NFL Draft 2015: Day 2 Winners and Losers
By Will Osgood
Pittsburgh Steelers
In truth, the Pittsburgh draft is the one I’m most jealous of, especially as a Saints writer and fan. Allan “Bud” Dupree was their first pick of the draft at No. 22, when most analysts thought he’d go top-15, at least. Then they took Ole Miss cornerback Senquez Golson at No. 56 overall.
While Golson is not your modern-day ideal fit at corner—he stands a hair under 5’9”—he is a ballhawk. Many draft analysts whom I respect had him as their third corner in this draft because of his ball skills.
Nobody is going to discount a player for his ability to make plays. He might get burnt a lot, but he may also be aided by a lot of zone coverage, which would make this an ideal fit.
But the real prize for the Pittsburgh Steelers was Auburn wide receiver Sammie Coates at pick No. 87. Sure the guy cannot catch a cold. No one is going to try to deny that, not me even. But what Coates loses in his ability to catch a ball—or really it’s that he drops them—he makes up for an amazing skill set otherwise.
His SPARQ score was third among wide receivers in this draft after Kevin White and Chris Conley of Georgia. Despite standing just 6’1”, he is a beast of a receiver—all 212 pounds of him—yet runs like a gazelle and plays bigger than his height.
He may not catch every pass thrown his way, but he’ll be open so much, and catch enough of them, that it won’t really matter. Pairing him with Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton and Martavis Bryant gives the Steelers one of the fastest and scariest wide receiver corps known to man.
Good luck covering those guys, even on the sloppy track at Heinz Field. If this team played on turf, they would be the greatest show ever on turf.
Next: New England