Happy Friday to yinz and as usual, I hope this weekly Friday night post finds everyone happy and healthy.
Usually at this point off the offseason we’re beginning to discuss players the Pittsburgh Steelers are bringing in for pre-draft visits. However, thanks to coronavirus pandemic, that’s not the case this year. Having that list of 30 pre-draft visitors, along with knowing the pro days attended by general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin, sure is nice to have from a clues standpoint. I certainly do miss that part of the pre-draft process this year. However, with it now being the month April the 2020 NFL Draft will be here before we know it.
We still have several more player draft profiles coming in the next several weeks so please be on the lookout for those. Several more Steelers mock drafts are on the way as well and I hope to have my latest offering up this weekend.
As usual, I have five questions for yinz to answer on this Friday night and I look forward to reading the responses.
Have a great rest of the weekend, please stay safe and continue to practice social distancing as best as you can and keep your hands washed.
Thank you to all of you who visited the site this past week.
Peace and love!
1 – In the most recent version of their 2020 NFL Draft guide, Pro Football Focus has their top five running backs in this year’s class listed as below. How would you rank these five running backs?
Zack Moss – Utah
D’Andre Swift – Georgia
Jonathan Taylor – Wisconsin
J.K. Dobbins – Ohio State
Clyde Edwards-Helaire – LSU
2 – Between Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, which one is most-likely to win the 2020 AP Defensive Player of the Year award?
3 – What is the most important attribute/skill set an NFL running back should have?
4 – True or false: The Steelers tight ends will combine to catch more than 65 passes in 2020.
5 – Name the quarterbacks you would rank ahead of Steelers Ben Roethlisberger for 2020 right now.
Recap of 2020 Last Weekend of March Friday Night 5 Questions from David Orochena:
Question 1: Now that we got signings such as Eric Ebron done, 85.7% of Steelers Depot respondents do not believe the Steelers will sign a free agent player with a first-year salary cap charge greater than $1 million. The XFL is fertile ground for giving folks a shot at making the roster. During a telephone conference to fans, Kevin Colbert mentioned that there may not be as many undrafted free agent coming straight out of college since the quarantine prevented the Steelers from getting to know many players outside those that will be drafted.
Question 2: After signing FB Derek Watt, OL Stefen Wisniewski, DL Chris Wormley and TE Eric Ebron, folks laid out their priorities by position in the draft. Based on numbers of mentions and average ranking respondents believe the Steelers top four positional needs in the 2020 NFL draft from greatest to least are offensive line, safety, defensive line, and OLB/edge. Many split the offensive line needs into interior linemen or tackle. But clearly the loss of Ramon Foster and B.J. Finney has people concerned. Plus, some of the current veteran linemen may be approaching the end of their career in Pittsburgh in the next couple seasons. We also lost depth at safety with Sean Davis heading to greener pastures. On the defensive line many folks specified a nose tackle. OLB/edge was the fourth priority. Position groups that were mentioned but were lower in priority due to less mentions were wide receiver, ILB, and running back. Will be interesting to see how close the actual draft matches our priorities.
Question 3: We are bullish on Eric Ebron. 76.2% took the over on 35.5 receptions for Ebron in 2020.
Question 4: We believe even stronger that Ebron will still be a Steeler one year from now. 90.5% said he would. The two-year contract he signed may be influencing our optimism. He does sound happy to be wearing the black and gold.
Question 5: Sorry Dave. It was a close vote but 55% said NO to the Steelers wearing all-white uniforms for at least one game this season. As someone pointed out, the Steelers colors are black and gold. Which of course triggered the debate is it gold or yellow? Too much time on our hands these days.
Folks make sure to listen to the Terrible Podcast. Dave and Alex are doing yeoman’s work delivering Steelers discussion to yinz while we hunker down during the coronavirus pandemic. Hope all is well with you and no one has gotten sick. Take care and remember – keep that social distance.
