Encouraging Signs

The early days of NFL Training Camp are much like MLB Spring Training: Hope and optimism are in the air. And why not?

We can't read too much into much of anything at this point, but early reports out of Steelers training camp are encouraging. By all accounts, the defense is looking fast, fast and faster. Rookies Ryan Shazier and Stephon Tuitt project to be impact players, hopefully from Game One. Shazier's emergence will allow Troy Polamalu to go back to doing what he does best. Tuitt will buttress a defensive line that got pushed around too often last year.

Markus Wheaton

On offense, the reports on wide receiver Markus Wheaton also are encouraging. Various observers report that Wheaton has shown polish, speed, good hands and a professional approach. He seems to offer everything that Emmanuel Sanders brought, and more, but with better hands and without the ego.

As reported by ESPN.com's Scott Brown, all this has not gone unnoticed by head coach Mike Tomlin and veteran receiver Lance Moore:

“He’s a detailed guy,” Tomlin said. “I see him not only working out (on the field) before and after but into the evening. He’s just taking a really professional approach. I think he understands what we expect and what we need from him.” 

“He’s definitely got all of the ability and speed and hands and runs good routes,” said Moore, who is entering his 10th NFL season. “He’s definitely going to be an emerging player. It’s a deeper [wide receivers] group than I think people would imagine because there’s a lot of guys that haven’t played as much ball but guys that are definitely capable. I’ve been around long enough and seen enough guys and I think we’ve got a pretty special group.”

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls would like to believe we have reason to be cautiously-hopefully optimistic that Wheaton is a guy who will do well enough to make us forget the high hopes we once had for Emmanuel Sanders, and his disappointing drops, as well.

Wheaton is neither Emmanuel Sanders nor Mike Wallace, and we'll take that as a potentially good thing.

What do we have in Markus Wheaton?

Markus Levont`e Wheaton, the 2013 third-round draft pick out of Oregon State, is being counted on to replace Emmanuel Sanders at the No. 2 wide receiver this year on the Steelers.

Sanders set a fairly low bar for performance. His drops came at crucial times -- remember the dropped two-point conversion on Thanksgiving night vs. Baltimore? ... the nail-in-the-coffin loss when he choked repeatedly, dropping several passes, as noted the next day on this blog:

"Sanders topped his first-quarter drop of a long pass right on the numbers by failing to catch another long pass right on the numbers, with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter and looking stupid doing it. Then, Sanders bungled the two-point conversion that would have tied the game. 

If the definition of "clutch" is to thrive and get better in the bigger moments, Sanders ain't clutch."

Emmanuel Sanders, in Baltimore

Points reiterated over at Behind the Steel Curtain:

"Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders choked throughout the game, dropping several passes, including a two-point conversion with a minute and change left on the clock that would have tied the game."

For all his shortcomings, Sanders was slippery, showed some flash on occasion and came up with enough catches to end up with 67 receptions in 2013 for a pedestrian 11-yards-per catch average (740 yards), a long catch of 55 yards for a TD, six touchdowns, 12 catches of 20 yards or more, three catches of 40 yards-plus. He had 10 kick returns for a very decent 28.6 yard average, with the longest return being 46 yards.

Sanders is gone, now, of course, having departed via free agency for the Denver Broncos. No surprise. As Scott Brown at ESPN noted before the last game of the 2013 season, "Sanders' well-documented drops have raised questions about his consistency, and his high opinion of his skills will price him out of the Steelers' range if another team agrees with him."

In 2014, with Sanders gone and with Dri Archer returning kicks, all Markus Wheaton has to do is catch passes. Will he be able to replace Sanders's production? Very possibly.

Let's take a closer comparative look.  Sanders and Wheaton have similar size. According to the official team numbers, Sanders was listed at 5'11, 180. Wheaton is listed at 5'11, 182. Subtract an inch and about 10 pounds, and you're probably close their real height and weight.

Sanders was a third-rounder out of Southern Methodist in 2010 (82nd overall). Joey Porter's Pit Bulls remember watching pre-draft video of some of his play at SMU and being impressed. He seemed polished, and he had put up numbers in a pass-happy offense. His speed was plenty good enough (4.40 40).

