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Steelers Draft Focus: Defensive End

The big need areas for Pittsburgh this year are offensive line, corner back, defensive end, running back and wide receiver. This week I’m going to focus on those five positions and look at who could actually be available when the Steelers are on the clock on day one. I’m not even going to attempt day-two picks because, let’s face it, after the first two rounds it’s a complete crap-shoot.

Depth is a problem at defensive end in Pittsburgh, and has been for a while. The team had been fortunate enough to avoid injuries at the position, right up until the middle of the 2007 season. Even then, had the injury that befell the team happened to Brett Kiesel, production wouldn’t have dallen off as sharply. Instead, it was Aaron Smith, possibly the best 3-4 defensive end in the league, who was lost for the season. And, just like that, the Steelers’ defensive line became about as porous as a chunk of pumice. Running backs began to find lanes that hadn’t previously existed, a point that was highlighted, then punctuated, by Jacksonville’s Fred Taylor. The pass rush also fell off, as teams no longer needed to double-team both Smith and nose tackle Casey Hampton, freeing up a blocker to take on a blitzing outside linebacker when necessary. The loss of one man nearly destroyed the fabric of the top defense in the league.

A failed physical kept the team from signing Anthony “Booger” McFarland during free agency. Travis Kirschke and Nick Eason were both re-signed, but they essentially just provide bodies to put on the field. Neither is even remotely close to the level of an Aaron Smith.

Unfortunately, drafting a 3-4 defensive end is a bit of a crap-shoot.  The vast majority of colleges run some variation of a 4-3 or even a 4-4 defense, with very few ever making regular use of the 3-4.  That makes evaluating talent tough, because a 4-3 defensive end is essentially a 3-4 outside linebacker.  To find a 3-4 defensive end in college, you have to look deeper inside — literally — at the defensive tackles.  The bad part here is that most tackles are not used primarily as pass rushers.  Instead, they occupy blockers and fill gaps, working to free up the smaller, faster ends.

Even the top choices at end — Chris Long, Vernon Gholston, Derrick Harvey — are far too small to play end in a 3-4 defense.  The consensus at this point of those people predicting the Steelers to pick a defensive lineman is Kentwan Balmer of North Carolina.  At 6′-5″ and 298 pounds, Balmer is a prototypical 3-4 end, and has fantastic speed and strength.  Side by side, he looks a lot like Smith.  He presents a work-in-progress, though, with only 23 starts and some technique issues.  However, it is believed that he would be a strong candidate to win the starting job on the right side over Kiesel if presented the opportunity in camp.

Other prospects that could eventually be taken by the Steelers include Maryland’s Dre Moore and and Pat Sims of Auburn, as they both possess enough speed and strength to eventually be at least acceptable at defensive end.  Both Moore and Sims could be considered in the second round, but that’s probably stretching it a bit.

Bottom line: expect the first round to be used on a defensive end only if guys like Branden Albert (OG), Jeff Otah (OT) and Aqib Talib (CB) are gone.  It seems that the guys who the Steelers need most at their top three need positions are either reaches at #23 — which Balmer would be — or will probably be long gone.  Again, it may just be possible that the Steelers will trade down to augment their number of picks in later rounds, rather than reach for a lesser player or take a great player at a position where they don’t have enough need to justify it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Kentwan Balmer, Opinion, NFL Draft, Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.