Jarvis Jones: Glass half-full? Or half-empty?

Jarvis Jones is a glass half-full, half-empty kind of player.

If you think Jones can translate his eye-popping stats at Georgia in the SEC to the NFL, then you can feel confident the Steelers got a top 10 prospect with the 17th overall pick. In that case, we hope to see more of the playmaking ability that enabled Jones to lead the college nation in sacks, tackles for losses and forced fumbles.  

If, on the other hand, you are leery of Jones's 4.92 40-yard dash and spinal stenosis, then you are probably skeptical that he will carry over much of his collegiate success to the NFL. You probably suspect that Jones may have some spotty success with occasional flash plays, but be mostly overwhelmed, out of position and late to tackles in a relatively brief, disappointing career shortened by injury.

One other question remains to be played out: Can Jarvis Jones cover Tyler Eiffert?

That thought occurred to us immediately after we saw the Bengals pick Notre Dame tight end Eiffert (6'5", 250) at No. 21 overall. Those two, Jones and Eiffert, will face off twice a year and will be compared for years to come if only because the Steelers chose Jones over Eiffert, much the same way they selected David DeCastro last year over Wisconsin guard Kevin Zeittler, who went to the Bengals.  

Over the next three years, who will be the more impactful player? Jones or Eiffert?
 

Next Up
We'd like to see the Steelers draft at least one of the following players in the coming rounds: 

• Stanford TE Zach Ertz
• WVU WR Stedman Bailey 
• Oregon State WR Markus Wheaton
• Michigan State RB Le'Veon Bell 
• Duke QB Sean Renfree 
• SMU defensive end Margus Hunt 
• Kansas LB Arthur Brown 
• Tennessee WR Zach Rogers 
• Texas A&M WR Ryan Sproles 
• Alabama OL Barrett Jones 

Most of those guys will go in rounds two or three, so we'll be lucky if we get one, let alone two or three. Still, any of them would look good in Black 'n Gold.

Mocking Bouchette's Mock Draft
Oh, and one other observation: Although the Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette got the Steelers' selection of Jones right -- and he should have gotten it right, considering that he's the Steelers' beat writer -- Bouchette's mock draft was pathetic; terrible; embarrassing.  

Bouchette totally missed on what was becoming clear in the days before the draft, which was that the top five offensive linemen would go in the top 10 picks. Then he had Geno Smith going at No. 13 (Smith slipped all the way out of the first round). Bouchette also had guard Jonathan Cooper falling all the way to No. 18 (Cooper went to the Cardinals at No. 7 overall). 

Bouchette projected Manti Te'o at No. 23 to Minnesota -- really?  The Vikings were happy to select Sharrif Floyd, and Te'o slid all the way out of the first round. 

The taciturn, lugubrious Bouchette's dismissive lack of interest and corresponding lack of insight in the draft shows once again, as he went through the motions yet another year. Once again, he mailed it in.

No Clue

How can we possibly predict who the Steelers will draft on Thursday? How can anybody?

This year's draft has no consensus No. 1 pick, no clear-cut top quarterback guaranteed to go in the top 15, and as many as five offensive linemen who may be among the top 10 picks.  Those five would be Luke Joechel, Eric Fisher, Lane Johnson, Jonathan Cooper and Chance Warmack. 

Quarterback Geno Smith may not be the first QB taken, and he may not get picked until late in the first round -- or maybe even later. There may not be a quarterback taken before the Steelers' turn comes at No. 17 -- which we mention only because it means players at other positions of interest will go off the board.

"Risers" and "fallers" mark the cornerback crop, and Joey Porter's Pit Bulls are getting the feeling that Alabama CB Dee Milliner may fall to the Steelers at No. 17.  If so, should he be the pick?  What about CB Xavier Rhodes?  He'll probably be gone by No. 17. Ditto Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro.  

Milliner, Rhodes and Vaccaro are all prime candidates to possibly go to the Jets or Panthers at No. 13 or 14 overall, or to the Rams at No. 16, and we doubt any of them will be available to the Steelers at No. 17. If so, other players will get pushed down.

How about Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones? Well, if you're sold on his college productivity and can overlook his 4.92 40 and spinal stenosis, he will probably be available at No. 17.

Is he the best choice for the Steelers?  No clue. How about tight end Tyler Eiffert? Maybe. On the other hand, the Steelers currently have four tight ends on the roster, and Joey Porter's Pit Bulls are not convinced Eiffert will even have a better pro career than Stanford's Zach Ertz, who may be available to them in the second round and provide better value than Eiffert in the first round.

Lots of talent this year seems to be earmarked for rounds two through four, and it would be great to acquire at least one or two more picks in those rounds, hopefully to grab a player like Stedman Bailey (WR), Markus  Wheaton (WR), Le'Veon Bell (RB), Arthur Brown (LB), Margus Hunt (DE/ILB) or other intriguing prospects.

Our feeling is that the Steelers should trade down, and that Atlanta is a potential trade partner.  Really, though, lots of teams ahead of the Steelers also want to trade down, and it's possible the Steelers will not find a suitable trade partner.

It will be fun, and interesting.

Another Mystifying Personnel Move

On Saturday, April 27, 36 top college prospects will go off the board between Pittsburgh's 3rd-round pick (No. 79 overall) and 4th-round selection (No. 115 overall) in the NFL draft. 

For Steelers' fans, that will seem like an excruciatingly long wait. And each of the 24 players who gets drafted between the 91st pick overall and the 115th selection will provoke second-guessing for some time to come -- "The Steelers could have had that guy."

It will be interesting, and probably aggravating, to see who the New England Patriots select with its 3rd-round pick (No. 91 overall), which the Steelers could have had if they'd not matched New England's offer sheet to Sanders -- at nearly double the salary the Steelers had originally offered.

Maybe by that point the Steelers will have already selected one of the wide receivers we'd love to see in Black 'n Gold -- DeAndre Hopkins (Clemson), Stedman Bailey (WVU), or Markus Wheaton (Oregon State), Maybe, later in the draft, Zach Rogers (Tenn.), or another intriguing prospect.

What if running back Le'Veon Bell (Michigan State) is still on the board at No. 91? He might not still be there when the Steelers' fourth-round pick comes around at No. 115. What about an intriguing quarterback prospect? A cornerback, safety or linebacker?

The Steelers must have figured that any prospect likely to be available at No. 91 would not match the value Emmanuel Sanders will bring to the team this year (at $2.5 million). The Steelers must have figured that it usually tales a wide receiver two or three years to develop. Ben Roethlisberger clearly had a say in this decision. Whatever.

It's still mystifying, and more than a bit worrisome, that the Steelers kept Sanders. Before Sunday's decision by the Steelers was announced, the Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette spelled out very compelling reasons why the Steelers should let Sanders go to New England. A "no brainer" he called it, and we agreed.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls don't like that the Patriots dictated the price for Sanders. We don't like losing the 91st pick in the draft. And we don't like the likelihood that Sanders will go to free agency at the end of the season. Sanders hasn't been reliably healthy, yet he's shown himself to be, eh, middling productive, a fairly polished receiver with the occasional flash play. He's so so-so. And he's going to be here for only one year, at a price the Patriots forced on the Steelers.

We don't like it. We'd have let him walk.