Wheaton was a third-rounder out of Oregon State in 2013 (79th overall). He came out of a pass-happy offense at Oregon State. He also put up good numbers, and his speed (a 4.45 40) is good enough to have success in the NFL. At Oregon State, Wheaton caught 227 passes for 2,994 yards and 16 touchdowns. That's college, though.

When he got to training camp with the Steelers last year, by all accounts, Wheaton looked very good. He showed polish and a professional approach to the game. During training camp last August, Ike Taylor famously said that Wheaton was already a better wide receiver than Mike Wallace -- just not as fast as Wallace.

Taylor also said of Wheaton:

"He's not playing like a rookie, he doesn't act like a rookie," Taylor said. "Of course, he's going to make rookie mistakes because he is a rookie, but watching him over the course of weeks, the guy is smart, polished. I can't wait to see him during the season."

That didn't happen much, mostly due to a broken finger that curtailed Wheaton's playing time and production.

This year, for all intents and purposes, the Steelers are adding a third-round wider receiver ... just one that was drafted a year ago. One plus is that he has a year being around the Steelers, studying and working with the coaches and other receivers.

Now healthy again, presumably, the questions for Markus Wheaton in 2014 are: Will he get open? And will he catch the ball?

To find the answers, we can go back to look at some of the things that got people excited last training camp. A nice report from Behind the Steel Curtain's Neal Coolong, offered at this link, pores over details of some plays he made at Oregon State, and they show a workmanlike approach and attention to detail that bodes well for success at the pro level. Doing it against UCLA is one thing, of course; doing it against the Ravens is another.

So, back to our original question: What do we have in Markus Wheaton?

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls would like to believe we have reason to be cautiously-hopefully optimistic that Wheaton is a guy who will do well enough to make us forget the high hopes we once had for Emmanuel Sanders, and his disappointing drops, as well.

Wheaton is neither Emmanuel Sanders nor Mike Wallace, and we'll take that as a potentially good thing.

Back to Work -- Training Camp

Enough of the summer hiatus. Time to get back to work.

Before we talk about the Steelers, how about Baltimore tight end Dennis Pitta's season-ending knee injury on the second day of camp? Pitta was probably Joe Flacco's go-to receiver as much as anybody, along with Anquan Boldin, and now both are gone -- along with a whole lot of other players from last year's Super Bowl winning team.

Before Pitta's injury, we were convinced Baltimore would be every bit as formidable as they were during last year's late-season run.  Now, we're not so sure, although they will be helped by the addition of defensive end Elvis Dumervil, safety Michael Huff and cornerback Lardarius Webb, who returns from injured reserve. Still, the loss of Pitta could really hurt them.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls have always liked Pitta. He's fast, smooth in his routes and has excellent hands. When he came out of Brigham Young, we thought he'd look good in a Steeler uniform and were disappointed that Baltimore drafted him, and not the Steelers.  Last off-season, we made the argument the Steelers should sign Pitta as a restricted free agent -- as much to hurt Baltimore as to help the Black 'n Gold at tight end, a position with quantity but some question of quality in the wake of Heath Miller's devastating knee injuries (ACL, MCL, PCL).

Now, with Pitta's season-ending hip injury suffered during drills on Saturday, the Ravens will be without their No. 1 tight end. They have another good one in Ed Dickson, but Pitta was better all-around, more reliable and more clutch.

As for the Steelers at tight end, well, questions remain.  Which brings us to the draft.

Heath Miller's knee injuries raise the question of when and whether he will return to full effectiveness. In the first round, the Steelers passed on Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eiffert and instead selected pass-rushing linebacker Jarvis Jones out of Georgia, despite medical questions (spinal stenosis) and a 4.92 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.  That 4.92 40 time, by the way, is the same run by fourth-round QB Landry Jones, a pocket statue who had all of 15 yards rushing last year at Oklahoma.

Having said that, our feeling is that Jones and most of the other Steelers' 2013 draft picks bring a tough edge to the team that was sorely missing toughness and leadership last year.  Jarvis Jones, Le'Veon Bell, Marcus Wheaton, Shamarko Thomas, Vince Williams -- all have reputations for toughness, and at this point, the Steelers need all the toughness they can get.  Maybe some of those guys will turn into team leaders, too.

Zach Ertz

At the very least, let's hope Jarvis Jones can cover Tyler Eiffert, who was snapped up by division rival Cincinnati in the first round.  In our book, Jones and Eiffert will be linked for years to come. Who will be the better player?

