rd pros.) - San Diego State;
CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson (3rd rd pros.) - Connecticut;
CB Xavier Rhodes (1st rd pros.) - FSU;
and LB Sio Moore (4th rd pros.) - Connecticut.

While the NFL of today undoubtedly favors the offense and is still a quarterback-driven league, it doesn’t mean that it will add up to a championship. With the New England Patriots’ 28-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the 2012 AFC Championship game, the team with the third-highest point total in NFL history (557) wasn’t in the Super Bowl. That means, per profootballguru.com, "seven times in league annals a team has scored at least 540 points and none of them have walked away with an NFL title."

Defense, even in commissioner Roger Goodell's vision of an Arena-league scoring NFL, still matters. Even if it's merely by forcing massive turnovers in a bend-but-don't-break defense, it still translates.



As far as any other possible pre-draft visits or potential defensive draft picks, keep an out for Brandon Williams of Missouri Southern State. The 6'1", 333-pound nose tackle/defensive tackle was a three-time NCAA Division II All-American who pressed an impressive 38 reps on the 225-pound bench with a 29 ½-inch vertical jump at the NFL Combine. His power notwithstanding, he is surprisingly quick for a big man and has good balance.

Per Scott Bischoff of Bleacher Report (I know, I know...), "Williams had an incredible senior season. He had 68 total tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, two pass breakups, eight quarterback hurries, five forced fumbles and a safety. Williams plays as a nose tackle, but is versatile enough to play any position from a 0-technique (lined up directly over the center), to a 5-technique (lined up on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle)." - http://tinyurl.com/d9janen

Bischoff also mentioned his ability to one- and two-gap against the run, and to push the pocket up the middle on a consistent basis against the pass - something a good 3-4 nose tackle should do. But, as was mentioned, he can slide out to the end in the 3-4 alignment as well. Considering the age of Brett Keisel, the inconsistent play of Ziggy Hood and the unknown commodity in Alameda Ta'amu, drafting someone who can challenge and even potentially contribute on that defensive line would be advantageous.

Missouri Southern also held a pro day for Williams. The standout defensive tackle was looked at by scouts of the Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, Saints, Ravens, Seattle Seahawks and most importantly the Steelers.

His stock is on the rise and could be found in round three...right where the Steelers just may find themselves with an extra pick if they decide not to match the New England Patriots' offer sheet that was signed by wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders. Something his quarterback doesn't want to see happen. - http://tinyurl.com/d7mlnbe

Hopefully, the Steelers decide to retain Manny, but they should ONLY do so if they think they can get an extension done with him by preseason.

In summation of the pre-draft visits, NFL teams are allowed 30 and the Steelers have had 18 confirmed. There are two others unconfirmed and more to be determined - at least three of which are supposedly defensive players also.

Catching Up On Steelers Pro Day Visits

photo courtesy of SBNation

The Pittsburgh Steelers' brain trust has been seen at various Pro Days this month, and If It Ain't Steel decided to revisits the visits. We touched on some in previous blog posts, but not all. Therefore, we decided to catch up all involved on those we know about.

To begin, each university has a Pro Day where NFL scouts are allowed to come and watch players participate in the NFL Combine events at their own school. Many believe that players feel more comfortable in familiar surroundings, and should therefore perform better. Generally, the bigger the football university and the greater the quantity of NFL prospects, the greater interest from scouts and coaches generated.

That said:

According to AP.org, and as we brought to you before, the Auburn Pro Day took place on Tuesday, March 5th, and Steelers linebackers coach Keith Butler was there and oversaw Corey Lemonier's linebacker drills. - http://ifitaintsteel.blogspot.com/2013/03/who-will-replace-james-harrison.html

What was Butler's assessment of the defensive end-turned-outside linebacker and third-round prospect?

"He said definitely I could play some linebacker," said Lemonier.

As reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Kent State Pro Day, also on the Wednesday, March 6th, was visited by Steelers offensive line coach Jack Bicknell, jr. He was there, along with three other teams' OLine coaches, to see Brian Winters and Josh Kline.

