SteelerWatch

Update: I give you exhibit A: Sepulveda punts 51 yards and then beheads the returner.

I’ve seen it all over the Web since Sunday. Steeler fans worldwide are in an uproar about the team taking a punter — a punter! — with their fourth-round pick. Not just a fourth-rounder, though; they traded away a sixth-round pick to move up in the round! Utter heresy, if you ask many of the faithful.

Ladies and gentlemen, it was an excellent pick.

The myth is that special teams should be a draft-weekend afterthought. Kickers and punters should be relegated to rookie free agents, some say. But consider this: a full one third of the average team’s yardage in a given game comes from special teams. Punters don’t directly score points under normal circumstances, but they essentially play both offense and defense. Accurate punters with strong legs can automatically turn the field-position struggle against an opponent by pinning them near their own goal line. With help from the defense, the offense can then have better starting field position on their next posession.

But the Steelers got more than a punter with Dan Sepulveda. They got a guy with amazing accuracy, a strong leg, the rare gift of punt backspin and a specialist with the mind and tenacity of a linebacker.

And look at what he replaces. Chris Gardocki’s season average last year was 41.3 yards, well below the league average. He managed just 16.9% of his kicks inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Only because of his gift for hang time was the net average 36.7 yards. Sure, he’s never had one blocked, but he didn’t do a lot to help the defense with field position. He’s old, well past his prime, and he needs replaced. Sepulveda, one of the top two punters in college last year and two-time winner of the Ray Guy award, gives them a lot more help in the field position battle, and his raw abilities at the position give the team improved accuracy and will likely translate into their opponents starting many more drives deep in their own side of the field.

When your next best option is a 37-year-old journeyman whose only claim to fame is that he was able to get short kicks off before they were blocked, then yes, it’s worth a fourth-round pick.

DRAFT POTENTIAL:
- Day 1: IF THEY DO, I’LL CRY
- Day 2: POSSIBLE, BUT NOT LIKELY UNTIL THE VERY END

We’ll make this short and sweet, because there’s 1) not much hope of movement here; and 2) not a whole lot to be said.

Fact #1: Chris Gardocki can be counted on to get the punt in the air without it being blocked. Announcers don’t hesitate to remind us of his half-a-billion consecutive unblocked punts. However, his inability to punt more than about 41 yards on any given try puts the Steelers into a position they shouldn’t be in. Look for the team to possibly pick up a rookie free agent punter, or look to the free agency table scraps near the end of training camp. There’s a history here of making subtle moves just before the season starts, and I expect to see Gardocki on the outside looking in when September rolls around. Getting a punter in the draft will be akin to nailing Jell-O to the wall, though, because there’s only one decent prospect coming out of college, and he’s sure to be snapped up long before the Steelers would be willing to use a draft pick on a punter.

Fact #2: For a guy who has redwood tree trunks for legs, Jeff Reed has always seemed to lack pure leg strength. That said, he has historically been extremely dependable when it comes to field goals. Thus, 2006 may have been an anomaly, but we won’t know for sure until we get a few games into 2007 whether or not Reed’s slump was just an extension of a great team playing poorly as a whole, or if he has really fallen from the top. However, the team may want to at least consider signing a punter (likely as a rookie free agent) who can also handle kickoffs, because a good touchback ratio has always been mysteriously missing from Reed’s resume.

Note: This is a little late, as the news has been out for three days, but I’m posting this for the sake of complete coverage at this point. Besides, nothing has actually happened yet, so it’s not like I missed some huge, earth-shaking turn of free-agency events. After all, we’re talking about a punter here.

Chris Gardocki has long been considered one of the best punters in league history, but time has clearly caught up to him. Now, in an effort to revitalize a position that really needs some major revitalizing, the Steelers are attempting to woo punter Andy Lee away from San Francisco, offering him a reported $7.1 million dollar deal that covers the next six years with a $1.66 million signing bonus.

Lee is a restricted free agent, meaning the 49ers can match the offer and re-sign Lee any time until Tuesday. If they choose not to match, they inherit the Steelers’ 6th-round draft pick as compensation. Now for my take.

$7.1 million is a lot to spend on someone who will be on the field six to ten times per game — and that’s on a bad day. During their 2005-2006 playoff run that ended in victory, the Steelers had Gardocki on the field about two times per game. However, the position needed a big-time upgrade, and good punters aren’t as easy to come by as decent receivers or above-average outside linebackers. I guess the front office figured that, if someone was getting Gardocki-like money to punt, they better be putting up better than Gardocki-like numbers.

Good call.