So I haven’t posted something on Tumblr for 8 months. I’ve enjoyed twitter more. Oh well.

I decided that I wanted to make a list of the top prospects I would look at this offseason if I was employed in the Steelers scouting department.  The list is going to focus on three of four main positions of need. Without a doubt, my top needs for the Black and Gold are middle linebacker, defensive tackle, offensive tackle, and offensive guard.

At middle linebacker, the Steelers should be seeking a replacement over James Farrior. Since the 2002 season, Farrior has been a mainstay in the middle of the Steelers defense. He’s a two-time pro bowler, two-time Super Bowl champion, and in 2004 finished second to Ed Reed for defensive player of the year. He’s well liked in Pittsburgh, but unfortunately, in the 2012 season, he will be in the last year of his contract and will be 37. It’s time to find his successor.

At defensive tackle, the upgrade here is more of replacement for an aging star. Casey Hampton has been anchoring the Steelers line since being drafted in the first round in 2001. He consistently has to take up two offensive linemen and creates gaps for the Steelers linebackers to get to the quarterback.  His problem is also age. Hampton will turn 35 in September and has had more than his fair share of injuries. Being an every down player who is also over 300 pounds will do that to you.  Like Farrior, he’s been to the Pro Bowl 5 times and has been a two-time Super Bowl champion. He’s a fan favorite also, but is at the end of the line in terms of his career. This need is even more of a problem with the retirement of Chris Hoke, Hampton’s more-than-dependable back-up since 2001.

On the offensive side of the ball, the biggest need is the offensive line. It is always the biggest offensive need and has been since the departure of Alan Faneca and Jeff Hartings. Maurkice Pouncey has played extremely well in his first two years and rookie Marcus Gilbert played well at right tackle for a rookie, but everywhere else is a mess. Ben takes too long to get rid of the ball because of his need to extend plays. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however, he takes a number of hits because of it. The Steelers need to upgrade his pocket so he doesn’t have to scramble as often.

So now let’s look at the possible replacements for these positions.

1. Donta Hightower, MLB, Alabama
2. Vontaze Burfict, MLB, Arizona State
3. Dontari Poe, DT, Memphis*
4. Mike Adams, OT, Ohio State
5. David DeCastro, OG, Stanford**
6. Cordy Glenn, OG, Georgia

*= I put an asterisk next to Poe because he is the rare 3-4 DT in this class that will make the first round. He’d be great for the Steelers draft position.

**= The asterisk is here because the only way of landing DeCastro is through trading up. He is one of the few guards to be so highly regarded in a draft. He is valued as a top 10 talent on most draft boards.

I hope you enjoyed reading this.

So with a little less than an hour until the draft starts, I wanted to get my predictions out there. These are predictions for who will be the top players out of this draft class. I’ll only do a certain few positions.

1. QB:Jake Locker: Let everyone follow Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert. After watching the pre-draft process, I remembered why Jake Locker was my 2nd favorite prospect (after Andrew Luck of course). I think he’s going to be a better QB and franchise player than Cam or Gabbert can ever be.
2. RB: Mark Ingram: Everyone’s knocking him for the lack of speed, but he makes it 10 yards in less than 2 seconds. That’s a first down most of the time. He just bowls over defenders and makes the first downs. Let people knock him for the lack of speed, but I don’t think it matters.
3. WR: Jonathan Baldwin: Most boards have Baldwin down on the boards because of character concerns, but I don’t care. He has so much talent and great size to be a great WR in this league. Give him the right QB and he should excel. He just has to control himself off the field.
4. TE: Virgil Green: Green looks like he’s going to be a combination of Vernon Davis and Anthony Gonzalez. More like Vernon Davis though with the athleticism.
5. OL: Anthony Castonzo: I like him a lot cause he can be plugged in at tackle in Game 1 of the season. He’s also a very smart linemen. I believe he’ll outperform the rest of the linemen in this class. (Note: If by some chance Mike Pouncey lands in Pittsburgh with his brother, he’ll be better than Castonzo because of the chemistry.)
6. DL:Marcell Dareus: With all the defensive ends that should go in the first round, I think Dareus stands the best chance of succeeding long-term. That’s not to say the rest will suck. I just think Dareus is going to be amazing in the NFL.
7. LB: Von Miller: He’s a pass rush machine. He’s the top LB on every board. He deserves to be. Nothing really bad to say about him.
8. DB: Prince Amukamara: He’s been my favorite corner in this draft from when I first heard about him. He’s been knocked for not having any picks last year but I turn my head the other way. He’s a pure technician at corner and is more than great at coverage.

