Top 5 Most Disappointing Steelers of 2017

[JustPlainNasty]

Just curious to see the Players whose performance you were most discouraged by with #1 being worst. (with the mindset of potential need for replacement or release)

Here's mine

1. Bud Dupree - his mouth is the thing I hated most ( I dont use the term hate ever really) but absolutely abhorred his behavior and things he said, the Deebo comments made me sick to the stomach the level of disrespect for someone that has done so much by someone who has done so little. His on field play was absurd at times. He was posterized by Fournette, provided 0 pass rush, ZERO, was so often out of position and gave so little at times it was gut wrenching. I dont know how he isnt called out on almost every play in game review. Id be sick if i was the coach that had to grade several of his games.

2. Artie Burns - I was baffled when they took him in the 1st and saw him as a late 3rd prospect at best. One of the big reasons they liked him was ability to make plays on the ball. You can't make too many plays on the ball when you are constantly out of position and getting beat. His fighting antics and late hates, and mouth that drew flags disgust me with the selfishness weekly. Ross Cockrell had a better year.

3. Le'veon Bell - Bad seed , this dude is on the same level as Dupree for me, at least he can play somewhat, but his running style is not takeover. He can be replaced, lets get it straight he was out of shape his senior year in college and when he came into the league. He had his makeover, ok. His running style is hardly take over and hasn't been shown to be relied upon when closing out games. I'd move on easily from that salary and his negative behavior. Steelers played the financials appropriately and extended their olive branch last year, but he was too much/too good for it. Ok so the worst that can happen is he goes to the Patriots. The Patriots are going to pay him the money he is commanding? and deal with his distractions...its hard to imagine that coming together when they have 4 running backs that can catch, run & block when needed for less than what Bell got this year.,

4. Mike Mitchell - This guy shows up late to the party all the time, always has. He'd be good if he played in the 70s trying to make big hits long after the ball is in the receivers hands. He was lucky to even get into that position even part of the time where he could make contact as they are usually running away from him. His timed speed disappeared not long after he left the combine. They needed a stop gap when Clark left, this shouldve never been a long term solution. 

5. Coty Sensabaugh - too easy, thank God Joe Haden fell into our laps.

 

I've long defended Tomlin but the behaviors by 1 thru 3 really make me question the leadership/its authority and level of respect for it. To get some of it back, Id take a long hard look at Dupree and do my best to ship him out one way or another. Id put Burns on notice and possibly draft 1st round competition/ temporary replacement for him until he matures/improves. Bell would be gone , C'est la vie. Hell you can get Carlos Hyde and a draft pick for about half of what Bells asking. Gotta be stern and send a message that it wont be tolerated otherwise look for more of the same BS and worse next year. Its about the team and those that are focused on winning first.  

[3rivers]

JPN is on the mark here.

totally agree about shipping dupree, but what would we get in return?

This team needs to get an overhaul 

Sutton could push burns, but why not sign Grimes or V. Davis?

[DR43]

2 hours ago, 3rivers said:

JPN is on the mark here.

totally agree about shipping dupree, but what would we get in return?

This team needs to get an overhaul 

Sutton could push burns, but why not sign Grimes or V. Davis?

We wouldn't get anything in return.

Plus, he's the best we got.  If he isn't going to start then who is?  Chickillo.  If Chickillo had the ability to be a starting OLB then he would be starting already.

If an OLB is available in the draft or via FA then let's go that route.  

Until that time, we're better off keeping Dupree and hoping his game improves.  
 

[3rivers]

@DR43 he actually isn't the best we got. Harrison was better and on the remaining roster Watt is. Dupree was a bad pick, maybe comparable to jarvis but Jarvis was a good NCAA player. Jarvis had injuries and never had as many snaps , so for those that point to stat totals, consider that. Watching the games, both lacked typical pass rush skills

As for saying a player would be starting already, that would imply that Harrison was the worst out of the 5 we had. Just give that some thought. 

All for UFA and draft to help the OLB .  Since this team has more 4-3DL than 3-4 OLB, I was thinking the 4-3 would be possibly the better option for now. Heyward would be LDE, Watt could play in various places RDE being one of them.  Draft or UFA 1 RDE and move on. 

Disagree about keeping dupree, he has no skills other than athleticism. He might get garbage stats, but that it.

