NFL Draft Preview
Steelers Look to Fill Line Needs

Despite recent evidence to the contrary, the Steelers don't always get it right.

Most of the time, of course, they assemble winning, cost-effective plans for acquiring personnel that result in almost no salary-cap purges (the plague of many NFL teams), repeated success within the AFC and, of course, the ultimate prize -- a record six Super Bowl championships, including two in the past four years.

But the plan doesn't always come together.

Free agency 1996 and the 1999 draft were examples and this year's college player selection process has the same dire potential. The Steelers have placed themselves in the precarious position of having a serious need for depth on an improving, but young, offensive line and an aging defensive line. Just like the car salesman who salivates when he senses a buyer's desperation, the draft can pick your pocket in the time it takes to make a phone call.

Some history:

In 1996, the Steelers allowed Neil O'Donnell, a Super Bowl quarterback only two months earlier, to leave through free agency. The failure to re-sign O'Donnell left a gaping hole at the game's most important position that could not be adequately filled by the likes of Jim Miller, Mike Tomczak, Kent Graham, Tommy Maddox and Kordell Stewart. Only Stewart came to the team by means of a premium draft pick.

The Steelers all but built the franchise around Stewart, who had bright flashes of success, but still threw 84 interceptions and 77 touchdown passes in his 11-year career, plus six picks and only one score in two AFC Championship Game appearances.

The Steelers didn't get to another Super Bowl until they drafted a quarterback in the first round -- Ben Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl winner who already has one foot on the steps of Canton. Leaving themselves vulnerable by failing to draft or sign a winning quarterback hurt the franchiise for nearly a decade. In the eight seasons between O'Donnell and Roethlisberger, the Steelers missed the playoffs as often as they reached them.

Three years later, another blip emerged. The Steelers largely wasted a premium pick -- the 13th overall.

That was the year the team believed it needed a wide receiver and was determined to get one, no matter the cost. With Torry Holt and David Boston plucked early, the Steelers reached for Louisiana Tech's Troy Edwards, leaving offensive linemen John Tait and Damien Woody and defensive linemen Booger McFarland and Jevon Kearse on the board. All became more productive than Edwards, who was easy to sign, but never rounded into the elite player the 13th choice needs to be.

The point: Poor choices lead to desperation and that's what the Steelers need to avoid this year.

On the eve of the 2009 draft, the Steelers have a glaring streak of vulnerability running through their offensive and defensive lines, with aging players and questionable players and little in the way of backup help. It is not an immediate problem (you do remember Super Bowl XLIII, right?), but one that needs to be addressed now.

The problem could have been avoided with a more concentrated effort to take linemen in recent drafts. The Steelers haven't used a first- or second-round pick on an offensive lineman since drafting Kendall Simmons in 2002. Nose tackle Casey Hampton (2001) is the only defensive linemen taken in the first two rounds since the forgettable Jeremy Staat in 1998.

As a result, the offensive line ends up with little or no depth after worn-out veterans Marvel Smith and Simmons lost the tread on their tires and had to be tossed to the scrap heap. The defensive linemen have been victims of the relentless march of time (six of the top seven players are between the ages of 32 and 36), but the team's efforts to fortify the depth situation have proven largely unsuccessful. Since hitting the mother lode in 2002 with defensive end Brett Keisel in the seventh round (the 242nd player taken overall), the Steelers drafted five linemen with picks 4-7 from 2004-2007, and none remain on the roster.

If they don't emphasize both lines in this year's draft by expending a first-day pick, a disaster could emerge in a year or two. Both lines were good enough in 2008 and should be fine this season, but can the team make that same claim in 2010, without good infusions of youth?

That should be -- and is -- the emphasis of the Steelers' meetings as the team prepares for the draft April 25-26.

Nonetheless, the Steelers have to be careful not to be haunted by the ghost of Troy Edwards and draft an offensive or defensive lineman first, for no better reason than they need one.

The Super Bowl championship places the Steelers 32nd in the pecking order, and the cream of the offensive linemen -- Baylor's Jason Smith, Virginia's Eugene Monroe, Mississippi's Michael Oher, even the immature Andre Smith of Alabama -- may be gone by that time. Still, Oregon center Max Unger looks like good value at the bottom of the first round. Later rounds could produce solid centers such as Louisville's Eric Wood, California's Alex Mack and Penn State's A.Q. Shipley of Moon (much later).

What the Steelers are determining as you read this is whether an offensive tackle such as Arizona's Eben Britton is worth more than the curiousity aroused when the media finds out his grandmother is Oscar-winning "Bonnie and Clyde" actress Estelle Parsons. Britton, 6-6, 310, is a three-year starter who could be had later on the first day.

Maybe that's the way to go, giving the Steelers the option of saving their first-round pick for the cornerback they will need now that Bryant McFadden is an Arizona Cardinal and Deshea Townsend is only five months shy of his 34th birthday.

Wake Forest's Alphonso Smith is just shy of 5-foot-9, but his ball skills are superior to most available cornerbacks ,with school-record totals in interceptions (21) and pass breakups (40). He's not Malcolm Jenkins, the Ohio State cornerback considered the best of the bunch, but Smith is more coachable than another highly rated -- if immature -- cornerback Vontae Davis of Illinois.

The Steelers also must look at wide receiver after losing Nate Washington in free agency. But it's not an immediate need, with Santonio Holmes developing into one of the game's great pass catchers and Hines Ward still effective entering his 12th season.