The Steelers came into this draft looking to improve depth and bring some youth to the defensive line and that’s exactly what they got when they drafted Ziggy Hood in the first round.  If the Steelers can get Hood to play low he could wind up being a standout in their defense.  Hood is 6′3″, 298 which is a tad small for a DT but he gets off the ball pretty quick to make up for his lack of size.  Hood played in 50 games (35 starts) in his 4-year career at Missouri and he made 170 tackles, had 22.5 tackles for a loss. had 15.5 sacks, batted down 8 passes, forced 5 fumbles and he recovered 3 fumbles.  This was a good start for the Steelers’ draft.

The Steelers have signed cornerback Keiwan Ratliff to a 1-year deal.  The 28-year old Ratliff played in 13 games for the Colts last season and he made 32 tackles, defensed 5 passes and he had 2 interceptions (one that he returned for a TD).  Ratliff also returned 16 punts for 89 yards (5.6 avg) last season.  The Steelers will likely use Ratliff on special teams and in the nickel and dime packages on defense.  Ratliff has now playd in 65 games in his NFL career and he has made 136 tackles, defensed 14 passes, forced 2 fumbles and he has 5 interceptions (one returned for a TD).  Ratliff has also returned 88 punts for 629 yards (7.1 avg) in his NFL career.

This comes as a bit of a surprise so Russell must have pissed off some of his coaches.  He played in 12 games for the Steelers last season and he carried the ball 28 times for 77 yards (2.8 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  Russell also caught 1 pass for -2 yards.  He also helped out on special teams as he made 9 tackles and returned 16 kickoffs for 371 yards (23.2 avg).  Russell played in 15 games over his two year career with the Steelers and he carried the ball 35 times for 98 yards (2.8 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  The Steelers shouldn’t miss Russell much as long as Mendenhall stays healthy in 2009.

The Steelers have re-signed 34-year old QB Charlie Batch to a 1-year, $895,000 dollar contract.  Batch is back because Byron Leftwich signed with the Bucs who promised him a chance to compete for the starting job so no one can blame him for leaving.  Batch played in 7 games for the Steelers last season and he completed 17 of 36 passes (47.2%) for 232 yards with 2 TD passes and 3 interceptions (52.1 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 12 times for -7 yards (-0.6 ypc) last season but almost all of those were kneel downs at the end of games.  Batch has now played four years for the Steelers covering 22 games.  In those 22 games, Batch has completed 75 of 133 passes (56.4%) for 1,017 yards with 8 TD passes and 4 interceptions.  He has also carried the ball 37 times for 49 yards (1.3 ypc) with 1 TD run with the Steelers.  This was a good move for the Steelers as Batch is a solid back up QB.