2018 Pittsburgh Steelers Draft Recap

The 2018 NFL Draft occurred over the last few days, and I'm here to provide in-depth coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers draft picks. And by in-depth, I mean that I provide a meaningful (or meaningless) tidbit about each player, usually based on their name.

Terrell Edmunds, Safety, Virginia Tech

What a name. Think about it. Terrell Edmunds will now be only 4th player in NFL history* named Terrell after Terrell Davis, Terrell Owens, and Terrell Suggs. All three of these Terrells are in the NFL Hall of Famer or will be one day. Actually, based on this history, Edmunds should have been the #1 overall draft pick. Sorry Cleveland Browns fans!

James Washington, WR, Oklahoma State

Nate Washington had an underrated career as a Steelers wide receiver. If James Washington matches Nate Washington's stats as a member of the Steelers, well, that would be a disappointment.

Mason Rudolph, QB, Oklahoma State

In cold December games in Pittsburgh, it's quite possible that Rudolph will get a red nose.

Chukwuma Okorafor, OL, Western Michigan

The name Chukwuma Okorafor reminds me of Chukky Okobi, the Steelers back-up center in the late 2000s. Okobi was also a rapper with his songs appearing on his MySpace page. I really wish his MySpace page was still around. It was awesome!

Marcus Allen, S, Penn State

Incredible player, but he's 58 now and making the switch from running back to safety could be tough. I guess he'll bring some veteran leadership as a rookie.

Jaylen Samuels, RB, NC State

Samuels had a now deleted tweet from 2011 where he wrote that the Steelers suck. Hey, we all write dumb tweets when we're young. I mean, I'm sure I wrote a tweet last week that I wish I could take back.

Joshua Frazier, DT Alabama

It's extremely important that Frazier stays on his feet and helps to stop the run since you don't want him to go down.




* This may not be true, but I'm going to say it is since it sounds better for this post. Seems like Terrelle Pryor should have changed the spelling of his name to Terrell.


You can view more of my amazing draft recaps of the Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins here.

Should The Steelers Trade Martavis Bryant for Terrelle Pryor?

Let me preface this post by writing that trades between players (as opposed to a player for a draft pick) rarely happen in the NFL. Now that that's out of the way, on to the hypothetical scenario!

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant is a talented player who has made some poor decisions and/or has received some bad advice. He was suspended for the entire 2016 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy, and now, he will not play in Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions due to "social media."

From Behind the Steel Curtain:

This stems, of course, from Bryant's outburst on the social media platform Instagram Sunday night when chided by a fellow Instagram user. A week after repeatedly refuting that he has asked the Steelers for a trade, he has openly indicated that to be his desire if his playing time and targets don't increase.

It didn't help that Bryant was "sick" and missed practice on Monday following his social media outburst on Sunday and according to Dale Lolley now of DK Pittsburgh Sports, Bryant has called off sick "for the fourth time in the past month."

That's not good in any job.

Meanwhile, Terrelle Pryor signed a one-year contract with the Washington Redskins after having over 1,000 receiving yards with the Cleveland Browns last season, his first as a wide receiver after converting from being a quarterback. It has not gone well for Pryor. From The Washington Post's DC Sports Bog:

Here’s the best way to describe Terrelle Pryor Sr.’s current status in the Washington Redskins’ offense: When Kirk Cousins was asked specifically about his outside receivers following Washington’s limp loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, the quarterback mentioned six names, including two tight ends and a running back. Pryor’s name didn’t come up.

And here’s the best way Pryor summarized his own status, when asked whether his first-half benching against the Eagles might be repeated Sunday against Dallas.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I mean, that’s a good question. I don’t know.”

As you can probably guess (the blog post title gives this away), I'm wondering if there should be a Bryant for Pryor trade. There may be salary cap ramifications, but let's pretend that there are not. Both are free agents at the end of the season.

Washington is missing a speedy receiver who can spread the field after DeSean Jackson left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Pittsburgh may want someone dependable who shows up to work and doesn't ask for a trade.