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls will also be following with interest the NFL career of Stanford tight end Zach Ertz, whom we suspect may be every bit as good as Eiffert, if not better.  As stated before the draft, we could have seen the Steelers trading down in the first round and selecting Ertz, who went to Philadelphia with the third pick of the second round (No. 35 overall).

Such a move, of course, would have left the Steelers without Jones and with a major lack of depth at the critical outside-linebacker position formerly manned by James Harrison, also now with the Bengals. Another option we thought might make sense for the Steelers in the first round was Florida State cornerback Xavier Rhodes, who went to the Vikings with the 25th overall pick. Rhodes has reportedly been a standout so far in Vikings camp.

Naturally, we hope Jarvis Jones succeeds in a major way. We hope he will be every bit as successful as he was at Georgia during his final season, when he led the college nation in sacks, forced fumbles and tackles behind the line of scrimmage. The Steelers need him to succeed in a big way.

We love, absolutely love, running back Le'Veon Bell -- loved him before the draft and hoped the Steelers would take him. When they announced his name in the second round, we did a big Yeah!, and then immediately wondered if they might have been able to get him later -- he'd been projected as a third or fourth rounder. Maybe, just maybe, he was overdrafted?  Possibly. Still, we're glad they landed him.

One of the many very good things about this guy: Le'Veon Bell doesn't fumble.  Bell had zero fumbles in three years at Michigan State. Not one. Nyet. Nada. None. Ze-Ro.

He starts Game One and solidifies a running game that was awful last year. We have no idea why the Steelers retained Jonathan Dwyer in the off-season.  Dwyer recently said he's lost 25-30 pounds in the past month or so -- which would have put him at 260-265 lbs. at about the time of OTAs.  Really.

To draft Bell, however, the Steelers passed on two other players we would have loved to see in Black 'n Gold -- SMU's 6'8" defensive end Margus Hunt (went to the Bengals, Round 2, pick number 53 overall) and Kansas State linebacker Arthur Brown (to the Ravens, number 54 overall, at 6'0", 241).

Margus Hunt's the guy we really hated to see get away -- he would have been perfect for the Steelers -- and Brown looks like he'll be a perfect fit in Baltimore. It is a bit worrisome that both Hunt and Brown went to our top two rivals in the division.  Hunt, especially, seems like he could be a special force for years to come, and if he blocks field goals or extra points that keep the Steelers out of the playoffs ... we won't be happy. We're keeping our fingers crossed Hunt and/or Brown won't be Steelers nemeses for years to come.

On the other hand, we have high hopes for the Steelers' sixth-round pick, linebacker Vince Williams (Florida St., No. 206 overall, 6'0", 247). Maybe Williams will have every bit as good a career as Arthur Brown. Or not. We shall see. Our feeling is that Williams is going to be a good one, and possibly very good.

As for the Steelers' third-round pick -- wide receiver Marcus Wheaton -- absolutely loved him before the draft and were elated the Steelers got him. He's a perfect fit here, and they got him in the perfect spot. He'll be terrific.

Speaking of wide receivers, our feeling before the draft was the Steelers made a mistake in April by retaining wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders instead of letting him go to New England in return for a third-round draft choice (91st overall).

We were hoping WVU wide receiver Stedman Bailey would be available and sure enough, he was. Bailey went to St. Louis with the 92nd pick overall (the very next pick after the pick the Steelers would have gotten from New England, which, interestingly passed on Bailey).  Intuition says Bailey would have made a perfect Steeler. We would have had both Wheaton and Bailey, and both would be under contract for four years. As it stands now, Sanders can become an unrestricted free agent after this season.

As for the fourth-round picks, we love the toughness safety Shamarko Thomas brings, but we're concerned about his height (5'9"?).  Might he have trouble covering the likes of Eiffert, Dickson, A.J. Green, Torrey Smith, etc.?

The other fourth-round pick, QB Landry Jones out of Oklahoma, eh, we have concerns about him.  The Steelers are long past due drafting a good young quarterback. But we're not sure Jones is the guy. Certainly we hope Jones leads the Steelers to the Super Bowl many times and cements his place in the Hall of Fame. We have doubts, however, and we also have concerns that Big Ben will last a full season -- ever.

Before the draft, we made the case for drafting Duke QB Sean Renfree, who went to Atlanta in Round 7, 249th overall.  Too bad.

