Column: Steelers’ worn path not working out

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Bud Dupree holds up his new Steelers jersey with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell Thursday in Chicago. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

Alvin Dupree, or Bud, as he’s been known since he was big enough to tell kids to stop calling him Alvin, sounds like a sensationally nice kid.

He’s also a superb athletic specimen at 6 feet 4, 264 pounds, with speed and strength and, per his performance at the NFL Scouting Combine, he can long-jump from here to Long Island.

So yeah, maybe, just maybe the Steelers got a good one.

Maybe Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin will come up roses for investing their first-round pick in the NFL Draft last night, No. 22 overall, on this highly decorated outside linebacker from the University of Kentucky, and maybe Colbert will be vindicated eventually for declaring to us assembled media afterward, “This is a gift for us” and “We didn’t expect him to be there at 22,” or Tomlin for describing Dupree as a “unique animal.”

But for right now, I’ll stand safely alongside what’s presumably the bulk of the Nation as a whole and wonder aloud exactly how long the linebacker position will be prioritized before this the cosmic black hole that the defensive secondary has become.

I’ll just let it out: I’m sick of linebackers.

I’m sick of linebacker after linebacker after linebacker being taken in the first round of the draft, which last happened as recently as, oh, right now:

Steelers draft-1

I’m sick of hearing that one linebacker is “special,” as Colbert deemed Jarvis Jones, and that the next linebacker breathes “rare air,” as Tomlin breathlessly spoke of Ryan Shazier, only to watch both look terribly ordinary once they unpacked at Saint Vincent.

I’m sick of starting linebackers retiring at age 27.

I’m sick of linebackers un-retiring at age 36, then somehow starting.

And all I did as the picks passed in this round, other than to raptly appreciate Roger Goodell being booed with equal gusto anywhere for any reason, was to count the vanishing cornerbacks:

Trae Waynes, Michigan State, 11th overall to the Vikings.

Kevin Johnson, Wake Forest, 16th to the Texans.

Marcus Peters, Washington, 18th to the Chiefs.

Drip, drip, drip. And that last one was the dagger, especially in the context that the thought should be perished that the Steelers could trade up. Peters had made a mess of his time with the Huskies and eventually was kicked off the team by the coaching staff because he didn’t seem to welcome being coached. But kids mature, the versions of that drama varied enough to cast some doubt and, above all, this is a corner that experts concur can flat-out cover. Maybe Andy Reid will make a player of him.

Maybe Tomlin and staff could have, too. We’ll never know.

We’ll also never know their real preference in this round. Every indication was that this time, honestly and truly, they sought a corner. That they’d seen the light at long last. That they finally looked at their depth chart in the secondary, took a deep breath and succumbed to the cold reality of owning the NFL’s most dynamic passing offense and one of its worst passing defenses.

At least that would be nice to think. Because from there, one could be convinced that they’ll take that exact approach into the second and third rounds Friday, even though those three corners are gone, as well as Byron Jones, Connecticut, 27th to the Cowboys.

We’ll see.

Colbert was asked, for seemingly the zillionth time in this setting, why he took another linebacker over a corner, and he was predictably prepared for it: “Again, we didn’t expect Dupree to be there at 22. That was a very easy selection. As we say all the time, we’re never going to lock ourselves into any position. We want good football players. Bud Dupree certainly fits that category.”

We’ll see about that, too.

It’s not just that the book is out on Dupree. It’s that the storyline is all over the place. Expert reviews range from his having no-doubt, top-10 talent to performing well only against lesser linemen. If you’re among the dozen or so who watched CBS Sports’ coverage of the draft, you saw that panel give the Steelers an A+ grade, with Pete Prisco glowing that Dupree “never should have fallen that far with all that ability.” If you subscribe to the statheads at Pro Football Focus, you’d have read their staff label Dupree “as bad a pick as has been made, based solely on tape. Dupree is a tremendous athlete, but he’s far from a tremendous football player at this point. He generated his pressure at Kentucky beating up on bad tackles and wasn’t all that productive. He’s going to need an awful lot of coaching up on a Steelers team that’s desperate for some pass rush now.”

That’s now as in now, mind you. The Steelers’ 33 sacks last season marked their lowest total since 1989, and Jason Worilds just walked off with 7 1/2 of those. So the need at that position is real, too, even if not as overarching as the one at corner.

But if that need is real and it’s now, then why go for a project like Dupree, who might need the same year or two we’ve seen allotted to Jones and Shazier?

The offense isn’t exactly in wait-and-see mode. It’s already dynamite, and it might be second to none if Martavis Bryant takes off as expected. Windows in the NFL don’t last long, and this one is as wide open as an Antonio Brown slant. The time to shore up that defense is now. And it says here that the best way to have done that was with a plug-and-play cover corner, who could have made a difference now and, given the need at the position, deep into the future, too.

It’s possible that only Waynes could offer that from this class of corners. But at worst, any corner could have been eased in with the nickel and still played more than Dupree likely will.

At best?

Well, let’s just say the Steelers’ well-worn path here isn’t working. And it’s past time to consider that getting to the passer doesn’t mean nearly as much as it once did in this dink-and-dunk day and age of quarterbacks zipping 5-yard strikes in less than 1.5 seconds.

Again, to be fair, Dupree seems wonderful.

On the field, in 47 games for Kentucky, he recorded 23.5 sacks, second-most in school history, as well as 38 tackles for a loss, four forced fumbles and a game-winning interception this past season against South Carolina.

Highlights from Kentucky’s official page:

Beyond that, unlike most pure pass rushers, he also finished second on the team with 74 tackles, an encouraging sign that he can seal the edge in the running game.

I asked Colbert about that specifically, and the GM heaped on even more praise: “He is very, very strong at the point of attack. That’s why, really, when you watch him work out as we did at his pro day, you had to keep reminding yourself that this guy is 6 feet 4 and 269. He doesn’t look that big until you get up close to him. He can surely play the point. He can power rush. He can speed rush. He can put moves together. He can rush off of two feet or out of a three-point stance. And he can cover. So really this is a gift for us to be able to get this guy at 22.”

It wasn’t just the Steelers who loved Dupree at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis a couple months ago. Listen to the commentators during his 40-yard dash:

Tomlin was equally effusive about the intangible impression Dupree made on March 12, when those two went to dinner the night before Kentucky’s pro day: “He had a lot of questions about James Harrison, not only the player but also the professional. He asked a lot about his workout regimen and things of that nature. He asked good questions for a young man.”

Dupree didn’t speak excessively on his conference call with us Pittsburgh media types, as Tomlin had predicted, but he made his points.

• On winding up with the Steelers: “It was a great surprise. It’s still a shock because I really talked to the coaches only one time at pro day, so when they called my name it was great.”

• On why he writes the word ‘SAVAGE’ on his wrist: “You want to see it every day and make sure you don’t just talk about it. So I put it on my wrist, so it’s with me all the time.”

• On waiting in the infamous green room as he kept dropping: “It was a horrible wait. But I think I’m in the right position. I’m glad that Coach Tomlin gave me a chance, and I will prove them right.”

It’s OK, young man. A whole lot of others are still waiting impatiently.