i wanna be like Pitt and GB

just a little draft history comparison to Pitt (last 10 years) (also comparing Atl, Bal, Gnb, Nor, Nwe, Nyj) (who cares what Det and Cle have done in the draft). simple comparison of what positions picked, not trying to grade the picks.

Caro – 82 picks, avg position 127
Overall, balanced in RD1, heavy on O in RD2 & RD5
1st round 2 Ts & RBs, 3LBs
OL – 4 picks in first 2 rounds; rounds 4-6 picked 3, round 7 picked 5
TE – only GB has spent less than Caro (highest a 3rd); Caro has drafted 6 in RDs 5-7
WR – in top 3 rounds, spent less than any other of the teams; no RD 1 pick (only other NE and they picked only 1 more in second round)
QB – no 1st round pick
RB – has picked 6 in 1st 4 rounds (twice as many as any of the others)
DT – has spent less than any other team (marginally than Pitt); only 4 overall
DE – pretty similar to PITT; 3 picks in top 3 rounds, 2 in Rds 5-7
LB – again pretty similar to PITT; 3 in round 1
DB – again almost identical to PITT RDs 1-5 but then we love taking more in RD7 (5)

Pitt -- 78 picks, avg position 133
Overall, balanced in RD1, heavy on D in RD2 (DE, LB, DB) & RD4, heavy on O in RDs 5 (QBs) & 6
1st round – hasn’t doubled up anywhere
OL – 2 picks in first 2 rounds; rounds 4-6 picked 10
TE – drafted Heath Miller year after Big Ben got drafted
WR – same as Caro except add in a low RD1 on Santonio Holmes
QB – Big Ben
RB – a #1; otherwise none above round 5; 6 in RDs 5-7
DT – no DTs in Rds 1-3 since 2002
DE – 2 picks in top 2 rounds, 4 in Rds 5-7
LBs – 3 in top 2 rounds
DB – 6 in top 3 rounds; Polamalu #16 overall

 

Positions are valued differently between a 43 team and a 34. That could explain some of the differences.

Caro also passed on Aaron Rodgers, IIRC.

 

Interesting stuff. The 6 RBs in the first four rounds is kind of shocking.

 

Where you pick and what position you pick is not as important as getting a good player with the pick. Drafting for need will sometimes hurt you in the long run.

The biggest thing the Steelers did right, IMHO is finding a franchise QB. After that it was getting Polumalu. He is a potential hall of fame player. He means as much to that defense as any player in the league does to his.

 

All this draft talk reminds me of yelling "Jason Witten!!" at the TV and then watching us pick Mike Seidman.

Of course I thought Keary Colbert and Dwayne Jarrett were great picks, too....

 

View attachment PittCar.pdf

 

View attachment DraftHistory.pdf

 

View attachment DraftHistoryII.pdf

Good Start = better than avg starter

 

somewhat true, but i think there's also a bit of draft philosophy as well as team philosophy apparent in the draft history.

a couple of glaring items is that the WR, TE, QB positions -- Carolina has spent by far the least in these positions of the 8 teams i looked at. considering NE picked up a pretty good FA or 2 that come to mind and Carolina never has done much of anything here and it's not hard to see why we have difficulty throwing the ball. also, if you take into account that 3 of our WRs weren't picked until last year in the draft and we really haven't spent the resources in the passing game. add in the number of running backs we drafted, and the high picks used on the tackles and centers, i think it easy to see the Fox philosophy and why we are where we are.

Pitt is a run and D philosophy but they have also invested in the passing game, spending #1's on a wr and a te. despite being a running team, they seem to think that they can find good RBs in the lower 1/2 of the draft though they did spend a #1 to get a stud. they also take their shots at DTs in the second half of the draft. but where we like to take guards in the last round of find them after the draft, Pitt is more willing to take guys in rounds 5-6. i think that says they value the guards a little more than we do.

anyways those are my thoughts. we talked a lot about modeling ourselves after them but i don't think we have. we have over emphasized the run game, forgotten about the passing game and gambled too much on the interior OL. obviously things are gonna change. hurney picked 3 wrs i'm sure to Fox's dismay last year and they have already hinted that their priorities this year are QB and TE.