His combine measurables were some of the worst recorded for a guy taken where he was. They merely backed up what I’d seen of him on film; he lacks the elite-level twitch that is required in the NFL as a pass rusher.

Maybe he can become a serviceable player so the pick isn’t a total waste, but I have my doubts of him achieving even that very mediocre level.

In all seriousness, congrats man. You completely 100% deserve this and I am happy to pay to read you and the other writers on this site!

Fine work as usual Neal. Keep it up (as if you wouldn’t).

The third play is unbelievable.

http://steelerswire.usatoday.com/2015/06/13/steelers-highlights-gifs-video-pro-football-focus-grades-2014-dan-mccullers/

I wouldn’t say I made a specific recommendation, I was just pointing out those few plays in one quarter of one game as an example of the kind of versatility the team has built.

“After reading some other comments, I must also say stopping the run and making a team one dimensional died a slow death last decade. On 10 Sep, the Patriots are going to throw the ball sixty times. They are by design one dimensional, but also versatile and precise.”

Tom Brady is one of the best passers ever to play the game. Using him as an example to illustrate a broad point that the value of forcing a team to throw 80-plus percent of the game is a tad self-serving. Overall, teams that throw that much tend to lose. Besides, if they’re versatile, how are they one dimensional? If you do it well, you do it well, but few teams have as sophisticated a passing game as the Patriots do – and they were 13th in the NFL in rushing attempts. Hard to say they ignored the run.

“The Steelers’ secondary needs to help create sacks by covering better.”

Couldn’t disagree with that more. Far more difficult to cover the receivers of today’s game for five seconds than it is to get pass rushers to land on the quarterback in three seconds. Besides, the Steelers are playing zone. That involves coordination, communication and teamwork more than individual skill. Simply “covering better” by mandate is fine, but quarterbacks complete a far higher percentage of passes from a clean pocket than when they’re under pressure.

“Seattle’s defense is the type to emulate.”

Just installing that scheme and developing the players to play in it would take years, a coaching staff and roster overhaul and a bit of luck. Do you want to waste Ben Roethlisberger’s prime changing out the entire coaching staff and aiming for 2018?

Defense is less about base packages today than it used to be. What Butler is referring to is sub-packages, something we’re going to get into quite a bit come camp. Someone else commented on this earlier, today’s NFL is about how effective a team can be with five defensive backs on the field.

If you watch the Steelers in their Big Nickel packages, they’re essentially playing a 4-3 defense. Heyward is rushing from the 3/4i technique, Tuitt is at the 7 technique on the strong side. Worilds played wide of Heyward, essentially where an OLB would be in a 4-3.

They don’t play in that exclusively, though. That’s why fans should be excited for this defense more than what most will be. It’s very similar to where the Steelers’ offense was around mid-season in 2013. You can see a lot of potential there, it just needs a little more time and work.

Ben was largely unstoppable against certain teams last year because the experience the offensive line, receivers and running backs had. That enables them to dig deeper into the playbook and efficiently run those plays. Instead of just one play and one check, Ben goes to the line with five plays, and he’s capable of calling the right one against the defense he’s seeing with full confidence the other 10 players know exactly what to do on those five plays.

The Steelers defense suffered the same issues with a lack of continuity as the offense did at the beginning of the Haley Era. Keep in mind, 2014 was Heyward’s FIRST season as a full-time starter (didn’t start until Week 6 of 2013). Shazier and Tuitt get another camp, McCullers provides much stronger depth at DE and NT than they had last year. They’ll keep more than three OLBs, including Harrison, who was in poor condition when he joined the team. Mitchell has another year and he’ll play alongside a more traditional safety.

To boil it simply, look at the last four regular season games. That’s a much more comparable look at what we should see from the Steelers’ defense in 2015. Take out Will Allen and Polamalu and add Thomas (considerably more athletic than the other two last year). Move Cam Thomas out for McCullers in certain packages…they have continuity and experience. Haven’t had that much recently.