Steelers could possibly take a quarterback with first-round pick
EDITOR’S NOTE: First in a series of articles about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ preparations for the NFL Draft, to be held Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27. Today: Quarterbacks.PITTSBURGH – Look at the Steelers quarterback situation one way and you could surmise that the team has no interest in selecting a quarterback in next weekend’s draft. Look at it another way and you could make an argument for spending the first-round pick on the position. Such is life in today’s NFL.
The first look at Pittsburgh’s quarterbacks shows an established starter in Tommy Maddox, an experienced backup in Charlie Batch and an interesting prospect in Tim Levcik. If things are so great, all the Steelers need to do is add a rookie free agent arm to keep the real players fresh through training camp.
But the same personnel can help paint a dramatically different picture.
Even though he enjoyed tremendous success in his first year as the team’s starter, Maddox is far from a long-term solution. Despite his success last season, Maddox enters the 2003 season as the second highest paid quarterback on the roster, behind Batch.
The Steelers had to resign Batch and they had to offer him more than what Maddox will earn in order to keep him. Then, they held off on increasing Maddox’s salary because they truly aren’t sure whether he can duplicate last season, let alone lead the team into the foreseeable future.
As for Batch, if the Steelers believed he was a long-term answer he would be starting now. And Levcik will become that fourth training camp arm used strictly to keep Maddox and Batch fresh for the real games.
Yes, it is time for the Steelers to use a quality pick, perhaps even their first-round selection (27th overall), on a quarterback. They did as much last year, but Antwaan Randle El played exclusively at wide receiver after playing quarterback throughout college. Before that, it was 1995, when the Steelers used a second-round pick on Kordell Stewart. The last first-round quarterback the Steelers picked was Mark Malone in 1980.
There is a pretty good crop of quarterbacks available in this year’s draft, led by likely first overall selection Carson Palmer of USC. Palmer had a somewhat spotty college career, but put together his best season as a senior, when he walked off with the Heisman Trophy.
Palmer is the consensus No. 1 quarterback, but there is considerable debate about Marshall’s Byron Leftwich. Some believe he will be a better pro than Palmer, yet others think he is overrated. As a result, he could go as high as second in the draft or as low as 12th. It doesn’t sound like much of a drop, but the difference could mean millions.
Suffice to say, both Palmer and Leftwich will be long gone by the time the Steelers pick. As Leftwich drops, California’s Kyle Boller rises. Once thought to to be available at the end of the first round, Boller has risen to a mid-first round pick, thanks to an outstanding Senior Bowl week. Louisville’s Dave Ragone was once a solid first-rounder, but he has slid well into the second round.
Sandwiched between the rising Boller and the falling Ragone is Florida’s Rex Grossman. If the Steelers pick a quarterback in the first round, Grossman will be the guy. He has plenty to offer, including his work under Steve Spurrier through his sophomore season. He stayed through his junior year (under former Steelers special teams coach Ron Zook) and enters the draft as a junior-eligible.
Grossman has been consistent through his college career and offers a quick release. He isn’t much of a running threat, but has enough pocket awareness to buy time under pressure and still get his passes away. Strangely enough, he has been compared to Maddox.
Other first-day quarterback prospects for the Steelers include Ragone, Texas’ Chris Simms and Miami’s Ken Dorsey. The NFL conducts three rounds of the draft on Saturday and the last four on Sunday.
If you own a television, you’ve probably seen Simms and Dorsey plenty of times. Both got considerable TV time over the last several seasons. Simms played, albeit not very well, in many big games for the Longhorns, while the Hurricanes lost only two games in three seasons with Dorsey at quarterback. Miami also played in the last two national championship games.
Perhaps it is pure hope, but many say Simms, son of former Giants quarterback Phil Simms, may be a better pro than he was a collegian. A team looking to use a second-round pick on him should hope that’s the case.
All Dorsey did was win in college and he is said to be a cerebral type who takes control in the huddle and earns the respect of his teammates.
If the Steelers wait until Sunday to draft a quarterback, they’ll have to choose from among Texas Tech’s Kliff Kingsbury, Boston College’s Brian St. Pierre, Eastern Illinois’ Tony Romo and Brigham Young’s Bret Engemann.
NEXT: Running backs