The Steelers usually get a lot of players all through the draft, but not this year.  Santonio Holmes & Anthony Smith look like the only players in this draft that will be productive for the Steelers.  Four of the Steelers draft picks didn’t even make the team and that is pathetic.  Here’s the breakdown:

In the first round the Steelers took WR Santonio Holmes.  He looks like he will be an impact player for the Steelers and he really came on for them in the second half of the season.  He played in 16 games (4 starts) and caught 49 passes for 824 yards (16.8 avg) with 2 TD catches.  He also carried the ball 1 time for 13 yards.   Holmes also did well returning kicks when he caught and held onto the football.  He returned 18 kickoffs for 436 yards (24.2 avg) and 26 punts for 264 yards (10.2 avg) with 1 TD return.  He is just scratching the surface of his potential.

In the 2nd round the Steelers selected FS Anthony Smith.  Smith will soon be the starting free safety of the Steelers and he packs a wallop when he hits you.  Smith played in all 16 games last season and he made 28 tackles, 2 interceptions and defensed 6 passes.

The Steelers 3rd round pick, WR Willie Reid, broke his foot and only wound up playing in one game.  He returned 1 kickoff for 19 yards and 1 punt for 11 yards.  He’s too small to help out a lot on offense, but he should return kicks for the Steelers if healthy.

4th round pick OG Willie Colon played in two games for the Steelers (both starts) and he should have a chance to stick around as a backup for the Steelers.

The Steelers 6th round pick was center Marvin Philip.  He made the team but didn’t play a down for the Steelers last season.

The four picks that the Steelers wasted were 4th round pick Orien Harris (DT), 5th round pick Omar Jacobs (QB), 5th round pick Charles Davis (TE) and 7th round pick Cedrick Humes (RB).

The Steelers ran the ball well at home, but they had troubles on the road.  Part of the problem is that the line didn’t play as well as they have in the past.  Another reason is because teams ganged up on the running game and made Ben Roethlisberger try to beat them throwing the ball.  One other factor is that the Steelers didn’t have a guy like Jerome Bettis on their roster who could get the conversions on short yardage situations.  Willie Parker did have a breakout season for the Steelers.  Parker carried the ball 337 times this season and rushed for 1,494 yards (4.4 ypc) with 13 TD runs.  He also caught 31 passes for 222 yards (7.2 avg) with 3 TD catches.  For his career, Parker has played in 39 games (31 starts) and he’s carried the ball 624 times for 2,882 yards (4.6 ypc) with 17 TD runs.  He also has caught the ball 52 times for 456 yards (8.8 avg) with 4 TD grabs.

Najeh Davenport was brought in during the season and he did a decent job for the Steelers.  He carried the football 60 times this season for 221 yards (3.7 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also caught 15 passes for 193 yards (12.9 avg) with 1 TD grab.  For his career, Davenport has played in 52 games (2 starts) and he’e carried the ball 277 times for 1,289 yards (4.7 ypc) with 8 TD runs.  He also has caught 32 passes for 300 yards (9.4 avg) with 1 TD grab.

Verron Haynes played in 7 games before seriously injuring himself.  He carried the ball only 15 times this season for 78 yards (5.2 ypc) and he also caught 18 passes for 95 yards (5.3 avg).  For his career, Haynes has played in 60 games and has carried the ball 174 times for 738 yards (4.2 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  He also has caught 57 passes for 417 yards (7.3 avg) with 2 TD grabs.

Rookie fullback John Kuhn appeared in 9 games and carried the ball twice for 18 yards (9.0 ypc).  He also caught 1 pass for 15 yards.

Veteran fullback Dan Kreider played in all 16 games serving mostly as a blocker in the running game.  He only carried the ball 1 time for 5 yards and caught 8 passes for 62 yards (7.8 avg).  For his career, Kreider has played in 103 games (62 starts) and has carried the ball 30 times for 142 yards (4.7 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He also has caught 59 passes for 456 yards (7.7 avg) with 2 TD catches.

The Steelers hired Mike Tomlin to replace the retired Bill Cowher today.  Tomlin is only the third head coach that the Steelers have hired in 38 seasons.  He has no experience as a head coach at any level of football, but he has alot of coaching experience for a man in his 30’s.  He was a position coach in college from 1995-2000.  He then was the defensive backs coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2001-2005.  Last season Tomlin was the defensive co-ordinator for the Minnesota Vikings and he did a fine job.  The Vikings had the best run defense in the NFL as they only allowed 61.6 yards rushing per game and an amazing 2.8 yards per carry!  They also allowed 238.6 net yards passing per game but only a 73.1 QB Rating against which is pretty darn good.

Tomlin favors a 4-3 defense but the Steelers’ personnel dictates that they run a 3-4.  Tomlin did retain Dick LeBeau as his defensive co-ordinator so the Steelers might keep the 3-4 defense for now.  OL coach Russ Grimm will leave the Steelers after getting passed over for the head coaching job.

Tomlin will be the first black coach in the history of the Steelers which is fitting because of the Rooney Rule. 

Hopefully Ben Roethlisberger will behave himself in the off-season and comes into camp next year healthy and focused.  It took him awhile to round into shape, but he played much better in the second half of the season.  Roethlisberger started 15 games this season and completed 280 of 469 passes (59.7%) for 3,513 yards with 18 TD passes and 23 interceptions (75.4 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 32 times for 98 yards (3.1 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  For his career, Roethlisberger has completed 644 of 1,032 passes (62.4%) for 8,519 yards with 52 TD passes and 43 interceptions (87.9 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 119 times for 311 yards (2.6 ypc) with 6 TD runs.

Charlie Batch did a great job backing up Roethlisberger, and the Steelers may have made the playoffs if the Steelers would have started him a couple of more games at the start of the season while Roethlisberger was recovering from his injuries.  Batch has played in 63 games (49 starts) and he has completed 801 of 1,423 passes (56.3%) for 9,801 yards with 55 TD passes and 41 interceptions (78.6 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 150 times for 616 yards (4.1 ypc) with 6 TD runs.

Later today Bill Cowher will retire from the Pittsburgh Steelers with a year remaining on his contract.  Rumors out of South Florida have the Dolphins possibly interested in trading for Cowher.  The Steelers followed up their amazing Super Bowl victory with a very disappointing 8-8 season where it often seemed that the Steelers (including Coach Cowher) were just going through the motions.  For his career, Cowher has compiled a 149-91-1 regular season record for the Steelers.  Cowher has a career post season record of 12-9.