Wolfley on the Rampage & Ask Ed

Good morning,

The Steelers are off today, so another old camp story and then a few of your Ask Ed questions. Chat today at 1:30 p.m. at post-gazette.com/chat. You can send your Ask Ed questions to me at ebouchette@post-gazette.com

--- I was chatting with Craig Wolfley at practice yesterday and it reminded me of what he calls the only time he snapped angrily at a reporter. I said I would tell the story and Wolf told me only, “Be kind.’’

In 1986, I spent my first full training camp at Saint Vincent College after making it only for the final several days in 1985, when the Post-Gazette put me on the Steelers beat late. That summer, Wolfley, a starting guard, tore up his knee and there was not much information on it provided by the team – how serious it was, when he would be back, etc.

Steve Hubbard, then in his first year covering the Steelers for the Pittsburgh Press, called Wolfley’s home and talked to his wife. He quoted her in the next day’s paper.

Shortly thereafter, as I walked to lunch I ran into Wolf, who was on crutches. I said hello and he immediately tore into me, up and down. He was so angry I’m surprised he did not try to hit me with one of his crutches.

As he took a breath, I asked him what the heck he was talking about and why he was so angry at me. He stopped, cocked his head and gave me a look. “Aren’t you Steve Hubbard?”

I was more than happy to say no, I was Ed Bouchette. Wolf nearly tripped over his crutches apologizing. He later did find Hubbard and pretty much repeated to him what he had said to me, without the apology. Wolf also never forgot my name after that and we have shared that story many times as he continues to broadcast Steelers games.

An addendum: Yesterday, while chatting with him, Wolf told me he had torn the ACL in his knee that time in 1986 and they gave him two choices: Repair it, which would end his season, or remove it and he probably could play later that year. He told them to yank it out.

Wolf also told me proudly that he returned to play 11 games that season. Again, he was wrong. He only played in nine.

Onto Ask Ed:

--- YOU: Does Art Rooney II have any kids? Just as he was groomed to take over for his dad, who will take over for him? Will it be a non-Rooney? I’m not too familiar with the different investors these days, so I realize the arrangement is different than it used to be.

ED: Art is the third generation to be president of the Steelers after The Chief, his grandfather Art Sr., and his dad Dan, who is currently chairman. The son of Art II, Dan works as a scout for the Steelers. He was a quarterback and is a graduate from Dartmouth and interned in the NFL offices for a few years before joining the Steelers’ scouting department. He is intelligent, grew up around football, knows the game and looks to me to have all the qualifications to succeed his father in the job with more seasoning, if indeed that is how they want to go when that time comes. But don’t be too quick to move Art out. He has quite a few years left in him on the job.

--- YOU: I've noticed that the Steelers seem to have a propensity to use high draft picks on players that lack ideal measurables and/or athleticism. Going back to 2011 when they drafted both Mike Adams and Sean Spence and followed that up in subsequent years with Jarvis Jones, Shamarko Thomas, and Senquez Golden; all of these guys either performed poorly in combine testing or simply lacked ideal measurables for their position. In fact, the Steelers brain-trust even make comments, post selection, on how if "Player X" had run faster, lifted more, been a few inches taller they'd be higher selections. I'm not sure I quite understand the reasoning behind those comments but isn't this a fool's gold philosophy? I'm not sure if the Steelers are out-thinking themselves or if this is a concerted draft philosophy but these kind of athletic/measurable player deficiencies tend to get exposed in today's NFL.

ED: Chuck Noll often said that drafting is not a science. You don’t put everything into a computer and have it spit out a draft pick for you. James Harrison went undrafted because he did not have many of those “measurables” and Brett Keisel nearly went undrafted as a seventh-round pick. Mike Adams had the measurables, he just got caught smoking weed or he might have been someone’s first-round draft pick. Shamarko Thomas was a fourth-rounder and by then, every team is making some kind of concession over the ideal draft pick, whether it be measurables or those that cannot be measured.

You should broaden your scope and not just pick on a handful of Steelers draft choices. All teams are forced to draft players who are not ideal in one way or another. You don’t like Ryan Shazier’s size at just 6-1? How do you like his 4.38 time in the 40, which would place him among the faster wide receivers in the league, never mind the fastest linebacker? Sean Spence, who is only 5-11, looked like a great third-round draft pick before he tore his knee up in the final preseason game of his rookie year. I also thought he played well last season in his first time back from that injury. Mike Singletary stood just 6 feet and was drafted in the second round by the Bears. I supposed you would have knocked them for that. Jack Lambert was so skinny, some thought he’d break down and could not play middle linebacker when the Steelers drafted him in the second nround. Both are in the Hall of Fame.

As for the Steelers draft philosophy, more teams would love to have it based on their success through the years.

--- YOU: Would the Steelers not have been wise to pick up La'el Collins in the final round of this year's draft? They could have picked up a player with a first round grade with their seventh round pick. More importantly, with Kelvin Beachum likely to test free agency after this season they could have had an economical replacement waiting in the wings. I know there was a lot of concern about Collins but that has passed and so did the chance to take a flyer on a first round talent.

ED: I suppose but they were not the only ones to pass on him in the draft. All 32 teams gave him the cold shoulder, including the Dallas Cowboys, who ultimately signed him after the draft to a three-year deal.