The 6'4", 320-pound Winters played both tackle and guard at Kent State and even made the All-MAC team. Kline is a 6'3", 310-pound left guard.

Reportedly, the Steelers sent their scouts to see the defensive backs at the Nebraska Pro Day on March 7th. They evidently also talked with safeties Daimion Stafford and P.J. Smith.

Stafford is 6'0", 211 lbs. and runs a 4.54/40. Smith is 6'1 1/2", 212-pound strong safety who runs a 4.89/40. Neither is highly touted, and will either be drafted in the last round or not at all. - http://tinyurl.com/dx8873g / http://tinyurl.com/bp3brjn

The Steelers' brass dined with Tyler Bray of Tennessee on Tuesday night, the night before his Pro Day Wednesday, March 20. - http://tinyurl.com/chpq9ka / http://www.govolsxtra.com/videos/detail/tyler-bray-on-uts-pro-day/

At the same time, though, this could actually be little more than a smokescreen. Remember that they did the same last year with Kirk Cousins of Michigan State. Could their reason for going down have been just as much for Cordarrelle Patterson? We don't think so, but time will tell.

Mike Tomlin was at the Georgia Pro Day on Thursday, March 21. There, outside linebacker Jarvis Jones was center stage. Reportedly, though, he had an unimpressive showing with a 4.9/40. The 6'3", 240-pound Jones didn't do well in the linebacker drills, either. - http://tinyurl.com/c2jy4e3

His draft stock has dropped because of the spinal stenosis with which he was diagnosed, though he has since claimed that he was misdiagnosed. Regardless, the addition of a quality outside linebacker is imperative now that, per Ed Bouchette and ESPN, the Steelers have closed the door on James Harrison's return. - http://tinyurl.com/d3txvml

Steelers quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner was at the Miami of Ohio Pro Day last Thursday to observe quarterback Zac Dysert, who draws comparisons to fellow alumnus Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. And why shouldn't he?

"I've always looked up to Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers," the 6'4" 228-pound Dysert said at the NFL Combine. "He grew up 20 minutes from me. Ben was always a big name in our area. It would be exactly like following in his footsteps." - http://tinyurl.com/btp8lru

Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert made an appearance Monday at the Ohio State Pro Day, a private audition for third-round prospect John Simon. Colbert was among representatives from "12 teams at Simon's workout, according to a report from NFL.com's Gil Brandt."

"The 6-1, 257-pound Simon starred as a defensive end for the Buckeyes but will likely have to make the transition to outside linebacker in the NFL." - http://tinyurl.com/c2ysege

Finally, as we touched on in our previous post, the Steelers will be at Tulane's Pro Day this week to observe yet another quarterback, the 6'4", 216-pound Ryan Griffin. That's three QB Pro Days now in a little over a week for a team who supposedly isn't in the market for drafting one.

The natural athlete, though, runs a 4.38/40, threw for 9,036 yards and 56 TDs on 836-of-1,396 attempts, and owns the school record for completions, completion percentage, attempts, and ranks second in passing yards and 300-yard games. - http://tinyurl.com/co6y4jl

That's what is known to this point on the private workout visits. If It Ain't Steel will update this post, or follow it up, if the Steelers attend many more Pro Days.

~

UPDATE: Just hours after finishing this post, Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweeted this: "@MarkKaboly_Trib: #Steelers player development guy Ray Jackson was at Notre Dame's Pro Day today"

Tight end Tyler Eifert? Maybe.

~

The Steelers were at the Texas Longhorns Pro day, presumably to observe the "Tavon Stopper"(refer to our "Playmakers" post). With the loss of free agent safety Will Allen to the DallasCowboys, drafting a quality safety (or two) is imperative since the only safeties on the roster with any real experience are Troy Polamalu, Ryan Clark and Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith.
http://nflspinzone.com/2013/03/26/pittsburgh-steelers-at-texas-longhorns-pro-day-kenny-vaccaro-an-option/

~

Another visit made this week was to the LSU Pro Day - the location of another safety, Eric Reid. Stay tuned.