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‘Character’ key ingredient to who Steelers will choose first

By Jim Wexell For The 5 min read

Troy Polamalu married in January and has put on 10-15 pounds. But it has nothing to do with his wife’s cooking. Polamalu celebrated a big sophomore season by working out. Working out hard. Working out so hard at home in Southern California that someone had it put on the Internet.

“It’s on the Internet?” said this walking, talking brick outhouse.

Polamalu said he’s going to run some of the weight off, but it’s obvious what his priority has been since his marriage. It’s what’s expected of Steelers first-round picks.

Kendall Simmons was a No. 1 pick the year before Polamalu. He didn’t miss a game in his struggle to deal with diabetes. Simmons then went down with an ACL tear last year and argued with doctors about the need for surgery. By the end of his stint on IR, Simmons was bouncing off the walls but barred from the playoffs.

He’ll be back. He has character.

Casey Hampton, the No. 1 pick in 2001, blew out an ACL in college, came back as a team captain at Texas and was drafted first by the Steelers because of his passion for the game. And right now he’s coming back from another knee injury. No one doubts he’ll return to his former level.

Character. The Steelers put a premium on it at draft time. Plaxico Burress blew off dinner with Bill Cowher before the Steelers drafted him first in 2000. It was out of character for the Steelers, and guess what? Burress didn’t get a second contract.

So when it comes to making a prediction about the Steelers’ No. 1 draft choice, character becomes the guide.

Would they take Matt Jones first?

No, they say. They say it’s a gamble to take a change-of-position projection in the first round.

“Besides,” said a source, “he’s so laid back. I don’t know if he really loves the game.”

Cross Jones off the first-round list.

So what about the defense that was torched by the New England Patriots?

Well, it could use a pass-rusher. Yet the current outside linebackers are young, signed through 2007, and were active in that AFC title game. They’re backed up by promising pass-rusher James Harrison.

A playmaker to replace Kendrell Bell at the mack inside backer would help. Yet the middle rounds are the place for inside linebackers in this draft.

The Steelers will have a chance to draft one or more of these pass-rushing defensive ends: Justin Tuck, Dan Cody and Matt Roth. But all three are better prospects for a 4-3 defense.

The Steelers’ secondary certainly shares blame for the defensive problems against the Patriots, and here’s where character comes into play.

Justin Miller, a cornerback and top-ranked return man, concerned scouts early in the process with a reputation for being lazy. Last week, Miller, projected as a late first-round pick, was arrested while hosting a large party on the Clemson campus. He shouted obscenities at cops and then resisted arrest.

Off the list.

The Steelers should have a choice of big, fast corners Corey Webster and Marlin Jackson, but those players might now be deemed corner/safety “tweeners” and thus ineffective in the new finesse game. Since the Steelers have five serviceable cornerbacks on hand, better to draft from this position in a later round.

Offensively, the Steelers have holes on their depth chart at tight end, wide receiver and the offensive line.

As for the line, all three tackles the Steelers rank as first-rounders – Alex Barron, Jammal Brown, Khalif Barnes – should go before pick 30. The next-ranked player is right guard Marcus Johnson, a high second-rounder.

Only two tight ends are considered first or second-rounders. Alex Smith of Stanford is another high second-rounder who might interest the Steelers in a trade down.

The other top tight end, Heath Miller, hasn’t worked out after January surgery for a sports hernia. He wasn’t a “tools” guy to begin with, so his workout times aren’t too important. But do you draft a Jay Novacek-Frank Wycheck clone this high? An injured one?

The safer choice will be a wide receiver. A group of three interests the Steelers at pick 30.

Roddy White (6-11/4, 207) is a deep threat with Eric Moulds potential. Terrence Murphy (6-0 7/8, 202) is coming out of the new Receiver U, Texas A&M, and would return kicks right away. He also has a big plus listed next to his name in the character department, as does Reggie Brown (6-1 5/8, 196), who is more polished all the way around as a receiver, route-runner and blocker and had the best vertical jump, by two inches, of any receiver at the combine.

Of the three, Brown has the better chance to become a starter in two years. And who knows? With the Steelers in need of a true split end, Reggie Brown could grab hold of the job by midseason and help them right away.

At the end of last season, Ben Roethlisberger asked his bosses to give him Plaxico Burress. Those bosses said “no”, and Ben did not complain. So he will be the big recipient this weekend. The prediction is Reggie Brown, in a photo finish over Terrence Murphy, will be Ben’s first new toy.

Prediction of Steelers’ draft picks, round-by-round:

Reggie Brown, WR, Georgia.

Stanley Wilson, CB, Stanford.

Marcus Lawrence, ILB, South Carolina.

Jed Huckeba, OLB, Arkansas

Kelvin Hayden, CB-FS, Illinois.

Rob Petitti, OG-OT, Pitt.

7a. Nehemiah Broughton, RB, The Citadel.

7b. Al Lindsay, NT, Temple.

Jim Wexell is a Herald-Standard Correspondent

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