Another college player we had our eye on as a potential draft pick was Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor, who went in the fifth round to Bruce Arians's Arizona Cardinals.  Taylor had a lousy Combine but compiled 4,300 yards and 40 touchdowns during his career at Stanford.

Well, you can't get everybody you want, and we'll trust the Steelers know more about what they're doing than we do..  

That's it, Fort Pitt.

The Steelers Should Trade Down

This is the year the Steelers should trade down.

We say that, of course, almost every year. But this year, yeah, this year ...

The Steelers should trade down. They have so many holes to fill that they would do well to add as many draft picks as they can.

On the other hand, the last time they had the 17th overall pick in the draft, Emmitt Smith was on the board. It was 1990. They traded down.

You know how that turned out. In exchange for the rights to Smith, a Hall of Famer and the NFL's all-time leading rusher, the Steelers secured the rights to Eric Green TE, Liberty, with the 21st pick overall, and Craig Veasey, DE, Houston, with the 81st overall pick, the last of the third round. Oops.

Fast-forward to April 2013. Should the Steelers stay put at No. 17?  Well, maybe. If, by some miracle, Lane Johnson, T, Oklahoma, is still available at No. 17, the Steelers should take him. Same with Jonathan Cooper, G, North Carolina. Both will probably be off the board.

If those two are gone, trade down.

Trade partner? The San Francisco 49ers have 14 draft picks (fourteen!) and want Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia, who just might make it to No. 17.  Probably not. In any case, the Niners are going to trade some of those 14 picks, which include two seconds, two thirds, two fourths and seven picks from rounds five through seven.

See if they'll bite: Our first-rounder (No. 17 overall) for their own first-round pick (31st overall), the higher of  their two seconds, and a third-rounder in 2014. They may go for it.

A trade with the 49ers would drop the Steelers 14 picks. They'd miss the opportunity to draft 14 players.  Not to say the Steelers will draft a tight end with their first pick, but is there that much difference between tight ends Tyler Eiffert and Zach Ertz?  We'd rather have Ertz anyway, although Eiffert will get drafted before him -- maybe by the Bears at No. 20.

That's just an example. We're just suggesting the Steelers should be able to find good players later in the draft.  They might not get Tavon Austin or Keenan Allen (WR, Cal), but with more picks later in the draft, they might be able to get a receiver like DeAndre Hopkins (Clemson), Stedman Bailey (WVU), Markus Wheaton (Oregon State) and, later, Zach Rogers (Tenn.). Any of them would help, presumably.

We're not going to like seeing Hopkins, Bailey, Wheaton or Rogers go to other teams. Those four are among our favorite players in this draft. Well, you can't get 'em all.

Another favorite, a bit later in the draft, would be running back Le'Veon Bell (Michigan State).  He'd also look good in Black 'n Gold.

As would defensive end Margus Hunt (SMU), yet another favorite, and a guy who some people project to go late-first round, possibly to the 49ers or ... the Ravens. Joey Porter's Pit Bulls have been pushing for the Steelers to draft Hunt and convert him to inside linebacker, and wouldn't it be sweet to snatch him with the pick immediately before Baltimore's? He will be off the board when the Steelers's second-round selection comes around.

Speaking of linebackers, none of the highly rated 3-4 linebackers available this year look like a sure thing. We wouldn't take any of them at No. 17.  Not Jarvis Jones (spinal stenosis, a 4.92 40).  Not Barkevious Mingo (great athlete, but maddeningly erratic production at LSU). Not DaMontre Moore (a lousy Combine and a lousy Pro Day). Not Ezekial Ansah (very raw and inexperienced).

Kansas State's Arthur Brown plays inside linebacker. Joey Porter's Pit Bulls like The Crazy World of Arthur Brown much better than any of those aforementioned linebackers, and we also like Brown much better than the higher-rated inside linebackers, Alec Ogletree (off-field issues, including a DUI the week before the Combine); Manti Te'o (small and slow; imaginary girlfriend) and Kevin Minter (a bit stiff, slow).

Other Potential Trade Parters
Besides the 49ers, another team with a lot of picks is the Minnesota Vikings, but they need to stockpile talent, too, just like the Steelers.

Guess who else has a lot of draft picks? The Baltimore Ravens. We can rule them out as a potential trade partner.