Steelers Have 'Complementary' Players on Defense

Good morning,

Today, we kicked off our annual draft series of stories, rankings, mock, etc. with a story I wrote about how the Steelers put together their great defense of the 21st century, the one they now are trying to replace, rebuild, replicate.

It is not an easy ordeal. I talked to many people about it, including former coach Bill Cowher, who had a big hand in constructing that defense that finished No. 1 in the NFL rankings five times over an 11-year period and in the top five of the NFL nine times over that stretch. That truly is impressive. I also talked to Tom Donahoe, Kevin Colbert’s predecessor who was involved in the early building of that defense before he left in 2000.

Because of story length restrictions, others I spoke with did not make the cut, but some of them still had interesting things to say.

One of them is Rob Rang, expert draft analyst for NFLDraftScout.com and CBS Sports. Rang is among the best out there and I’ve leaned on his expertise for years.

Here is what he told me about the Steelers defense:

“I think they have lot of complementary players and not the superstars that they have from the offensive perspective, the kind you used to fear.

“A dynamic edge rusher I think would help players like Jarvis Jones become a little more effective. He’s not a dynamic athlete, never was. He’s an instinctive, productive football player that if you supplement him with a better speed rusher you will see him be more effective. That’s the case for a lot of Pittsburgh players.

“To me, one dominant edge rusher would bring a lot more fear into the hearts of Pittsburgh opponents.”

--- And here is more from Cowher on that Steelers defense, starting with the defensive ends of Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt:

“I think Heyward is good. I haven’t seen enough of the kid from Notre Dame. They have enough depth there. If they can get a good inside rush from those guys and Jarvis Jones has to be the guy they drafted. James [Harrison] will be a supplement; keep him healthy and get him ready for December and January, that will be awesome. You need to find another young rusher in the draft. Find a cover guy, and an impact safety.

“But corner or rusher, they are going to be every down players. High in this draft, they have to look at three-down players, and those are rushers and people in the secondary.”

--- Did Antonio Brown and his people send up a trial balloon on his attempt to get a new contract and his determination to stay away from spring workouts to try to force the issue? It’s possible.

I was told that indeed there have been plenty of discussions between Brown and his people with the Steelers asking for a new deal. However, no one from either camp has gone on the record yet saying so. Yet here is what Brown has written on Twitter over the past several days since those reports surfaced, including one from me:

“I’ll be there” was one, and the other: “Just enjoying my new born Ali can not wait to get back with my teammates!”

Other than a little punctuation, those messages seem pretty clear, that he, you know, plans to be here. What the players are doing right now does not mean much to guys like Brown – organized weight lifting, basically. I also understand that in the early-going of that program this week, there weren’t a lot of the front-line players there.

OTAs, or spring practices, mean more and the required minicamp will be the first real test of whether Brown is serious or not.

--- A few Ask Ed questions today:

--- YOU: Who do you think is the better cornerback prospect - Kevin Johnson or Byron Jones?

ED: I rank Johnson high among the cornerbacks – my rankings will be published Sunday – and do not have Jones in the top five. Others do for one reason – Jones’ workouts since the end of the season. Before the workouts, Jones was not that highly regarded. But he’s killed it in the off-season and has the size (6-1, 200) to go with it. He may even sneak into the first round. I’m not putting him in my top five because he did better the past few months than he did last fall.

--- YOU: So, if for some reason, Antonio does not suit up for the first regular season game, does that automatically end his record of consecutive games with at least 5/50 or do only the games in which he starts count?

ED: No, Joe DiMaggio’s – I mean Antonio Brown’s “record” – will remain ongoing as long as he does not play. It’s not a matter of whether he starts.

--- YOU: I think I read in your chat that you’re not sure you like cornerbacks Peters, Collins and Johnson. Since Waynes is probably going to be long gone, do you like Jones and Rowe, and if so, who do you like better?

ED: It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s that I am starting to believe that by the time the Steelers draft No. 22, they might get better value with a pass rusher than they will a cornerback and they can grab the corner in the second round.

While a handful of corners could go in the first round, evaluators believe they are not the top-flight first-round corners of the past and would normally have second-round grades on them at best. But the NFL has become such a passing league that everyone is looking for corners, and the Steelers are looking harder than most. Listening to the draft analysts, though, I think you can get nearly as good a corner in the second round and you won’t get nearly as good of a pass rusher there as they might be able to get at No. 22. And, I think the Steelers like Eric Rowe.