[DR43]

6 minutes ago, 3rivers said:

@DR43 he actually isn't the best we got. Harrison was better and on the remaining roster Watt is. 

I meant he is the best of the remaining guys. 

No point in bringing up Harrison.  He is outta here and wont play a down for a us again.  Whether that was the right or wrong move was irrelevant.  

 

8 minutes ago, 3rivers said:

@DR43 All for UFA and draft to help the OLB .  Since this team has more 4-3DL than 3-4 OLB, I was thinking the 4-3 would be possibly the better option for now. Heyward would be LDE, Watt could play in various places RDE being one of them.  Draft or UFA 1 RDE and move on. 

You know as well as I do that they'll use the 3-4 again next year.  Again, whether or not that is the best option is irrelevant.  The fact of the matter is that will be the formation next year.

 

Since Harrison isn't an option and since we wont be going with a 4-3, who would be the best option at OLB in your opinion if we dont draft or sign one this offseason?

[warfelg]

Marcus Gilbert should easily be on here since he was injured off and on, got suspended, and we didn’t miss a beat without him. 

 

Vance McDonald as he was consistently injured and failed to beat out Jesse James (as so many hoped)

 

Mike Mitchell. For reasons. 

 

Artie Burns for not progressing after a good rookie year. 

 

And Martavius Bryant for creating unneccessary drama after the team has been so patient with him. 

[MOSteelers56]

Tuitt might be on here too. I don't know about anyone else but I was expecting a breakout type season for him. I know he was injured but he sure didn't look like he deserved that contract. 

Hopefully injuries were the main factor of this and his average play will motivate him for next year. Our defense would have been much improved if we had a steady presence opposite Cam. Heck, Alualu looked similar to Tuitt and that shouldn't happen.

[DR43]

I would say Sean Davis should be on here too, shouldn't he?

[MOSteelers56]

2 minutes ago, DR43 said:

I would say Sean Davis should be on here too, shouldn't he?

Depends on what you thought of him prior to the year. I was pretty low on him last year. I don't think he'll be anything special but I think he can be an above average starter next to a good FS. My opinion has not changed on that. 

[JLambert58]

10 hours ago, JustPlainNasty said:

Bud Dupree - his mouth is the thing I hated most ( I dont use the term hate ever really) but absolutely abhorred his behavior and things he said, the Deebo comments made me sick to the stomach the level of disrespect for someone that has done so much by someone who has done so little. His on field play was absurd at times. He was posterized by Fournette, provided 0 pass rush, ZERO, was so often out of position and gave so little at times it was gut wrenching. I dont know how he isnt called out on almost every play in game review. Id be sick if i was the coach that had to grade several of his games.

Couldn't agree more.  Not only was he largely ineffective, but watching him play was so lackluster and uninspired.  Like he was going through the motions but not really invested.  The guy does not love football from what I can tell.  We need more Shazier types who LOVE football.

10 hours ago, JustPlainNasty said:

Artie Burns - I was baffled when they took him in the 1st and saw him as a late 3rd prospect at best. One of the big reasons they liked him was ability to make plays on the ball. You can't make too many plays on the ball when you are constantly out of position and getting beat. His fighting antics and late hates, and mouth that drew flags disgust me with the selfishness weekly. Ross Cockrell had a better year.

I was one of those outraged by Artie as a #1 pick.  I've warmed to him some, but would've like to see more strides this year.  Not totally down on him because he did flash some but seemed to get lost in that deep zone at times.  His man-to-man skills are good when he can maintain position.

10 hours ago, JustPlainNasty said:

Le'veon Bell - Bad seed , this dude is on the same level as Dupree for me, at least he can play somewhat, but his running style is not takeover. He can be replaced, lets get it straight he was out of shape his senior year in college and when he came into the league. He had his makeover, ok. His running style is hardly take over and hasn't been shown to be relied upon when closing out games. I'd move on easily from that salary and his negative behavior. Steelers played the financials appropriately and extended their olive branch last year, but he was too much/too good for it. Ok so the worst that can happen is he goes to the Patriots. The Patriots are going to pay him the money he is commanding? and deal with his distractions...its hard to imagine that coming together when they have 4 running backs that can catch, run & block when needed for less than what Bell got this year.,

The fact that his YPC dropped by an entire yard this season is highly concerning.  Couple that with 400+ touches and it wouldn't be surprising to see his production drop off even more next year.  On the plus side, while he doesn't have the home run-type speed, he consistently turns a 3 yard gain into 6 or 7 or a 8 yard gain into 12-15.  It's more so his ME, ME, ME attitude that is the major detraction from my POV.  Knowing all summer that he was tagged to be on the team and then not showing up until the Monday before the first game is completely inexcusable.  Then showing up late for walk-throughs and games in the playoffs.  I'd be very tempted to show him the door despite being a dynamic and productive player. 

