You are on the clock at #24

[TucsonSteeler]

My thinking is that there is some likely hood that most of these guys will be avaialble when we pick.  With the assumption that all of them are available, who do you think we will go with? 

Jerel Worthy: DT, Michigan State; Devon Still: DT, Penn State; Jonathan Martin, T: Stanford; Chandler Jones: DE, Syracuse, Dre Kirkpatrick: CB, Alabama, Whitney Mercilus: OLB/DE, Illinois, Mark Barron: S, Alabama, Andre Branch: DE/OLB, Clemson; Shea McClellin: OLB, Boise State; Courtney Upshaw: OLB, Alabama; Dont'a Hightower: ILB, Alabama; Peter Konz: C/G, Wisconsin; Coby Fleener: TE, Stanford; Kevin Zeitler: G, Wisconsin; Nick Perry: DE/OLB, USC; Chandler Jones: DE, Syracuse, Shea McClellin: OLB, Boise State; Stephon Gilmore: CB, South Carolina; Dontari Poe: NT/DT, Memphis

[Finnegans Wake]

IF those guys were the pool to choose from, they'd have to go BPA and take Barron, no?  Not really the emphasis of the pre-draft visits (OL, TE, DE/OLB) but hard to see the other guys on that list being graded higher.  JMO.

[aj_law]

Kirkpatrick.  Barron.  Hightower.  Perry.  Poe.

Didn't realize I was a closet 'Bama fan.

*puts on blindfold and aims at dartboard*

[Finnegans Wake]

Here's another way to do it.

We assume some guys are out of reach, but every year some guy we thought was out of reach starts to fall.  So make a list of 24 players, in order, that you would draft in R1 based on BPA and how they fit what we run here.  E.g., we don't need a franchise QB but if Andrew Luck's sitting there, ya gotta Aaron Rodgers him, right?  (Coincidentally, Rodgers did get selected 1.24 in '05.)  Some guys might be great fits for other systems that you don't see fitting here, or there may be players (Janoris Jenkins) you know damned well the FO would never take based on character. 

So go to it.  Do you have all of Tucson Steelers' guys in your top 24?

Is Luck your clear #1?

[TucsonSteeler]

That list was complied based on a review of 6-7 mock drafts.  I picked the players that were choosen 4-5 picks ahead of us and 4-5 picks after us.  I then took out the wide recievers.  That was my logic in thinking that there may be a chance that these players would be available to us.  So players like Luke Kuechly (my very first bromance, cute huh?) is not on my list as, according to the mocks that I looked at, he will be long gone.

I have had the chance to see Luck play several times when they came to Tucson.  He is the real deal no doubt.  But taking him or someone like him has the Steelers slipping into a rebuild year(s).  We would need to let Ben go/trade and Ben > Luck for the next two years or so.  I don't think we need to go into rebuild mode.  If all of the players are avialabe, hence we have the first overall pick, I am going with Matt Kalil.  For obvious reasons.

[Finnegans Wake]

Just for shits though, build a list of BPA 1-24.  Guys like Luck are obviously not dropping; it's possible, though highly unlikely, that DeCastro or Kuechly would.  Don't eliminate based on need/position. 

This is how the FO builds their R1 board...

[Finnegans Wake]

Here's my quick 24.  Some guys likely to be drafted in this range omitted because of personal dislikes or fit to our system; some of my rankings are perhaps a bit eccentric.  But the idea holds.  Overall, with position rank (in parens).

1. QB(1) Andrew Luck, Stanford
2. RB (1) Trent Richardson, Alabama
3. WR (1) Justin Blackmon, OK St.
4. OG (1) David DeCastro, Stanford
5. ILB (1) Luke Kuechly, Boston College
6. OT (1) Matt Kalil, USC
7. S (1) Mark Barron, Alabama
8. CB (1) Morris Claiborne, LSU
9. QB (2) Robert Griiffin, Baylor
10. CB (2) Dre Kirkpatrick, Alabama
11. NT (1) Dontari Poe, Memphis
12. DE (1) Fletcher Cox, Miss. St.
13. OLB (1) Nick Perry, USC
14. WR (2) Michael Floyd, Notre Dame
15. OT (2) Riley Reiff, Iowa
16. WR (3) Stephen Hill, GA Tech
17. CB (3) Stephon Gilmore, S. Carolina
18. OLB (2) Courtney Upshaw, Alabama
19. DE (2) Kendall Reyes, Conn.
20. OLB (3) Melvin Ingram, South Carolina
21. ILB (2) Don’t’a Hightower, Alabama
22. TE (1) Coby Fleener, Stanford
23. RB (2) Doug Martin, Boise St.
24. OG (2) Kevin Zeitler, Wisconsin

[kluisi61]

Just for shits though, build a list of BPA 1-24.  Guys like Luck are obviously not dropping; it's possible, though highly unlikely, that DeCastro or Kuechly would.  Don't eliminate based on need/position. 

This is how the FO builds their R1 board...

Right, but they do rank based on need/position. In that case, I'm not sure that Luck would be their number 1. Of course, if he's available at 1-24, then he probably should be drafted based on value, but he probably gets dropped down the Steelers draft board based on already having a franchise QB.

[Finnegans Wake]

Just for shits though, build a list of BPA 1-24.  Guys like Luck are obviously not dropping; it's possible, though highly unlikely, that DeCastro or Kuechly would.  Don't eliminate based on need/position. 

This is how the FO builds their R1 board...

Right, but they do rank based on need/position. In that case, I'm not sure that Luck would be their number 1. Of course, if he's available at 1-24, then he probably should be drafted based on value, but he probably gets dropped down the Steelers draft board based on already having a franchise QB.

Their method, my list.  This is how I'd set the 1-24, mo' or less.