The Steelers decided to take Matt Spaeth despite already having the vastly superior Heath Miller on their roster.  The Steelers will likely use Spaeth only in their two-tightend sets.  He’s more of a receiver than a run blocker as he can catch anything that hits either one of his hands.  He has nice size at 6′6″, 263 pounds but he’s a tad slow for a tight end and he can’t stretch the field because of that.  He has the look of a possession receiver.  In 48 games at Minnesota (45 starts), Spaeth has caught 109 passes for 1,293 yards (11.9 avg) with 12 TD grabs.  The Steelers had other needs they should have tried to fill in the 3rd round.

LaMarr Woodley is the type of defender that the Steelers like.  He plays all-out, every down and he’s a playmaker when moving up the field.  That’s why he projects to stay at DE or move to MLB in the Pros.  Woodley stands and 6′1″, 269 pounds and runs a 4.75 40 so the physical tools are there.  In 49 games at Michigan (33 starts), Woodley made 177 tackles, 52.5 tackles for a loss, had 24 sacks, batted down 5 passes, forced 10 fumbles and recovered 5 fumbles.  Woodley was an outstanding pick by the Steelers in the 2nd round.

The Steelers probably would have been better served to take a corner in the first round.  They are taking a big chance here because Timmons only started one season at Florida State, but he played well there.  He’s not that big of a player at 6′3″, 230 but he’s quick as he runs a 4.6 40.  Timmons played in 38 games at Florida State (13 starts) and he made 127 tackles, had 22.5 tackles for a loss, had 8 sacks, broke up 7 passes and had 1 interception.  The Steelers will give Timmons a chance to battle James Harrison for Joey Porter’s old spot at outside linebacker.  It will be interesting to see if he can handle it.

Kevan Barlow is coming home to where he was a star in college.  Barlow had an off-year with the Jets in 2006 as he played in 12 games (3 starts) and he carried the ball 131 times for 370 yards (2.8 ypc) with 6 TD runs.  He also caught 7 passes for 21 yards (3.0 avg).  Look for Barlow to rebound somewhat as he’s been a much better player over his career than he was last season.  Barlow has now played 6 seasons in the NFL and that covers 84 games (33 starts).  He has carried the ball 1,022 times over his career for 3,984 yards (3.9 ypc) with 30 TD runs.  He also has caught 144 passes for 1,164 yards (8.1 avg) with 3 TD catches.  Barlow is a pretty big guy at 6′1″, 234 so he should give the Steelers good running between the tackles in 2007.

The Steelers have released TE Tim Euhus.  As soon as they drafted Matt Spaeth in the 3rd round they had no need to keep Euhus on the team.  He only played in 1 game for the Steelers last season and he didn’t catch a pass.  Euhus is absolutely no loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.