thundercleetz

I don't like what I see of Stephen Hill. Don't get me wrong, the size, speed, and body control is tempting. However he does not go up for the ball at its highest point, he body catches, and in those highlight videos he had some painful drops. I am not saying Hill won't be a good player, but I think a guy like AJ Jenkins has just as much of a chance to have an immediate impact. Jenkins reminds me a lot of Jeremy Maclin coming out of college. Similar playing styles. This draft is deep in receiver, very deep. No reason to take Hill in the first when there might be a guy in the third that has just as much of a chance to succeed.

Good stuff, I love all those picks. I really hope Hightower falls. I think he could be an impact player for us from day one. He is versatile enough to replace JJ and play OLB on first and second downs. He can then move inside and play pass coverage on third down. And he has the passion and leadership qualities to learn under Ray and eventually take over. I am going to be devastated if the Steelers take him.

Ben Jones would be a really good pick. Has experience at both guard and center. Tough guy with good insticts. He could give us immediate contributions at guard and could possibly be a quality long-term option at center.

Sneaky sneaky sneaky... Adding Jen Royle at the end was a joke, right? You have a lot of the good ones. Aaron Wilson (@ravensinsider) and KVV are the best IMO. @ravens is the official Ravens twitter feed. If you are looking for other good writers in general, Andrew Brandt (@adbrandt) is the president of NFP and former GM of the Packers. NFP is an awesome website in general. Albert Breer (@albertbreer) I like a lot too.

Here's how I see our pick going down: - LB Hightower is the guy we are hoping slips and would take him in a heart beat. - WR Hill would be the sexy pick and is very tempting due to his speed paired with T. Smith and we do not have a receiver with his size and ability to go up for balls downfield. - OT Cody is a smart pick due to his immediate ability to come in and play guard, as well as long-term potential at tackle. - C Konz represents a mix of Hill and Cody. Smart pick due to the position he plays, his football IQ, his on field success, and ability to be a long-term fixture at a critical position. He is risky due to his strength and durability. Based on what I know of Ozzie and our draft strategy and history, I have it down to these four guys (provided we do not trade out of the pick or someone ridiculous slips). What do you guys think?

No way Webb goes to FS with this type of contract. If we re-sign Cary Williams to a more CAP friendly deal he is the more likely candidate to move to FS once Ed is gone. Like Webb, Cary played safety in college I believe. Williams has the speed and rangy build to cover a lot of ground in the secondary. Who really knows how many more years Ed has though.

Considering the guy was around 380 this time last year, I say being 360 and in the same shape as he was at season's end is a good thing. He has a whole offseason to improve on that. Ozzie met with McKinnie a few weeks ago in person to decide whether to pick up his roster bonus or cut him and go after a guy like Eric Winston (possibly moving Oher back to LT). However Ozzie decided that McKinnie was in the right mindset. I trust Ozzie's decision.

Thanks max! Good to be back.

Lets not lie to ourselves... As long as the Steelers have Roethlisberger they will be very tough to beat.

He will probably sign with us for a Bart Scott-type of deal when Bart signed with us the first time he hit free agency in 2005. Like McClain, