Are the Pittsburgh Steelers being secretly run by Al Davis?

The Black and Gold tabbed wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders out of Southern Methodist University with their third round draft pick. Sanders is your prototypical burner, running a blistering 4.41 seconds in the 40. At only 5’11 and 186 pounds, he better blow by coverage even though he’s said to be very elusive with excellent leaping ability. This guy (I’ve been watching way too much John Gruden) is reminiscent of last year’s flier on Mike Wallace who, like Sanders, was also a mid-round slot guy with added value as a kick and punt returner. Although the Steelers already have a slot receiver in Antwaan Randle-El, this gives them a vertical threat with blazing speed and the ability make athletic plays deep down the field.

The main knock on Sanders is his lack of physicality. I’m sure a little of Hines Ward‘s trademark toughness will rub off on the rookie. But as of now, he’s one of those guys that shies away from throwing blocks and is relatively easy to tackle. The other concern is that his college coach was June Jones, the mastermind of the run-and-shoot offense. Receivers in that offense usually have wildly overinflated numbers due to the fact it’s a pass heavy attack. Also of note is despite twice being named a team captain, he was suspended for multiple games in 2008 for missing study hall and team meetings. While those character issues aren’t the same red flags the idiot we just shipped off to the Jets had, they are worth noting.

All in all, I can’t really compain about this pick. I would’ve preferred the Steelers take one of the more accompished name WRs in the second round when pretty much everybody was still on the board but you can’t argue with success. Director of player personnel Kevin Colbert has a knack for finding quality targets in later rounds so hopefully this will be another name to add to the list. And, as I said after the previous pick, this team needs a playmaking wideout which Sanders certainly seems to be. Hopefully, he pans out.

While you’re in a mock drafty sort of mood, check out CBS Sports.com by clicking here and take a look at a live mock draft I will be participating in alongside my fellow FanSided NFL bloggers.

As for the Pittsburgh Steelers, I’ll have a post up tomorrow detailing my thoughts on their specific needs and draft strategy. This is just to give you guys a picture of how I think the first round will play out (and give me a chance to write about something other than Big Ben Gone Wild).

Pick	Team	Player Selected	Player’s Position	Player’s School	Analysis
1.		Sam Bradford	Quarterback	Oklahoma	Releasing Marc Bulger is a big flashing neon sign that they’re taking a QB.  Bradford is the only logical pick here.
2.		Ndamukong Suh	Defensive Tackle	Nebraska	Let’s see how many abbreviations I can use.  Detroit fans probably want an OT to keep their young QB upright. However, head coach Jim Schwartz is a defensive mastermind and his team’s D sucked last year.  OT can wait until Rd 2.
3.		Gerald McCoy	Defensive Tackle	Oklahoma	Tampa needs to rebuild their defense basically from scratch.  McCoy is a smudge behind Suh as far as prospects go so they’ll jump at the chance to land him.
4.		Russell Okung	Offensive Tackle	Oklahoma State	The ‘Skins have their franchise QB in Donovan McNabb.  Now they need to keep him healthy and upright.

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