Armchair GM – v8

By JB Steel
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Updated: October 23, 2011

2012 Little Big Board Preview

Okay, we are enough into the college season that I can start putting together my Little Big Board for the 2012 Draft. We are enough into the Steelers season to see that they seem totally blind to their biggest glaring flaws.

I think I’m getting writer’s cramp from typing the same stuff over and over again.

2012 Draft Preview

Rd 1 – CB	Rd 2 – OG-OT	RD 3 S	Rd 4 – OL
Chase Minnifield Virginia	Nate Potter OT-OG Boise St.	Tony Dye SS-FS-CB UCLA	Kevin Zietler OG Wisconsin
Alphonzo Denard Nebraska	Ricky Wagner LT Wisconsin	Blake Gideon FS Texas	Markus Zusevics OL Iowa
Dre Kirkpatrick CB Alabama *	Levy Adcock OT Ok. St.	Delano Howell SS Stanford	Al Netter OL Northwestern
Stephon Gilmore CB-PR S. Car. *	David DeCastro G Stanford *	Trumaine Johnson FS Montana	Michael Brewster OG/C Ohio St.
Cliff Harris CB-PR Oregon *	Riley Reiff OT Iowa *	Aaron Henry FS Wisconsin	Blake DeChristopher OL Virg. Tech

Rd 5 – NT or DB	Rd 6 PK	Rd 7 TE or OL
Dontari Poe NT Memphis *	Blair Walsh Georgia PK	Josh Oglesbay OL Wisconsin
Alameda Ta’amu NT Washington	David Ruffer PK Notre Dame	David Pickard OL S. Illinois
or	Danny Hrapman PK S. Miss	Alex Hurst OL LSU
Rashard Hall S Clemson *	Derek Dimke PK Illinois	Dan Barclay OL WVU
Trumaine Johnson FS Montana	Carson Wiggs PK Purdue	or
Blake Gideon FS Texas		Jake Stoneburner TE Ohio St.
		Tyler Eifert TE Notre Dame
* = Underclassman

As usual all of these guys could pan out, but I’ll just concentrate on the top candidates. This is pretty much the way I had it before, but here goes.

Rd 1 – Chase Minnifield CB – I know we are El-Stinko and El-Floppo with our O-Line, but I don’t see any Linemen we will be able to get worth a First Round pick. Keenan Lewis is emerging and seems to be out of Mike Tomlin’s doghouse, but we need more talent at this position.

Rd 2 – Nate Potter OT-OG – He’s a LT with Boise St. with a ‘Hey! Where do you think you’re going?’ attitude when he blocks. The only reason I’m not listing him as LT is that he sometimes gets beat by speed and I have a feeling Marcus Gilbert will eventually own the LT position. Wisconsin’s Ricky Wagner would be a great choice as well.

Rd 3 – Tony Dye S-CB – He doesn’t seem to get much notice at UCLA, but he’s good and a hard hitter. I’m sure he’ll get plenty of fines playing with the Steelers. I like Blake Gideon a bunch as well.

Rd 4 – Kevin Zeitler OG – From the O-Line factory of Wisconsin. These guys are so good because Wisconsin runs a pro-style system, they are excellently coached and the school only recruits the best talent. Iowa does a great job too. Wow, is O-Line talent the key to a successful Offense? Inquiring minds want to know.

Rd 5 – Dontari Poe NT – We have Chris Hoke as a solid back-up to Casey Hampton and Scott Mclendon as a solid back-up to him, but we need to look to the future here. So far our recent D-Line picks have played well.

Rd 6 – Blair Walsh PK – I said it and it already seems to be happening. The Shuan Suisham Great Self-Destruct is on its way. He’ been this way his entire career. We need a PK that’s dependable and not a total Nut-Bag. That seems to be a tall order to fill.

Rd 7 – Josh Oglesbay OT – I mean you’re really looking for a back-up at this point in the draft, the guy’s injury prone, but when he’s healthy he’s very good. I believe anything to get Jonathan Scott off our team would be a good thing. I know a guy, ‘Big Ed’ from the Southside, he could block better than Scott, and Ed’s 54 years old. Oglesbay is also a Wisconsin guy.

In Closing.

Wowers, Carson Palmer goes from one team of criminals to another. His career seems star crossed. With all respect to the Late Great Al Davis. Just Win Baby.

The 5th Rd seems to be my Achilles Heel. I nailed Joe Burnett CB and Frank Summers FB in previous drafts and neither of those guys panned out. I plan on doing a more detailed analysis of the top prospects as the season progresses. And who knows how many times I will reshuffle the deck. I hope it will be interesting..

The Steelers made no moves to improve their O-Line before the trade deadline. They are total Jack-Wagons.

Go Stillers!

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JB Steel

Armchair GM

A Featured Columnist for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Pittsburgh Blitz. "JB Steel" is the resident Draft Guru and the premiere Armchair GM here at the Blitz and is an avid fan of the Steelers, Pens, and Pirates.