So those are my select positions that I think will find the most success in the NFL. Good luck to all participants in this year’s draft.

So I feel like I need to blog something. The first thought that popped in to mind was this blog.

Now I’m excluding prospects who should be off the board by the time we pick at 31. I’d love someone like Prince Amukamara, Patrick Peterson, Ryan Kerrigan, Cameron Jordan, or Nate Solder to land in Pittsburgh. However, it probably won’t happen. So here’s the list:

1) Mike Pouncey, G/C, Florida: For obvious reasons, he’s first on my list. I don’t care if he’ll never be as good as his brother. All he has to do is be half as good as Maurkice and he’d be an improvement over our O-Line.

2) Ras-I Dowling, CB, Virginia: Now he is by far not the best corner in this class. However, I’d put him in the top 5. He doesn’t have top end speed, but is phenomenal in zone coverage and makes solid tackles. Worse case scenario, we could turn him into a safety.

3) Marcus Gilbert, OT, Florida: If we can’t get Pouncey, then I’ll settle for one of his other Florida buddies. Gilbert has a good skill set to be a right tackle and could become a great left tackle if he works on picking up edge rushers in the 3-4.

4) Aaron Williams, CB, Texas: Another great corner who I wouldn’t mind picking. He’s tall, makes hard tackles, is great at jamming receivers at the line, and has great ball skills and instinct. Long story short: He could quickly become our number 2 corner.

5) Cameron Heyward, DE, Ohio State: Now if we choose to pick a defensive end, I would totally not mind taking Heyward if Kerrigan isn’t available. Heyward fits better into our system though. He had his inconsistencies in college, but I think he’d become a top 5 DE in our system. Dick LeBeau was able to make breatt Keisel a top DE and Heyward definately has a better skill set. So let’s see what happens there.

6) Dion Lewis, RB, Pittsburgh: Now RB isn’t really a top need, but if he’s there in the 3rd round, I say take him. I really like him as a running back. Quick little guy with great hands that would make a good 3rd down backfield receving threat.

7) Greg Romeus, DE, Pittsburgh: He’s currently rated as the 17th best DE by Scouts, Inc. The reasons I want him are because he’s right from Pittsburgh so it’s like a hometown pick, and the other reason is becuase he has great talent and is very coachable. He projects as a 5 technique DE in a 3 man front and a LDE on a 4 man front.

8) Rahim Moore, S, UCLA: We already have one All-Pro Safety who just won his first defensive player of the year award. He got the award by always making the big play and being a game-changer. Now we can draft the ball-hawk safety. What a great decision that could turn out to be. I would say that we’d definately have the best safety combo in the NFL.

So there it is. 8 guys I wouldn’t mind seeing get picked by the Steelers. Of course, we may get just one of them. Maybe, we won’t get any. Only 4 of these guys will probably go in the first round. So hopefully we can get one of them and 1 of the others in the other rounds.

Sometimes, I really wish I had a Variable Threat Response Battle Suit. That’d make everything so much better.

Like I promised, here’s part two of my favorite performances from the last day of the NFL Combine. It was only the Defensive Backs today, but there was a lot of talent and effort out on that field. So let’s get to it.

1. Defensive Backs - Without a doubt, I’m giving the top performance to Miami’s Brandon Harris. He was rated as the 5th best corner on my board but he definitely improved his stock. He did good in the workouts and showed great technique and athleticism in the positional drills. He’ll make some team very happy.

Now, since there were many great performances, I do want to add to my list of honorable mentions. I even forgot one for yesterday’s list. So I’ll just be adding him to today’s list.

• DE/OLB - Nevada’s Dontay Moch is just a freakish athlete at both Defensive End and Outside Linebacker. He put up freak numbers in the workouts for a guy that played Defensive End in college. I expect him to be a mid-round pick that makes a splash in the NFL.
• DL - Oregon State’s Stephen Paea can’t be left off the list. He set the combine record for the Bench Press with 49 reps. It was crazy to watch. Rob Ryan was in the audience, and you can tell Ryan really appreciated the effort.
• DB - Nebraska’s Prince Amukamara did good in the workouts. He was a little high in his drills but had great footwork and technique in transition. Still my favorite corner in the draft.
• DB -Texas’s Curtis Brown made a big splash at the combine as well. He looked really good in the positional drills I saw. He had great hands and coverage technique.
• DB - Idaho’s Shiloh Keo was one of two safeties that really stood out. I don’t see Keo playing Free Safety in the NFL because of his size. However, he could become a very, very good Strong Safety that can hit and drop into coverage.
• DB - Florida’s Ahmad Black was the second safety that looked pretty good in the draft. He showed a great combination of speed and athleticism.