The biggest issue for Pittsburgh is Pryor's seeming inability to catch the ball over the middle or in traffic (meaning around other players and not on the Parkway East outside the Squirrel Hill Tunnel where even Antonio Brown would have difficulty catching the ball). However, maybe Antonio Brown's work ethic will rub off on Pryor to become a better receiver. He's never been around a #1 type receiver in Cleveland or Oakland. Plus, perhaps Pryor will be energized returning to his hometown team. It doesn't hurt that Pryor played with Cameron Heyward for three years at The Ohio State University, so that should alleviate any concerns about how Pryor would fit in with his new teammates.

We all saw Pryor do this against the Steelers a few years ago. Wouldn't it be fun to have a few plays designed where Pryor could do that FOR the Steelers?

Disappointed By Ohio State

I received a call the other day from the folks creating The Ohio State University Alumni Today, the first publication ever to feature alumni listings from 1890-something through today. The school wanted to make sure that my information was correct and then tried to sell me this publication. (The hardback version is available for two payments of only $49.99 each!) Anyway, one of the first questions asked by seller was if I was still basking in Ohio State’s Sugar Bowl victory. I paused and replied that I had moved on to the basketball season. In reality, I couldn’t even remember who Ohio State played in the Sugar Bowl. What I remember from the game was that QB Terrelle Pryor and four other Buckeyes were permitted to play in that game even though they were suspended for five games of the 2011 football season for selling jerseys, championship rings and trophies. They were permitted to play by signing a ridiculous document stating that they would return to school the following season (not declaring for the NFL draft) as required by coach Jim Tressel.

So last week, Yahoo! Sports reported the following (this text is from ESPN)

Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel received an e-mail last April telling him that two of his players were caught up in a federal drug-trafficking case and the sale of memorabilia, breaking NCAA rules.

Tressel responded: "I will get on it ASAP."

But he never mentioned it to Ohio State's compliance department or his athletic director for more than nine months.

On Tuesday, Tressel was suspended for the first two games of the 2011 season and fined $250,000 for violating NCAA rules by failing to notify the school about the players' involvement. He also will receive a public reprimand and must make a public apology.

The NCAA is still investigating and could reject Ohio State's self-imposed penalties and add more sanctions.

So Tressel knew about this since last April but did nothing about it. Lovely. Let’s go back a step. The five Ohio State players who are all around 21 or younger sold jerseys and championship rings for money. If you have little or no money in college and have an opportunity to sell something, you do it. I would have loved to have sold baseball cards or something for $1,000 when I was in college. Of course, what the players did was in violation of NCAA regulations, and therefore, they were punished. I get that. However, Tressel is not a college student with limited resources. He’s a grown man with a seven-figure annual salary. The fact that his suspension is less than the players is ridiculous. This is a case where the cover-up is worse than the crime. I hope that NCAA does the right thing here and significantly increases Tressel’s suspension.

Let’s get back to the Ohio State administration for a second. I was there when football coach John Cooper was fired. At the time, the school stated that he was fired because of players having academic and off-the-field problems. In reality, he was fired for going 6-6 and 8-4 in his final two seasons in Columbus and his inability to win bowl games or defeat Michigan. Here’s what really bothers me about the situation (again from ESPN):

Ohio State president Gordon Gee said he and Tressel had discussed the violation at Gee's house for 3 hours one night.

Gee also said he had not considered dismissing the Buckeyes coach.

"No, are you kidding?" he said with a laugh. "Let me be very clear. I'm just hoping the coach doesn't dismiss me."

President Gee, you are the leader of one of the largest institutes of higher education in the United States. The buck (or in this case, the buckeyes) stops with you. I’m sure that you were instrumental in helping secure the recent $100 million investment by Leslie Wenxer, the head of Limited and chair of the school’s Board of Trustees. Congratulations to you for that (although Wexner probably would give millions of dollars to the school regardless of the president). However, when it comes to football, you would be better served to stay quiet. You already made a fool of yourself in criticizing TCU and Boise State last fall. Now you’re saying that the coach is bigger than you. It doesn’t work that way. Perhaps the Board should consider you position as president.

Oh, I’m not giving any more money to Ohio State, so enjoy making millions off of Pryor and the other players who you threw under the bus while acknowledging that the coach is fine. You probably don't need my money anyway.

The Columbus Dispatch has more about this story.