Steelers Draft Needs: Wide Receiver and Tight End, Two Positions with the Opposite Problem

It’s a Tale of Two Cities for the Steelers tight end and wide receiver needs entering the 2013 NFL Draft. Both positions are areas of need, but for very different reasons.

• Speaking strictly in the short term, the Steelers do not need wide receivers. 

They’ll start 2013, assuming no injuries, with Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Jerricho Cotchery, and Plaxico Burress with David Gilbreath as a worthy contender for the 5th receiver spot.

• An NFL team could do worse with this front foursome at wide out.

Of course appearances can be deceiving and in this case they do. Burress and Cotchery are well into their 30’s, and recent restricted free agent Emmanuel Sanders is in the final year of his contract.

On top of that, none of the players on the Steelers roster at wide out is known for his speed, an obvious deficiency.  The Steelers must think to the future, and begin to reload their wide receiving corps, and they’d be wise to begin doing it early in the 2013 NFL Draft.

Troubles at Tight End

At tight end the Steelers have the opposite problem. Assuming Heath Miller makes a full recovery from his ACL tear, at age 31 he’s got a number of years of quality football left in him.

Behind him the Steelers have David Paulson, a 7th round draft pick who “overachieved” and looked quite good in 2012. Matt Spaeth is back and so is David Johnson, both of whom should be growing into their best football years.

Now, neither man is every going to be the second coming of Mark Bruener let alone David Casper, but getting just a little extra value out of the number 40 through number 45 men on your game day roster can take you a long way in the NFL

• The problem is that Heath Miller will likely not be available until late in the season.

That means that the Steelers need to find some way to make up for his 71 catches either through the tight ends, wide receivers, or through an improved running game or a combination of all three.

• Paulson, Johnson, and Spaeth are not going to combined for 71 catches next year…

…but the other two scenarios are plausible, but depend on a lot of “ifs.”

The Steelers can’t base their offense, not to mention Ben Roethlisberger’s health, on a series of “ifs.”

They need to upgrade at tight end, and they need to bring in someone who can help them relatively quickly or else suddenly get really strong at running back or much more dynamic at wide receiver.

• And therein lies the danger. 

Many mock drafts have the Steelers picking Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert at 17th in the 2013 NFL Draft.

Yet many other draft nicks say that Eifert isn’t good enough to go that high. Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Steel Curtain Rising is not fit to say whether Eifert is a worthy pick at 17, a reach, or someone so terribly overrated he'll be a bust in the NFL.

• But one thing is clear.

The Steelers have a need to fill at tight end, but they must resist all temptations to reach to fill it. The last time the franchise attempted to do that, Troy Edwards happened.

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Steelers "Loss" of William Gay in Free Agency Results in Compensatory Pick

William Gay is turning out to be the gift that keeps on giving for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A year ago the Steelers lost Gay to Pittsburgh West aka the Arizona Cardinals in free agency. Less than a year later, William Gay was headed back to Pittsburgh East aka the Pittsburgh Steelers. But he was gone long enough to get a compensatory pick in the 6th Round of the 2013 NFL draft, according to Behind the Steel Curtain.

• Adding to the irony of it all is the fact that Gay himself was a 5th round compensatory pick in Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert’s 2007 inaugural draft class. 

For those of you taking notes, Gay “loss” nets the Steelers the 38th pick of the 6th round of the draft, giving the Steelers the 206th overall pick.

The Steelers history with compensatory picks is checkered. On one end they've used compensatory  selections to pick players like Jahine Arnold and Tee Martin and on the other players like Antonio Brown and David Paulson have come to the Steelers via compensatory selections.

Spaeth’s Return Official 

The ranks of the Steelers 2007 Draft Class officially grew by on yesterday, as Matt Spaeth signed a two year contract to return to the Steelers.

The Steelers originally drafted Matt Spaeth in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft, but lost to Chicago as a free agent. Spaeth's signing had been reported late last week, but only became official yesterday.

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Steelers Resign... Matt Spaeth?

The Pittsburgh Steelers attitude towards departing free agents during the Tom Donahoe era was “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.” A player no less the stature of Rod Woodson left and wanted to comeback but were firmly told that the door did not swing both ways.

Kevin Colbert took a different approach welcoming back role players such as Ainsley Battles, Myron Bell, Tom Myslinski, Willie Williams and Chad Brown during Bill Cowher's tenure.

• But perhaps the word to departing free agents in the Mike Tomlin era now should be “We’ll see you again.” 

Two years ago the Steelers brought back Antwaan Randle El, Larry Foote, and Bryant McFadden. A week ago they did the same with William Gay.

• And now apparently they’ve done it again with Matt Spaeth, according to ESPN Chicago.

The Steelers drafted Matt Spaeth in the third round of the 2007 NFL draft. During his first three years with the Steelers Spaeth was primarily a blocking tight end who caught touchdowns when the Steelers threw to him.

However, in 2010 when Heath Miller was injured Spaeth struggled to perform Miller’s role in the offense, and left for Chicago via free agency.

In Chicago he was used again as a blocking tight end, and NBC’s Pro Football Talk sighted a Pro Football Focus evaluation that named Spaeth as the top blocking tight end in football.

Why Bring Back Spaeth?

The move to bring back Spaeth will likely underwhelm the masses in Pittsburgh, and for good reason. Speath is nothing special. He doesn’t even know Todd Haley’s offense.

But if Spaeth’s run blocking has improved as much as Pro Football Focus suggests, then he almost undoubtedly offers more than Leonard Pope.

With Heath Miller still ailing the Steelers opening day depth chart at tight end could easily raid David Paulson, David Johnson, and Matt Spaeth. That will scare no defensive coordinator, but could be worse one would suppose.

Post Gazette Reports Spaeth Signing to Occur Monday

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette's Gerry Dulac is reporting on Saturday March 16th the the Steelers will bring Spaeth to the South Side with the intention of signing him to a contact.

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