NFL Draft Preview
Steelers Needs
By Jerry DiPaola

The Steelers need help. Whoa! Now, there is some insightful commentary.

Sure, there are enough holes on the Steelers roster to keep the talk shows buzzing until the Fourth of July, but no matter how bad the situation seems, it doesn't make the Steelers any different than any of the other 31 teams in the National Football League. The NFL is a league of transition and quick turnarounds; a good team can turn bad as quickly as losers become winners.

Given that fact, however, that's also what makes the NFL draft, scheduled for April 28-29, so desperately important for coach Mike Tomlin and the team's new coaching staff. If you don't fish from the pool of veteran free agency - and the Steelers clearly haven't done much of that this offseason - you can't blow your opportunities in the draft.

Get it right, coach Tomlin, or your honeymoon with the team's unforgiving fans won't last long.

The Steelers enter the draft this year looking to shore up several positions. It was no accident that they took a 4-7 record into December before winning four of their final five largely meaningless games.

They played poor football for much of the 2006 season. The Super Bowl victory 14 months ago was nice, but it only indicates that the Steelers are close to playoff contention; they have yet to return to that coveted peak, and have a long climb in front of them.

The offensive line was nothing so much as a swinging gate for much of the season, especially when the Baltimore Ravens nearly committed homicide on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Then, at the end of the season, veteran Pro Bowl center Jeff Hartings retired.

Joey Porter and the linebackers suddenly became less fierce pass rushers, and now Porter is gone and the reserve who inherited his job, James Harrison, came out of the season with zero sacks. Heck, even Travis Kirschke had one.

The wide receiver group - beyond reckless, 31-year-old Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and mediocre (at best) backups Cedrick Wilson and Nate Washington - totaled one reception. And new offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said he wants to throw the ball around and use four-wide receiver sets more than in the past. If that's the case, what they have at wide receiver isn't nearly enough for the present or the future.

Not only that, the team gave cornerback Ike Taylor a five-year, $22.5 million contract, with a $6.4 million signing bonus, two months before benching him. Meanwhile, young cornerback Ricardo Colclough has yet to reach his potential after three seasons and Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu is so close to free agency he can smell the new ink on that big pile of crisp $1,000 bills he'll be putting in the bank.

Let's see: The shopping list includes centers, guards and tackles - at least one of each - someone to terrorize quarterbacks from the outside linebacker position, a reliable pass catcher or two and defensive backs who give coordinator Dick LeBeau the liberty to rush the passer without being excessively concerned with leaving voids in the secondary.

Hmmm ... maybe the Steelers need two good drafts to get back on track.

In any event, courtesy of their 8-8 record, the Steelers have the 15th pick in the first round in a year where the draft isn't especially deep with elite players.

Fortunately for the Steelers, there appear to be several good defensive prospects with the versatility to play in a 3-4 or 4-3 scheme, depending on the direction Tomlin will take the team. There also are cornerbacks who can run, cover, hit and make plays - at least they did so in college - at least one solid replacement for Hartings and some wide receivers, all of whom could be had in the first round at No. 15 without a big reach.

Here is a look at some of the players the Steelers should consider with their first two or three picks:

o    Nebraska defensive end Adam Carriker, 6-5 7/8, 292, finished his collegiate career as a three-year starter with 20 1/2 sacks and 42 quarterback hurries. Plus, he is a stalwart in stopping the run. Steelers defensive end Aaron Smith is one of the best in the league at his position, and as dependable as the sunrise, but Smith was not as good as Carriker coming out of college. Carriker is tempting, but the Steelers just gave Smith a five-year, $25 million contract that virtually guarantees him a total of $12 million in 2007 and 2008. Plus, they are not unhappy with right end Brett Keisel. Yes, depth is important, but do the Steelers want to invest so much money in one position?
o    Some mock drafts have the Steelers taking Florida State outside linebacker Lawrence Timmons, 6-foot-3, 232 pounds, who had five sacks last season. He's coming out as a junior and may not be as good as he can be this season, but he could be an eventual replacement for Porter.
o    Florida defensive end/outside linebacker Jarvis Moss, 6-6, 251, is said to be versatile enough to fit in any scheme. He also had 7 1/2 sacks in each of the past two seasons.
o    Miami (Fla.) outside linebacker Jon Beason is a bit undersized at 6-foot, 231, but he's a big hitter who eventually might give the defense some of the swagger it lost with the release of Porter. Plus, he satisfies the versatility question that is so important to coaches. That's especially true in Tomlin's case. Inside linebacker James Farrior will be 33 before the NFL plays another Super Bowl.
o    Signing veteran center/guard Sean Mahan in free agency might take the Steelers out of the center market, but how would Tomlin feel if Southern California's Ryan Kalil, 6-3, 291, falls into the second round? Kalil started three years for one of the finest programs in the land, is as smart as he is strong, and would be good value at No. 47.
o    Michigan cornerback Leon Hall, 5-11, 193, had 12 career interceptions and 34 pass breakups.
o    If Hall is not the best cornerback in the draft, Pitt's Darrelle Revis, 5-11 3/4, 194, fits that definition. NFL stopwatches clocked Revis, who played at Aliquippa High School, at between 4.36 and 4.41 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
o    Also, don't forget Texas cornerback Aaron Ross, 6-1/2, 192, who also can return kicks.
o    It's hard to picture the Steelers taking a wide receiver in the first round in two consecutive drafts, but USC's Steve Smith appears to be a later pick on the first day and will bring into the NFL an eagerness to compete, a 6-foot, 195-pound frame, 190 catches and 22 career receiving touchdowns.