 

10 hours ago, JustPlainNasty said:

Mike Mitchell - This guy shows up late to the party all the time, always has. He'd be good if he played in the 70s trying to make big hits long after the ball is in the receivers hands. He was lucky to even get into that position even part of the time where he could make contact as they are usually running away from him. His timed speed disappeared not long after he left the combine. They needed a stop gap when Clark left, this shouldve never been a long term solution. 

I agree with this criticism of Mitchell, but the saving grace for me is that he cleaned up a lot of terrible tackling in the front 7 this year on runs and short passes so I will give him half a pass.  

 

10 hours ago, JustPlainNasty said:

Coty Sensabaugh - too easy, thank God Joe Haden fell into our laps.

Can you imagine if Sensabaugh was our starting CB all year?  *shudders*  He was a decent depth CB at best.  Haden was a great pickup, but skill-wise and also brought a lot of energy, physicality and positive mindset to the secondary.   Hope we can work out something with him for a few years. 

Martavis Bryant was also a huge disappointment for the first 10+ games.  Then he slowly seemed to find his sea legs and down the stretch showed flashes of the player we all knew he could be.  

[JLambert58]

1 hour ago, MOSteelers56 said:

Tuitt might be on here too. I don't know about anyone else but I was expecting a breakout type season for him. I know he was injured but he sure didn't look like he deserved that contract. 

Hopefully injuries were the main factor of this and his average play will motivate him for next year. Our defense would have been much improved if we had a steady presence opposite Cam. Heck, Alualu looked similar to Tuitt and that shouldn't happen.

Agree, this was not Tuitt's best year and also hoping injury was the main reason for it. 

Alualu was a great pickup and fared well when called upon.  

[MOSteelers56]

1 hour ago, JLambert58 said:

Agree, this was not Tuitt's best year and also hoping injury was the main reason for it. 

Alualu was a great pickup and fared well when called upon.  

Yeah, this was more about my extremely high expectations of Tuitt. If you told me prior to the year that one of our DE's would have 12 sacks, I would be sure its Tuitt.

[warfelg]

I heard somewhere that Tuitt will be getting offseason back surgery and it was a big problem the last month.

[armsteeld]

Bud Dupree- as JPN said.  He has not grown as a player since he was drafted and blames it on on others.  

Artie Burns- I like him as a person but as a player he seems football dumb.  He needs to be challenged for starting position.

Davis-Another wonderful person but bad football player.  Can he play in Zone?  No.  Can he provide Man coverage?  No.  Then why is he starting?  Oh, he ran 4.4 at the combine.

Mike Mitchell-PLEASE CUT HIM!  I feel he is a huge reason why the defense is regressing.  I feel he is in his team mates heads and getting them off their assignments or something.

Vince Williams-Manufactured stats.  Yes he had 8 sacks but he left much to be desired in the run defense and in the passing game.  He is a good backup isn't football smart enough for a starter and that became even more evident with Shazier's injury.

[Blitzburgh]

By no means am I saying Dupree is good or doesn’t need replaced.  However,  many fail to realize how much the Steelers are dropping their OLBs.  Dupree shouldn’t be dropping as much as the Steelers have him dropping.  I think if the Steelers used him more as a rusher and utilized his size , speed, and strength he would be much better statically.   I think most need to realize that the days of Harrison and Woodely both getting double digit sacks are done until there is a scheme change.   I think it is part of Tomlin’s stamp on this defense.I remember Woodely complaining about his reduction in pass rush vs coverage % during his down fall. The Steelers are not using OLB as primary pass rushers anymore.  I think it’s one of the main reasons Harrison was expandable.

Also if you buy into analytics and things like SPARQ you know that the bust rate of edge rushers with scores like Dupree is very low.  I think his lack of sacks go more into how the Steelers are using him.