2012 - A Good Class Gone Bad For The Steelers

People have been calling my Steelers an ageing team for what seems itself an age, so following the draft a little closer each year and looking at the contributions of our rookie signings has taken on more significance as age and injuries have started to show.

I have to say, I was very happy going in to training camp with what we had going on with the young players. I felt the team identified and addressed the needs as well as it had in recent times. Some had rated the draft as A grade or better. However, as we close out the season having already seen the Steelers on their holidays for a couple of weeks I can't help but feel underwhelmed - heck, even disappointed, with the 2012 rookie class.

Now I don't watch much college football, so I didn't know a great deal of what to expect other than what I read and YouTube clips... but lets go back to the start and look at the rookies that were signed for the 2012 season:

1st round (24th overall) - David DeCastro (Stanford) - Rated as the best guard prospect in the draft and no-one expected him to still be available when the Steelers were on the board, he was expected to start from the off and make the same sort of impact Maurkice Pouncey had a couple of years earlier.


2nd round (56th) - Mike Adams (Ohio State) - Considered a risk based on questionable character because of recreational drug offences, he was also considered a great talent and capable of shaping himself into being a starting tackle in the NFL. As a Pennsylvania kid and Steelers fan, there was good hope that the organisation could get he to grow out of his problems.

3rd round (86th) - Sean Spence (Miami, Fl.) - My impression was he was a little undersized but I was impressed by his speed. Middle linebacker depth was a useful thing to have with Larry Foote getting no younger, and he looked like a good special teams contributor whilst Dick LeBeau shapes him up.

 4th round (109th) - Alameda Ta'amu (Washington) - Some were surprised he was taken in the 3rd round, the Steelers gave up their 6th round pick to get him in the 4th. Nose tackle was clearly a position we needed a young guy to come in and develop as a potential replacement for Casey Hampton.

5th round (159th) - Chris Rainey (Florida) - Fast. His highlight reel was full of exciting breakaway plays. He would never be an every-down back, but an explosive 3rd down and dump off threat with potential to assist in the return game, he looked to me like a good fit as something the Steelers hadn't really had before, our Darren Sproles.

7th round (231st) - Toney Clemons (Colorado) - Wide receiver was a position with doubt hanging over it and depth needed at draft time, so a sensible choice was to find a receiver low down and see what they could do.

7th round (240th) - David Paulson (Oregon) - Possibly a better receiver than the back ups to Heath Miller we already had, needed work as a blocker but available to play straight away.

7th round (246th) - Terrence Frederick (Texas A&M) - Always good to have depth at corner back in the modern game with formation where many will be on the field at a time, so worth a look with William Gay leaving.

7th round (248th) - Kelvin Beachum (SMU) - With the O-line issues, no harm in picking up another rookie to give a chance to and could cover guard or tackle.

And, there were some undrafted rookies too. Punter Drew Butler (Georgia), full back Will Johnson (West Virginia), linebackers Marshall McFadden (South Carolina State) and Adrian Robinson (Temple), and safety Robert Golden (Arizona) made roster.

So...how did this A rated, needs-satisfying rookie class work out? Well, we know now that the season ended 8-8. We know we beat some tough teams and lost to some soft teams. I expected us to have a transition year with rookies getting more game time early on than maybe in years past. I wasn't sure we would get playoffs, but expected the team to have shown signs of moving on to the future of the team. I'm not sure that's what we got...

DeCastro's season was over before it got chance to begin, with his knee injury in the pre-season game against Buffalo restricting him to only 4 late season appearances. Obviously promise is still there, and he can't be blamed for his lack of impact, but his 2012 rookie year can't be considered a success.

Adams suffered from injuries limiting his practice time pre-season and restricting him during the season to only 10 games (6 starts), but when he was a starter the team performed well, notably in the running game. Adams rookie year was successful and he has definitely shown promise for the future.

Spence is another player who's season never started. Placed on injured reserve during the pre-season with a knee injury, he will essentially be a rookie next year. Hopefully his speed won't have been affected and he has been able to put some size and power in to his upper body.

Ta'amu is where the story starts to get even worse than just injury limited play. Not only did he not give himself the opportunity to get any snaps in the line-up, but a DUI offence in October was followed by him being temporarily off the roster through November before being picked up again for week 17. Hopefully he can sort himself out and show some promise, but I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't on the 53 man roster come September 2013.

Rainey could be seen as the defining point on this rookie class and this rebuilding season. Released on 10 January shortly after being arrested for battery on his girlfriend, Rainey is now gone from the Steelers and we can't expect to see him back in black and gold. Not that we saw much of him anyway. On offence he was disappointing really. He famed speed coming out of college only saw a long of 19 on 26 rushing attempts where he averaged 3.9 per carry. In the passing game I expected him to make some splash plays coming out of the backfield, but a long of 14 and an average of 4.3 yards on 14 receptions showed this guy didn't cut it in his rookie year and deserved the cut he got. In the kick return game he was at least contributing with over 1000 yards and an average of 26.5 per attempt, but as consistent as he was at getting it to the 30, he never broke a long one and didn't put up any special teams points. Very disappointing, and now departed.

Clemons made no impact at the Steelers, spending time on the practice squad before being picked up by the Jaguars and playing in four games, making three catches. An unsuccessful pick.

Paulson actually beat out the other back ups to be the second TE on the depth chart come the season start. He played in every game and made 7 grabs, also contributing a little on special teams. He looks more of a receiving tight end, blocking still needs work, and he isn't going to be able to step up if Miller misses game time next year unless he shows rapid development in the off-season. Not a failure, but not really a success either and not destined for great things I fear.

Frederick never made it to the season start for the Steelers. Waived, he was picked up on the Giants practice squad and eventually played a couple of games for them. I forgot he existed until I started researching this blog post.


Beachum played a lot more than expected. Five starts at tackle showed potential. I think he is undersized for a tackle and will see himself play more as a guard in coming years. He even has the possibility of putting himself in the frame for a starting role in 2013. With Adams, Beachum would be considered the other relative success of the draft class, but he isn't the finished product yet.

Of the undrafted guys, Butler had a reasonable year after beating out Kapinos in training camp. A third of his kicks were into the 20 and he only gave up 6 touchbacks, but my abiding memory from him this year will be that blocked punt in the upset loss to Tennessee. 

Will Johnson was a player that impressed me at full back. Full backs aren't expected to run the ball much these days, but he did a good job in blocking and showed some ability in the receiving game. I was happy to have a full back that wasn't just a body to block and I hope he continues to play and develop. 

Golden got some playing time and made a few tackles. Robinson was in on 12 games but didn't trouble the statisticians and Marshall got 1 tackle in 1 game. The roster fillers like these guys didn't do anything wrong, but none really stood up for the team to take notice of.

Overall, the rookie class disappointed me even more than the season outcome, because I at least wanted to see the buds of transition from an ageing squad to our next Super Bowl unit. Promise and potential in the offensive line is one of the few bright sparks from this rookie class. That is the only area where last years needs were really satisfied by the draft. We still need some emerging depth at receiver and a legitimate all around tight end. We still need a new nose tackle and young outside line backers to grow into our defense. Safety depth isn't convincing either. Add to that, we'll be looking for a running back and a splash play return threat.