One player who I had hoped would have a big combine was Virginia Cornerback Ras-I Dowling. He turned in a 40 time that was faster than most people expected out of him. He was expected to run a 4.5 or worse but turned in a 4.4 in his only attempt. After his first attempt, he injured his hamstring and didn’t compete in any more events. I still like the kid and think he’ll be great in the NFL. However, his body seems very fragile. While silencing one of his cons, he made another worse. Oh well. Maybe the Steelers can grab him in round 3 now.

And thus, the combine is over for another year. I look forward to pro days now and the upcoming draft. Mock number two will becoming in the future as well now that the combine is over.

So with the combine wrapping up in less than 24 hours, I thought it’d be time to write about my favorite performances at the combine. I’m going to go through a positional breakdown of who I liked the most this weekend at the combine. (Note: I didn’t actually see the kickers perform, however, I do have a few favorites for that position. Florida’s Chas Henry and Nebraska’s Alex Henery both are my favorite kickers in this draft and I’m hoping the Steelers can grab one, if not both, of them in April.)

1. Quarterback - Florida State’s Christian Ponder put on a very good outing at the combine and showed a lot of upside. He showed off his strong arm consistently. He had some problems with footwork, but that’s a fixable problem. I think he will transition well into the NFL and I look forward to hearing his name on draft day.
2. Running Back - Without a doubt, Alabama’s Mark Ingram was ridiculous at the combine. He slimmed down and was very explosive in all the workouts. He still showed that he doesn’t have great top-end speed. However, in the 40 yard dash, his explosion made him go 10 yards in about a second and a half. That’s a first down in less than 2 seconds. That’s good enough for me. No doubt in my mind that he’s the number one running back in this class.
3. Wide Receiver - Georgia’s AJ Green might be the best wide receiver in this draft. However, it was Alabama’s Julio Jones that stole the show at the Combine. He was easily the best wide receiver there. He consistently was a top performer in the workouts. The Rams are going to pray that he is still on the board at pick 14.
4. Tight End - Nevada’s Virgil Green was a prospect that I didn’t know much about. After watching him workout this weekend, I’m convinced he’ll have a future in the sport. Like Julio Jones, he stole the show for tight ends. He was a consistent top tight end performer.
5. Offensive Line - I like Florida’s Mike Pouncey’s workout. I thought he did very well this weekend. Also, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t partial to this pick. I’ve had my hopes all year that the Steelers would draft him.
6. Defensive Line - Purdue’s Ryan Kerrigan put on my favorite performance. He showed he can play both 4-3 Defensive End and 3-4 Outside Linebacker. I wish he’d be around at pick 31 for the Steelers.
7. Linebacker - Texas A&M’s Von Miller is the best pure pass rushing linebacker in this class. UCLA’s Akeem Ayers looked just as good though in the drills I got to see. Von Miller is very explosive and without a doubt, I expect him to have a great career. However, Akeem Ayers just looked like a terrific athlete at the combine and will do well in the pass rush and coverage.

Those are the positional groups we’ve seen so far. The defensive backs will be the group to go and should put on a good show today. Before I finish though, I do have some honorable mentions. (Note: They are in order of position.)

• QB - Washington’s Jack Locker showed everyone at the combine that he has the first round talent everyone thought he had. A very promising QB pick-up for any QB-needy team.
• QB - Arkansas’s Ryan Mallett showed the strong arm that everyone knows he has. It was his mobility that needs to be figured out.
• RB - Pittsburgh’s Dion Lewis is my favorite running back in this class and he had a great showing at the combine, flashing the ability to be a 3rd down speed back.
• WR - Hawaii’s Greg Salas looked very fluid and consistent in Indy. He showed great hands in the gauntlet and controlled his speed well.
• WR - Ohio State’s Dane Sanzenbacher performed just as well as Salas. I wouldn’t mind either of them on the Steelers.
• DL - UNC’s Robert Quinn had a great workout for a guy who hasn’t played football in over a year. He’s a solid DE prospect that could possibly stand up and play Outside Linebacker.
• LB - Miami’s Colin McCarthy looked great at the combine as well. In the positional drills he flashed a lot of potential.
• LB - Texas A&M’s Von Miller didn’t have a good a workout as Akeem Ayers in my opinion. However, he showed so much explosiveness that it’s hard no to mention him.

So there it is. My favorite prospects from the combine results. Tomorrow, I don’t know if I’ll catch any of the drills, but if I do, expect a short part 2 detailing the corners that looked good.