Steelers Draft Samford DT Nicholas Willams in 7th

The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the 2013 NFL Draft the way they started their 2009 and 2011 drafts:  by picking a defensive lineman.

The Steelers used their 7th round and final pick to take Samford defensive tackle Nicholas Williams. Williams is tall, coming in at 6’4” and weighing in at 310 pounds. It is unclear exactly how he fits into the Steelers system, although the site NFL Draft Scout projects him as a defensive end in the pros.

7th round picks face an uphill battle to make it into the NFL, but Williams is fortunate in that the only depth the Steelers have behind Brett Keisel, Steve McLendon, Ziggy Hood, and Cameron Heyward is Al Woods and Alameda Ta'amu.

Like the site NFL Draft Scout, CBS’s pre draft site projected Williams as a 5th round pick. Clearly he fell, in spite of his 8 sacks recorded last year.

It has been the Steelers custom of late to draft defensive lineman late with hopes of developing them, but that has not worked out so well (and as Ziggy Hood’s stunted development shows, drafting them early has not worked out so well either.)

However, Brett Keisel joined the team as a 7th round pick in 2002 and blossomed into a strong starter. Have faith Nicholas Williams, it can be done.

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Free Agent Mike Wallace All But Certain to Leave Steelers

A year ago the Steelers wanted to lock Mike Wallace up to a long-term deal that would keep him in Pittsburgh for the prime years of his career.

Wallace declined, feeling he deserved Larry Fitzgerald type money and opted to hold out in favor of entering the free agent market in 2013.

That time has arrived.

• Has Steelers Nation seen the last of Mike Wallace in Black and Gold?

Most likely it has.

Mike Wallace came to Pittsburgh as 3rd round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft and quickly showed himself as one of the fastest receivers in the league. Wallace in fact made one of the most dramatic catches of the year sealing the Steelers last second victory over the Green Bay Packers.


With catches like the one above (available as of 3/5/13) there’s no wonder his teammates voted Mike Wallace Steelers Rookie of the Year in 2009.

Santonio Holmes legal issues earned him a ticket out of town during the Steelers nightmare 2010 off season, elevating Mike Wallace to the starting role.

The question with Wallace was how would he cope with becoming the focus of opposing team’s pass defenses? Wallace responded by showing that he was a home run threat on any given play,

• finishing the season an astounding 21 yards per catch average
• scoring touchdowns on catches of 46, 53, 39, 33, 52, 43, and 56 yards

Mike Wallace's stat sheet indicated that sky was the proverbial limit. Unfortunately it wasn’t.

• The playoffs have proven to be Mike Wallace’s limit.

During playoff games vs. Baltimore, New York and in Super Bowl XLV, Mike Wallace struggled dearly to gain separation from the secondary. He only scored one touchdown, made two catches over 20 yards, and posted an 8.8 yards per catch average.

But Wallace again seemed to shrug that off in 2011 as he torched opposing defenses for touchdown grabs of 40, 81 and 95 yards.

But a funny thing happened in the second half of 2011. Antonio Brown emerged as a receiver who simply caught everything (this was 2011, remember folks), and increasingly when Ben Roethlisberger needed a completion on third down Brown became his go-to guy.

Wallace’s production dropped dramatically. To Make matters worse, Mike Wallace dropped what could have been a game changer in the 2011 Steelers playoff loss to Denver.

While no one has ever gone on the record saying this, a number of reporters have written that the Steelers management was concerned that Wallace’s attitude lay at the root of his drop in production.

The 2012 season confirmed that what the Pittsburgh Steelers have seen of Mike Wallace was what they were going to get:

• A legitimate “he can go all the way on any play” threat
• A receiver who stretches the field, opening routes for players like Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, and Heath Miller
• A player who can’t quite be counted on to make consistent or tough catches
• Someone, who by his own admission, “checked out mentally at times”

When Wallace extended his hold out into training camp, the Steelers wasted little time in signing Brown to a similar deal. Nothing they’ve seen has caused them to regret that move.

