Many fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers often make a very understandable mistake when they discuss the 2013 NFL Draft. More often than not, I hear people say “I can’t believe the Steelers traded a third-round pick for Landry Jones!”
The Steelers did in fact trade a third-round pick but it wasn’t for Jones. They made the trade with Cleveland to move up and grab safety Shamarko Thomas. Jones was drafted with their original pick in the fourth round.
Regardless of how things went down, I believe the Steelers will regret losing that third round draft pick in this year’s draft. With such a deep pool of talent this year, especially in areas where the Steelers need help, not having a selection in the third round will hurt.
Moving up to get a safety they coveted wasn’t the problem. If you see a guy you want and have a chance to go get him then you do it. My issue is that following that selection up with such a useless, unnecessary pick is what grinds my gears.
The argument is that the Steelers needed to get younger at the quarterback position. You’ll get no argument from me on that but this could have been accomplished in the sixth or seventh round or in free agency.
With needs on the offensive and defensive lines, in the secondary and a need for depth at tight end, Kevin Colbert blew it by taking Jones. He showed very little in the way of being a potential NFL quarterback during his preseason playing time.
I know one discussion I had with some fans was that maybe they drafted him in order to trade him later on for a second or third round pick. This is the same discussion the Patriots and Redskins have had about Kirk Cousins and Ryan Mallett. It was thought those guys could fetch a second-round pick from a quarterback-desperate team but that isn’t happening.
Maybe Landry Jones will go on to a solid NFL career and if he does I’ll gladly eat my words, but I don’t see it happening. Even if that does come to fruition, the selection was a poor one especially knowing they had already traded away the third-round pick for this year.
Should the Steelers get the compensatory picks they are hoping for, it’s possible they could package enough selections to get the third-round pick back.
Either way, a poor decision in 2013 is leading to problems in 2014.
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.
8 comments
They will be receiving a third and a fourth for wallace and lewis, how are you not up on ypour homework
You’ll have to forgive my perceived homework error Patrick. Actually, there is no guarantee that the Steelers will get a third rounder for Wallace. The NFL keeps the formula for figuring these very private. Under past instances it does seem likely that a third round pick will be the award but not always.
The point of my article was not about the potential comp picks however. It was about the loss of a third round pick that could have been used this season. This could have been used as a selection or to be traded as they did last year.
Comp picks as I’m sure you know are not allowed to be traded. Thanks for reading.
Let’s not forget about not getting 3rd for Sanders, as well. Wtf were they thinking?!
One more reason the GM and Head Coach need to go……….too many of these bad moves………since we all know, that is not going to happen, can you say 8-8 again boys and girls………
I think a squirrel could make better personnel decisions.. Make no mistake people the F.O. Has ruined our franchise.
I could not disagree with you more about Landry Jones… Ben was not completing seasons he was hurt alot and loosing and hating the Offensive Coordinator, and not wanting to go with sort quick passes and looking to make 20 million a year soon.. Landry would have gone ahead of Tannehil and Weeden in the draft according to Kiper, if he did not stay his senior year.. He shredded them both in the big twelve and made them look foolish.. Jones got screwed the in draft. I can’t comprehend how any normal thinking human being of average intelligence would think that a 6’4 QB in the big 12 who thew for 16667 yards and 123 TD’s with 40 victories and a total of 2183 attempts and 63% average completion average and only 51 int’s and 52 sacks and a 3-1 bowl Record in 4 years could suck and not be worth a fing 4th round pick.. If you believe that then your are a moron.. Regardless of what the local sports guys say they did draft Jones to Replace Big Ben. Now that Ben fell in line with Hailey and had a great year without getting hurt and can make the quick passing game work. They may give Ben his money and keep him but like Ryan Mallet Jones it to valuable and good to sit on the bench. They will trade him for a higher pick or Jones will be back up and Gradkowski will be gone for a savings of 1.5 million a year especially since Ben can last a whole season now..
Thanks for writing Scott. I would be the resident moron you are speaking of.
Landry Jones was a great college QB but that doesn’t mean he’ll be as good in the NFL. Look at the names he is surrounded by on a list of all time passers. Timmy Chang, Graham Herrell, Kellen Moore, Colt Brennnan and Ty Detmer to name a few have done little in the NFL.
The Steelers were not in a position to be drafting a QB that high with so many needs elsewhere. My feeling has nothing to do with Jones because I would not have been happy with any QB drafted that high. That said, Jones could still have a good pro career but right now I have my doubts.
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