As the Steelers’ beat writers from the various outlets started tweeting out the thoughts of General Manager Kevin Colbert, I tweeted ‘blah, blah, blah.’
My first impression of the writers’ meeting with Colbert was as it always is; he says a lot without saying much at all.
This is pretty common these days among NFL GM’s and head coaches for that matter, obviously.
Upon my own further review, I went back and looked at some of the things that Colbert said and I believe he may have put his own job on the line with a rather simple comment. When asked about the 2014 NFL Draft, Colbert said “it’s as deep across the board” as any he has seen in 30 years.
OK, so maybe this is a stretch, but considering Colbert’s recent drafts, isn’t this basically saying that there are a lot of good players to choose from?
In other words, there should be no excuse for Colbert and company to miss on draft picks the way they have in the past. If the draft is deep and it has lots of talent then it should be the job of Colbert to make sure that talent is harvested.
I realize I’m reading a lot into a little comment but this isn’t just another year where Colbert can afford to miss on so many selections. Every draft is crucial to a team’s immediate and long-term success, but when you are swinging and missing as often as he has there have to be ramifications.
There is no question we as Steelers’ fans are spoiled by success. Two straight non-playoff years are testing our mettle. Another year without the playoffs will raise even more questions about Colbert and the first place critics will look is the draft.
If the talent is there Mr. Colbert then go get it.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @steeldad and follow the website at @SCBlitz. He can be heard Mondays on Trib-Live Radio at 730pm ET talking Steelers and is a blogger for ESPN 970 in Pittsburgh.
3 comments
hear
hear! hear!
1
Somewhat related… More underclassmen than ever have declared. I’d expect that to mean this year’s UDFA class should be deeper than usual.
Steelers did pretty well in that department last year I thought with guys like Embernate, Arnfelt, Dunn, and Woods. Look for them to hopefully hit again.
We all know Colbert loves to Bargin shop then expect Tomlin & LeBeau to cook up a 5 ? Meal. Its time to take the best 4 players to fill their top 4 needs especially if they plan on getting those holes on Defense fixd. CB MLB WR NT have no clue what order they pick um..I would like to have a DB or WR in the 1st 2 rounds just because I think they need top flight at each position..not some 4-7 round project that wont play for 2-3 years Ala Keenan Lewis.. Curtis Brown & Robert Golden.Would be nice if they could grab a Free Agent or 2 that could start on Defence..but when was the last time that happend? Ryan Clark right? But yeah..Colbert’s head is definitely in the noose ..now we just wait and see if the floor drops beneath him.