Safety Morgan Burnett has signed 3 yr. deal with Steelers

[August4th]

packer fans saying how smart he is makes me love this signing

miscommunication was a major problem for the defense last year.. hopefully Morgan's smarts helps fix that

[jebrick]

9 minutes ago, Steeler Hitman said:

Agreed.  The Steelers are at an advantage at Safety in that their safeties have been very interchangable. I.E. They do not use traditional FS/SS roles. The ILB class has talent.  There are few that can make an immediate impact, but some guys who will develop ear two and three into solid pro.  What do you think about Micah Kiser?

I think Kiser is like VWilliams.  Plays quick to a hole but a liability in coverage.  I think anyone the Steelers draft high will have to be a coverage LB.   Look at someone like Avery, Iyiegbuniwe, Baker or Griffin.

[Steeler Hitman]

2 minutes ago, jebrick said:

I think Kiser is like VWilliams.  Plays quick to a hole but a liability in coverage.  I think anyone the Steelers draft high will have to be a coverage LB.   Look at someone like Avery, Iyiegbuniwe, Baker or Griffin.

Micah Kiser reminds me of a more athletic Larry Foote. He is smart, but can do a decent job of dropping into coverage. He will be a liability if left man to man with quicker RB's or TE's crossing the zone.  I think he has some upside though and I see a higher ceiling than Vince.  I like Griffin as most do, but I see him as a coverage ILB.  I think he will struggle against the run.  He is a competitor, but will get eaten up until unless we have some DL's who can keep OL's off of him.  He would be a stud as a NIckel Hybrid LB/SS. I like Avery's size and ability to get stronger/more muscular, but I am not so sure about his quickness. He is straight line fast, but I am not so sure about the quickness. I haven't seen a lot, but from my initial check that is a snapshot of what I saw.  What about you?

[Alex]

I'm loving this signing every minute. While it is true, Burnett is a safety- I am pretty sure he will be our functional Buck. He's an S/LB hybrid player. Bostic and Burnett, both signings are geared toward stopping the run and Burnett himself is actually a good centerfielder as well. 

This tells me the ILB position WON'T be a priority (Thank god) and we probably will draft an OLB, putting Dupree in the dirt. While it looks like a free safety position won't be a need- I disagree, I think they are going to be heavy on Justin Reid and Jesse Bates for reasons. Sean Davis will be our safety, a joker role and we still need somebody out in the back. The way I see it; the majority of our dime packages would look like this:

Tuitt  -Hargraves - Heyward

Burnett- Watt

Haden - Sutton - Davis - rookie safety - Hilton - Burn. 

On the running downs it would be:

Dupree - Tuitt - Hargraves - Heyward

rookie OLB - Burnett - Bostic - Watt

Haden - Davis - Burn

Don't think of a traditional base; think of the multi-faceted packages. We have built our team to beat the Patriots; we literally forgot about the Jaguars. Can't let that happen again. Can you find somebody in the draft who essentially can become that Buck for us? I can't think of one that will be available to us (Unless we trade up) having an OLB makes more sense because we want the guy to blitz and drop back more. I do still see a free safety as a high priority, especially for the red-zone. I am creating a mock draft based on this, but I believe we will go defensive first three rounds. 

[Dcash4]

44 minutes ago, August4th said:

packer fans saying how smart he is makes me love this signing

miscommunication was a major problem for the defense last year.. hopefully Morgan's smarts helps fix that

This is almost all I care about right now. I wanted to get two vets to help fill the gaps and be smart, capable football players and draft some good athletes and playmakers to rotate in. Mitchell was awful for this defense in more ways than one. I don't think he is a leader in the backend other than trying to lead by example - the example being celebrating after a hard hit following a 14 yard gain. 

My idea draft still has us coming away with a safety and ILB that allows us to go three deep at those positions and take advantage of certain sub-packages. I think Bradley will have a huge effect on our young DB's, not because he is some expert of their position, but rather has been in the business of defensive communication all his professional career. I think our FA signings have fit the mold of improving our communication and football smarts as well. 

A good draft and growth from our young contributors (Artie Burns turns 23 in May BTW) and this defense can be headed in the right direction. Not saying we end up top 5 or anything, but we have the makings of a solid unit. 

