Pittsburgh Sports Report - Backroom Buzz By Jerry DiPaola

Pittsburgh Sports Report
June 2004

Backroom Buzz
By Jerry DiPaola

The day will come when the Steelers will regret that they didn't select a wide receiver in the deepest crop to emerge at that position in one draft in many years.

Eventually, this team will have to think hard about replacing Plaxico Burress, and the cost to do it this year would have been minimal.

There should be no problems at the position this season. Expect Burress to return to the team before summer camp, and perhaps even have a year that will help push the Steelers back into the playoffs. He won't be Bill Cowher's favorite player; his Mother's Day stunt won't soon be forgotten. But Cowher knows how much the team and Hines Ward need Burress, so don't be surprised if things are patched up between receiver and coach.

Still, it seems strange that the Steelers didn't choose a receiver among one of their final five picks in the last three rounds. There is a good chance Burress will sign elsewhere after the 2004 season, and the Steelers will have to either overpay for a wide receiver in free agency or make sure they find one with a premium pick in the '05 draft. Remember Troy Edwards?

Why not take a wideout instead of long snapper Drew Caylor or tight end Matt Kranchick in the sixth round or Virginia Tech defensive end Nathaniel Adibi in the fifth?

Adibi is a project - a player who must move to outside linebacker before he can succeed in the NFL - and the Steelers passed on wide receivers Drew Carter of Ohio State, P.K. Sam of Florida State and Triandos Luke of Alabama. All three are talented, and all three were gone - Sam to the Super Bowl champion Patriots - before the Steelers had a chance to make a sixth-round pick. In all, there were 13 wide receivers taken after the Steelers took Adibi.

Maybe none of them are better than Lee Mays, but the cost of finding out wasn't high.

Getting defensive

The Steelers did little in free agency to improve their defense, but the bet here is that Dick LeBeau's group will be better than what the Steelers had defending their end zone last year.

Left outside linebacker Clark Haggans will be better than Jason Gildon, who was seldom around the ball in proportion to the large number of plays he was on the field.

Plus, the secondary appears more athletic and active with the insertion into the starting lineup of three players who started last season as backups. Free safety Chris Hope, strong safety Troy Polamalu and cornerback Deshea Townsend were making several plays on balls in the air during the May minicamp. And that's what the Steelers were missing last year with Dewayne Washington and Brent Alexander.

Slash Part II?

Two things prevent Kordell Stewart from returning to the Steelers as a wide receiver:

еаааааа He believes he can still play quarterback successfully in the NFL, and he doesn't want to play wide receiver.

еаааааа There is too much bad history between Stewart and Cowher.

Other than those reasons, it's an idea that otherwise would make sense. Stewart can run and catch better than all but the three best wide receivers on the Steelers (Ward, Burress and Antwaan Randle El), and he would get more playing time than he will as backup quarterback somewhere else.