SteelerWatch

Draft Potential:
- Day 1: NOT LIKELY
- Day 2: EH, MAYBE

Cue the jokes about deoderant. Finished? Good, let’s get to business.

The right side of the Steelers line was essentially a travesty this season. 2006 starting right guard Kendall Simmons has been largely dependable in his relatively short career, but he seemed to be off his game for the first eight contests or so. Willie Parker’s best runs all season came from the left side (even his middle runs came behind Alan Faneca and Jeff Hartings) because the right side seemed to be getting bullied off the line.

That said, Simmons and left tackle Max Starks showed marked improvement over the final eight games. Unfortunately it may be too little too late. Chris Kemoeatu filled in for Simmons twice and played well enough to deserve a second look. That’s a shame, because Simmons was taken 30th overall in the 2002 draft. He’s big, he’s smart and he’s gifted, but the fact that he didn’t play the season at a first-round level leads me to believe that he will at the very least be challenged hard for the spot by Kemoeatu, and may be displaced. Should a good right guard come available in free agency, we may see an immediate end of the line for Simmons as a starter. This isn’t all that likely though, as guards may be hard to come by.

While it’s definite that the Steelers will pick a guard in the draft, it’s more likely the chosen player will be slated to back up Faneca on the left side, filling a hole that’s existed for far too long.

Regardless of moves made in free agency and the draft, it’s hard to believe the Steelers will outright get rid of Simmons. However, he doesn’t have the virtual guarantee for his position that exists for other offensive players like Ben Roethlisberger, Willie Parker, Hines Ward and Alan Faneca. The departure of head coach Bill Cowher has opened a number of opportunities in the starting lineup, and the offensive line promises to have two of the better camp battles on the right side of the line. New coach Mike Tomlin will not allow underachievers to keep their jobs. That’s not to knock Cowher; he was successful at running the team, but we all got the feeling that more than one player had a spot in the starting lineup they didn’t necessarily deserve.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 9th, 2007 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Before the Draft, Offense. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.