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T.Gurley on a 2 year deal?


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1 hour ago, bigben07MVP said:

Please god no. I hope we stay far away from the free agent RB class. Snell, McFarland, and Etienne/Harris is a fine group.

Not really.

Snell shouldn't be guaranteed a roster spot.

McFarland hasnt shown anything at this point.

The Steelers also dont go into drafts with glaring needs, so they will likely grab something in FA.

I personally dont want to waste a first on RB, but beyond that, with teams knowing we might be targeting a RB, there is a good chance Etienne could be taken earlier, whether selected or via trade up.    

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4 minutes ago, 43M said:

Not really.

Snell shouldn't be guaranteed a roster spot.

McFarland hasnt shown anything at this point.

The Steelers also dont go into drafts with glaring needs, so they will likely grab something in FA.

I personally dont want to waste a first on RB, but beyond that, with teams knowing we might be targeting a RB, there is a good chance Etienne could be taken earlier, whether selected or via trade up.    

Snell has been fine in spot duty. He shouldn’t be relied on to be a full time starter.

McFarland was a 3rd round rookie last year, he will be given another opportunity next season. 

I agree we will probably sign someone I just hope it’s no one too pricey and definitely not Gurley. I get that it’s now very frowned upon to draft RBs in the first round but we desperately need a dynamic RB and the only two available between the draft and FA  is Etienne and Harris. Jamaal Williams or Mike Davis will not move the needle for our running game. 

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43 minutes ago, bigben07MVP said:

Snell has been fine in spot duty. He shouldn’t be relied on to be a full time starter.

McFarland was a 3rd round rookie last year, he will be given another opportunity next season. 

I agree we will probably sign someone I just hope it’s no one too pricey and definitely not Gurley. I get that it’s now very frowned upon to draft RBs in the first round but we desperately need a dynamic RB and the only two available between the draft and FA  is Etienne and Harris. Jamaal Williams or Mike Davis will not move the needle for our running game. 

Thing is, our RBs arent the biggest issue with our running game...its the horrendous run blocking.    

I dont believe any RB in this draft is a special talent and could come in and have success behind a line as bad at run blocking as ours is....especially Najee Harris.

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9 minutes ago, 43M said:

Thing is, our RBs arent the biggest issue with our running game...its the horrendous run blocking. 

Just an aside based on this comment, but I was listening to a pod today and they touched on the Steelers run game woes when talking about Feiler as a FA. 

Basically they just laughed at it and alluded to Scheme being the biggest issue. They talked about how a lot of our good running situations and schemes seemed to leave with Munchak. 

Im very interested to see what this offense is, even despite some key losses.  Could be our best addition is the subtraction of the biggest liability — Fichtner. 

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51 minutes ago, 43M said:

Thing is, our RBs arent the biggest issue with our running game...its the horrendous run blocking.    

I dont believe any RB in this draft is a special talent and could come in and have success behind a line as bad at run blocking as ours is....especially Najee Harris.

We will see. New coaching, Pouncey/AV addition by subtraction and a healthy Decastro should help. Chuks and Dotson should both be better in their 2nd years starting as well and who knows how good Banner could be at RT or if Feiler can return to 2019 form at RT again. 

Not saying we should ignore OL but I think we can wait until the 2nd to address it especially with how deep the draft is at C and OT if it means getting a game-changing RB especially Etienne who is legit Dalvin Cook 2.0. 

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14 hours ago, bigben07MVP said:

Snell has been fine in spot duty. He shouldn’t be relied on to be a full time starter.

I think that you have to know what and who you have. I am not opposed to RB by committee, but this has not been the Steelers way under Coach Tomlin. Snell could be effective used in concert with another back or two. The Steelers also have a FB (Derek Watt) who can do some things in certain situations as well, but don't use him or use him effectively. 

McFarland was a 3rd round rookie last year, he will be given another opportunity next season. 

I think the lack of training camp and the Covid-19 situation hurt him. I would be very curious to see what he can do with a full offseason and where his growth/maturity is as a second year RB. The game looked too fast for him at times. I am not saying he isn't fast, but his  timing, balance, footwork were out of sync at times. 

I agree we will probably sign someone I just hope it’s no one too pricey and definitely not Gurley. I get that it’s now very frowned upon to draft RBs in the first round but we desperately need a dynamic RB and the only two available between the draft and FA  is Etienne and Harris. Jamaal Williams or Mike Davis will not move the needle for our running game. 

I agree that the Steelers need a dynamic (feature/bell-cow) RB on the team.  I think that there are some other backs in this draft besides Etienne and Harris that could be that back. Fix the scheme, timing, a few players, and execution and the rushing attack looks much better regardless of who is at RB.

