"Free Hernandez" Distraction Not Helpful to Steelers, Maurkice Pouncey

Heading into the 2010 NFL Draft the Pittsburgh Steelers had their sights firmly set on one man:  Maurkice Pouncey. Their infatuation with Pouncey was so strong that Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Steelers beat writer Ed Bouchette said and never wavered in his prediction that the Steelers would take Pouncey long before the draft.

Pouncey gave the Steelers a lot to like, from a talent, leadership and character perspective. The Steelers went ahead and selected Pouncey with their first round pick, and have not looked back since as Pouncey won the starting job in training camp pushing veteran Justin Hartwig out of both his starting slot and his job.

Pouncey has started every game he has been healthy for since 2010, including shifting to guard for the Steelers upset road victory over the Baltimore Ravens with Charlie Batch under center.

Lately Pouncey has been in the news, and not necessarily for the right reasons. Court documents indicate that Pouncey, along with twin brother Mike Pouncey in addition to Tim Tebow, were present several years ago with Aaron Hernandez at a party in Florida where an alleged shooting took place.

And just this past weekend the website Deadspin published photos of both Pouncey’s wearing “Free Hernandez” hats.

Let’s be clear on one thing:

• However damming the public evidence may be, Aaron Hernandez has been convicted of nothing.

And, from a certain standpoint, the desire of Pouncey to stand by a teammate is admirable.

Admirable or not, a more realistic perspective dictates that this is however one story which it is not wise to associate one’s self.

And clearly the Pittsburgh Steelers do not want or need one of their team leaders associated, even indirectly, associated with someone who is being implicated in multiple murders.

Clearly, the Steelers success or failure in 2013 has little to do whatever type of hat Maurkice Pouncey wears while at a private birthday party. But an unwanted distraction it is especially with training camp around the corner.

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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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Steelers Draft Needs: Offensive Line - A Bigger Need Area than You Think...

For several years, partially due to no fault of their own, the Steelers philosophy of offensive line building was “plug and patch.” The Steelers went from five years from 2005 to 2010 without using a premium pick on offensive line.

• And during that span they ended in two Super Bowls with undrafted rookie free agents starting on their offensive line.

As Steel Curtain Rising observed a year ago, it was almost as if the Steelers were defying gravity – winning in spite of a poor offensive line. But the house eventually began winning its money back in and Ben Roethlisberger was left to foot the bill.

The Steelers reacted by drafting

• Maurkice Pouncey, center, in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft
• Marcus Gilbert, tackle in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft
• David DeCastro, guard, in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft
• Mike Adams, tackle, in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft

Unfortunately, for much of 2012 it appeared their efforts were all for nought. David DeCastro got hurt in training camp. Early on run blocking was woeful. Willie Colon had trouble transitioning to guard.

• For a brief spell the line improved, and the Steelers, dare we say, had the look of a Super Bowl contender.

But then Willie Colon got hurt (again). Mike Adams was injured at times, Marcus Gilbert, after injuring so many team mates, got injured himself, and appeared to have regressed before that.

And by the time the Steelers headed to Baltimore for a late season show down, Pouncey was playing guard, Doug Legursky was playing center, Kelvin Beachum was starting it was musical chairs on the offensive line, a tune Steelers Nation got oh too familiar with in 2008, 2010, and 2011.

All of this goes to show you that the offensive line remains a need for the Steelers in the 2013 Draft. Willie Colon is gone. Doug Legursky may not be brought back, and Marcus Gilbert has some people worried.

• Is offensive line the most pressing draft priority for the Steelers?

No, and this is something that has been true for a long time.

But if a quality tackle or guard falls to the Steelers in the 2nd or 3rd that they expected to be gone and has a much higher grade than everyone else on the board, the Steelers would be foolish to ignore him.

The Mike Tomlin era has made one lesson abundantly clear:

• You can never have enough quality offensive lineman.

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