Scenario that Sees Mike Wallace Returning to the Steelers

Make no mistake. The Pittsburgh Steelers offense will suffer in the absence of Mike Wallace. Defenses were forced to respect his speed, as he could likely outrace between 90 and 90% of the league’s defensive backs. And often enough, Mike Wallace made good on his threat to score deep down field.

• Could he be back in Pittsburgh? 

It’s doubtful, but Peter King has suggested that NFL personnel professionals do fear that Wallace might have priced himself out of the market.

If Wallace really does insist on Larry Fitzgerald money he could easily remain unsigned after the draft, and by that time most teams salary cap space will be gone.

But that is unlikely as reports have tied Wallace to Miami and 10-12 million dollar a year contracts are difficult to turn down even for those greedy enough to expect more.

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Keenan Lewis: Reason for Steelers Nation to Give Thanks

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. It cuts across all colors, ideologies, and creeds. No on has commercialized it. It is one of the noblest of American traditions.

I sincerely hope that everyone reading this has many, many reasons to be thankful that are far more consequential than football or that have nothing to do with the Steelers. I certainly do, especially on this occasion.

However, as is tradition. Steel Curtain Rising takes a moment to find reason within the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise to give thanks.

In 2009 the Steelers were in the middle of their 5 game tail spin, yet the heart Rashard Mendenhall showed in saving a pick six in an otherwise ugly game at Kansas City was cause for thanks.

In 2010, Maurkice Pouncey, Emmanuel Sanders, and Al Everest and the resurgent special teams prompted Steelers Nation to give thanks.

Last year, as Hines Ward was waning, the clear emergence of Antonio Brown as a pass catching demon supplied the reason for Steelers Nation to give thanks.

Cornering the Market on the "Lake Effect"

For a long time the Steelers have searched and searched to find a capable corner to consistently man the slot opposite of Ike Taylor. Part of the reason was that the aging Deshea Townsend didn’t yield his spot as he was ‘supposed to.’ First he held off Bryant McFadden and then it was William Gay.

And while neither Gay nor McFadden were “busts” neither ever quite blossomed into a quality number 1 NFL corner.

In this 2012 campaign, Keenan Lewis is giving every sign that he’s well on his way to realizing the potential the Steelers saw in him when they selected him in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft.

• 2009 was a disaster for Lewis where back injuries kept him out of all but four games.
• 2010 wasn’t much better, as Lewis flashed in camp, then burned in preseason, and did little during the regular season.

As Rebecca Rollett from Behind the Steel Curtain reported, when Carnell Lake arrived as Steelers secondary coach, he learned that many of his compatriots had written Lewis off.

• In the 2010 preseason, Steel Curtain Rising we openly speculated that past history showed that third round picks were pretty much known commodities by their third summer camp….

But Lake was hearing none of it, and took Lewis under his wing, and as result of what Ivan Cole (also of BTSC) the “Lake Effect” Lewis established himself as a legit number 3 NFL corner.

2012 has been Lewis’ year to shine, as he currently holds a wide lead over Ike Taylor in both tackles and passes defensed and, perhaps more importantly, has come up with the ability to be in the right place at the right time.

For that Steelers Nation can give thanks (and then add a prayer that we don’t lose him as a free agent.)

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from "everyone" here at Steel Curtain Rising.

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Eagle Eyes on Keenan Lewis

The Pittsburgh Steelers take to the field tonight against the cross-state Philadelphia "Dream Team" Eagles in their second preseason contest of 2011.



For all of the moaning about preseason football (not that I blame those who complain about paying full price), these exhibition game are the arena where young men can take the first steps towards making their NFL dream a reality.



Everyone outside of the established starters is looking toward tonight as their take advantage of an opportunity that everyone boy who has tossed the pigskin fantasizes about but only a select few get a chance to make real.



But perhaps no one has more on the line for the Steelers than Keenan Lewis.



Keenan Lewis' play since being selected in the third round of the 2009 NFL draft has earned him more shaking heads than nods.



Tonight he can begin to change that.



The Steelers Eagles preseason game is not being show here in Buenos Aires (surprise), so Steel Curtain Rising is asking you to share what you see from Lewis.



Simply take a moment to leave a comment and share your thoughts.



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