PITTSBURGH- It's no secret now that the Steelers will look to find a receiver in the draft. Bruce Arians also let the cat out of the bag, so to speak when he made this comment to Mike Prisuta of the Tribune Review.
"It'll be Limas, Martin Nance and whoever we draft, one of those cats,"
Sources say there are two guys on the watch/want list if they are available, when the team picks at No. 32 - Darrius Heyward-Bey of Maryland and North Carolina's Hakeem Nicks.
In the next few weeks we'll touch base on the both of them. For now, though, how about a sleeper, a guy that would really fulfill a need and be there for the taking in second or even possibly as late as the fourth.
His name is Jarret Dillard, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound burner from Rice University.
True the Steelers utilized a No.2 pick on Limas Sweed last year, mostly in part because Ben Roethlisberger wanted a big guy in the offensive scheme. But has size become overrated when it comes to the wide receiver slot?
After all, Santonio Holmes is just 5-foot-11 and all he did was win the Super Bowl MVP.
Dillard posted some impressive stats at the recent NFL combine, where he posted a vertical jump of 42.5 inches and the best broad jump 10 feet, 9 inches, and he runs around a 4.3- 40.
What he did in college was even more impressive. In 2007 at the New Orleans Bowl, Dillard caught a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to set a new record for games with a touchdown in a single season (13); besting the mark he shared with Larry Fitzgerald and Randy Moss of 12.
Dillard also holds the NCAA record for career touchdown receptions with 60, eclipsing the prior mark of 50 set by former Steeler Troy Edwards. In addition, he was only the 10th player in NCAA history to exceed 4,000 career receiving yards. Last year alone, he had 87 grabs for 1,310 yards.
But the one thing besides all his stats that was eye catching is this tidbit. His best day of 2008 was a 158-yard effort against Texas. That was the most yards gained by a receiver vs. the Longhorns, including all three finalists for the 2008 Biletnikoff Award (Michael Crabtree, Dez Bryant, Jeremy Maclin).
So there is no question that he is very explosive and athletic. One draft publication says he is a home run threat any time he has the ball, much like Nate Washington brought to the table. The question now, with all the stats why not a first round pick?
His biggest setback is not playing against the type of competition that a guy such as Heyward-Bey has done. He also is small by NFL standards at 175 pounds. But one thing about Dillard, as defenses shifted their focus onto him n 2007/08 - he still performed at a high level and made his teammates better.
NFLdraftdog has compared him to Marvin Harrison, but time will tell as to whether he can have an impact on the NFL level.
Considering this guy has been called the consummate team player from his coaches, it will interesting to watch in 50 days if the Steelers call his name. For more on Dilliard see the You Tube video below.
Comments
Hey Matt,
I see and understand where you're coming from. IMO, the Steelers really can’t use 2 small WR in a starting line up. One can say it worked early on for New England, but they run a completely different type of O (pass to open the run spread offense) and they even went away from smurfville. The guy has great potential, but Holmes won the SB MVP so we know we have a keeper. Holmes as good as he is, scares me when I see him go long because the one major weakness Ben has is he loves to throw deep (even into double or triple coverage), even if a guy is wide open 10 to 20 yards downfield. When that man is Holmes, a large % of the time bad things happen…unless we had a deep threat (plax, Ward, Washington) pulling coverage away. Holmes is awesome on the short to medium slicing routes with huge RAC and/or TD ratio. With two shorties, I would really worry. Unless you think Holmes is going to sign somewhere else for big $ when his contract is up.
Mike, great point and I agree with you about the size thing, not to mention Holmes scaring me each time he goes long too. But I also am worried about Santonio come contract time. I think the team will make a tremendous effort to sign him to a long term deal, but he is from Miami and those guys seem to have tendency to go for the $$$. As for Dillard, right now I think if he is available in the fourth or fifth round, which is possible considering his size, they should jump on it. A second round pick on him would be pushing it, as there are more pressing needs (corner) I'm hoping Joey Galloway is healthy, the team signs him and he can mentor Sweed. Yes he is 37, but if healthy is still one of the best in the game. Great stuff Mike!!
Matt, we seem to be having very similar thoughts. I believe Holmes signed through 2010, and he’ll make $700k (base?) in ‘09 and $755K in 2010. Ooh. Hmm…and you are so correct about contract time. Our ‘short speedsters’ never seem to stay come contract time (T Edwards, Randle El) and Holmes won SB MVP. Spot on about Dillard value if he’s there in the 4th or even 5th round. I’m still getting over the Tomlin’s shocking 1st year picks…Matt “The Ent” Spaeth and Dan “I did great in college” Sepulveda 3rd/4th round picks. So Dillard would be nice wr in the wings to have…just in case.
Now the Draft. Draft…Corner.
I admit I don’t watch college so I’ll listen to the people who do. Some sites say CB might be a slow draw this year…once the clock starts who knows. When M Jenkins, V Davis and/if maybe W Moore are gone, I’m thinking Sean Smith or Nic Harris. I don’t care for the sub 6’ guys. IIRC, We play the AFC East next year (this would be a good year to work in rookie CB/slot wr/Olineman). Then I read your remark about Galloway…I was telling the guys Joey is not Jerry Rice, but he is Jerry Rice like (Stud regardless of age). He would have been a great addition…ugh, So now the AFC East has Moss/Galloway on Pats and Owens* on the Bills’…With their 1st round selection, Pittsburgh takes cornerback...
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