 

[Livewire]

I like the part where he says "they say he's like a defensive coordinator on the field".

Very happy with this signing.

[MOSteelers56]

Yeah, you guys are onto the right idea here. We are fixing our major defensive issue. That issue is lack of football smarts. We have a lot of athletes but not too many good football minds. With Haden, Burnett, a more experienced Watt, and Bostic we should have moved in the right direction. 

[warfelg]

3 years $14.5 mil. No word on guarantees yet. And as a little dig: Buchette said it’s unlikely Burnett visits or signs. 

[MOSteelers56]

14 minutes ago, warfelg said:

3 years $14.5 mil. No word on guarantees yet. And as a little dig: Buchette said it’s unlikely Burnett visits or signs. 

I like it a lot more now that I know it's a 3 year deal. I thought it was a 2 year 14.5m. 

[Livewire]

 

[Money]

He's an upgrade and like Bostic this devalues the need to say we need to draft this guy in RD1. Or this position in RD2. They can go BPA. Bostic and Burnett are your starters that they have penciled in for Week One. This provides flexibility in the draft. 

When you add Burnett, he can even play LB in 4-2-5 with better coverage than LB and still can stop the draw. Add a cover LB like Oren Burks 7th rd and that ILB position is completely filled. This delusion that you need an ILB is absurd. You play a 3-4 what 25% of the plays a game. Call it 15 plays. Who says you even need to play a 3-4? Tomlin called the plays the 2nd half of the year. He's a 4-3 guy. It's like, hello McFly, if your best player on defense goes down now would be the perfect time to switch to a 4-3 to eliminate that position for the time being. I was watching the KC playoff game and turned it off and stopped counting plays bc there were in sub package every play. 

What these signings tell me is they'll take an offensive position in the first three rounds.

[Money]

In terms of rankings needs, it should either be a QB or TE.

[JPeezy55]

3 minutes ago, Money said:

In terms of rankings needs, it should either be a QB or TE.

+ RB

[MOSteelers56]

25 minutes ago, Money said:

He's an upgrade and like Bostic this devalues the need to say we need to draft this guy in RD1. Or this position in RD2. They can go BPA. Bostic and Burnett are your starters that they have penciled in for Week One. This provides flexibility in the draft. 

When you add Burnett, he can even play LB in 4-2-5 with better coverage than LB and still can stop the draw. Add a cover LB like Oren Burks 7th rd and that ILB position is completely filled. This delusion that you need an ILB is absurd. You play a 3-4 what 25% of the plays a game. Call it 15 plays. Who says you even need to play a 3-4? Tomlin called the plays the 2nd half of the year. He's a 4-3 guy. It's like, hello McFly, if your best player on defense goes down now would be the perfect time to switch to a 4-3 to eliminate that position for the time being. I was watching the KC playoff game and turned it off and stopped counting plays bc there were in sub package every play. 

What these signings tell me is they'll take an offensive position in the first three rounds.

I'm a fan of Fred Warner in the 3rd. He's a smooth athlete that can cover like crazy. I'm fine with going EDGE/Falling WR/Seam Busting TE/Safety/CB in the first now. Before our signings I think we were shoehorned into taking an ILB or Safety. Now we're free to help out lesser needs. 

We signed Burnett to a 3 year deal. Obviously they expect him to be part of our plans for awhile. I still think we need a CF type of Safety. I like the idea of playing 3 safeties at a time. Can cover but also better against the run. The middle of our defense has been a weakness for awhile and I think the answer is 3 safeties. 

[JPeezy55]

21 minutes ago, MOSteelers56 said:

I'm a fan of Fred Warner in the 3rd. He's a smooth athlete that can cover like crazy. I'm fine with going EDGE/Falling WR/Seam Busting TE/Safety/CB in the first now. Before our signings I think we were shoehorned into taking an ILB or Safety. Now we're free to help out lesser needs. 

We signed Burnett to a 3 year deal. Obviously they expect him to be part of our plans for awhile. I still think we need a CF type of Safety. I like the idea of playing 3 safeties at a time. Can cover but also better against the run. The middle of our defense has been a weakness for awhile and I think the answer is 3 safeties. 

I like Burnett the more I read about him as a great Cover LB. I think he brings great versatility, which will be great for our defense. Someone who can be a Dime LB type of guy.