13 hours ago, 43M said:

Thing is, our RBs aren't the biggest issue with our running game...its the horrendous run blocking.    

I think that the RB's own their share of the load. While it may not be 50% RB and 50% poor blocking, the rushing attack could never get on the same page or have the proper timing, reads, or speed to execute certain plays. OL was successful blocking for Lev Bell in part because of Bell's style, ability to read blocks and patience. He covered up for the lack of gaping holes created by the OL. There are many plays in many different games where the blocking was there, but the back misread the block or was impatient in waiting for the play to develop. There were other plays where the OL simply got blown up. There were other plays where the hole was there, the back ran through it, but the second level blocking wasn't there. This caused some five or six yard gains instead of 25, 30 or even longer runs. 

I don't believe any RB in this draft is a special talent and could come in and have success behind a line as bad at run blocking as ours is....especially Najee Harris.

Despite being a big guy, Harris' style is closer to Bell's. He is a more patient runner and he has some size and power. I agree that he wouldn't have thrived, but I think that based on pure talent alone, he could have been more effective/consistent than some of our other backs. Then again with no mini-camps and true offseason, he may have also been like McFarland. I do believe his skill and talent are above the current backs on the roster.

13 hours ago, Dcash4 said:

Just an aside based on this comment, but I was listening to a pod today and they touched on the Steelers run game woes when talking about Feiler as a FA. 

Basically they just laughed at it and alluded to Scheme being the biggest issue.

No doubt that scheme played a part, but the execution was downright horrible at times. Even before teams started keeping eight and nine players near the LOS, the OL rarely got a push and I can't remember them ever just blowing a DL up and running the ball down their throats. The OL actually opened some holes in the play-off loss game to the Browns.  The vast majority of the year, they did not beat up anyone rushing the ball as a unit. 

They talked about how a lot of our good running situations and schemes seemed to leave with Munchak. 

Some of the success left with Bell and AB as well. Losing two All-Pro's in their prime from your offense is going to hurt. I thought that moving Feiler was a bad move as well. I understand why they did it, but I was against moving him. I thought he was a better than average RT. I know that you want Banner in there, but in effect they weakened two positions. Chuks to me is a better option at LT. He is not a mauling type. He played solid at RT, but not as well as when Feiler was there in my opinion. Square pegs trying to fit in round holes.

I'm very interested to see what this offense is, even despite some key losses.  Could be our best addition is the subtraction of the biggest liability — Fichtner. 

I think that Coach Fitchner's biggest problem was not changing to suit his personnel and strengths of the players that he has. Again, gone are Bell and AB. Connor and Ju Ju are different players with different styles. Johnson is developing, Chase exceeded expectations as a rookie, but is not yet a complete WR. Washington could have been utilized more and better. Ebron was not a bad addition, but a liability blocking, why not use Vance more?  Despite some inconsistent drops by the receiving squad, they could have had more success with a better and more balanced rushing attack and scheme. Change is very hard for many coaches and coordinators. Plays are not always executed the way that they are drawn up and schemed. You have to be willing to change and adjust. early in the season, the Steelers did this with success.   Later on they became very predictable and had no answer to the opposing teams adjustments. If you are running a sweep, why use James Connor or Benny Snell? They have seen the Jet Sweeps to Claypool and Ray Ray. The defense crowds the LOS, then make them pay with intermediate and deep shots behind them. 

 

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4 minutes ago, Steeler Hitman said:

I can't remember them ever just blowing a DL up and running the ball down their throats.

This was one of the pieces that the podcast I listed too touched on regarding our scheme/mentality. We were a passively blocking passing team so much that it basically neutered our run game. You cant be passing run blocking and that's ultimately what we became. We were pass blocking and then running 2nd and 10 draws. There was no - lets go maul people - attitude to the offense because that's what they were basically getting away from. 

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1 hour ago, Dcash4 said:

This was one of the pieces that the podcast I listed too touched on regarding our scheme/mentality. We were a passively blocking passing team so much that it basically neutered our run game. You cant be passing run blocking and that's ultimately what we became. We were pass blocking and then running 2nd and 10 draws. There was no - lets go maul people - attitude to the offense because that's what they were basically getting away from. 

That’s where Manchuk helped so much. He found a way to take the pass happy sets and mix in run game looks that actually made the run game work. The fact that Randy was kinda cut loose from that shows some of the loss of run game effectiveness. My fear of Canada is he won’t bring the “mean” to the run game but rather will use some misdirection to make it work. 

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