Can the Steelers afford to remain so patient? Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert has his own way of doing things. It's served him very well over the last 13 years, running one of the most talent-rich teams in the league. A great recent example was in 2007. Linebackers Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley were taken in the first two rounds of the draft, but despite being healthy all season, neither player started a single game as a rookie. That patient approach has worked for the Steelers over the years. Source: NFL.com
the problem is in 2007 when the steelers didnt have woodley and timmons start, the same guys that are playing right now were playing. All 6 years older now and none of those core players were THAT young back then. Ike, Smith, Keisel, Hampton, Farrior, Foote, Troy, Clark were all very established veterans at that point and the "young" players were William Gay and Bryant Mcfadden, both have started for the steelers, left the steelers, and been brought back since then. Holding that team together for so long is exactly why they cant really afford to be patient...that and the 2008 and 2009 drafts has placed quite a bit of urgency on not only this draft but on 2011 and 2012 picks to really step their crap up early...they need curits brown, heyward, decastro, gilbert, adams to step up. And worilds and sanders really need to step up. Theres a lot of doubt around some of those guys, but all of them are going to be given opportunity now to show what they got. Ive even soften my stance on worilds, im kinda starting to have faith in him, that could quickly change if he still plays as horrible as he has so far. Cortez Allen is another one that is being watched closely. I think Keenan Lewis's "breakout year" was pretty overrated, but Cortez is a guy with legit ability to make us not even notice losing lewis
I think the Super Bowl victories got the Steelers a little off their "off season game plan" and they wound up holding onto guys a little longer than they normally would. That and a couple piss poor drafts and its all coming to a head...
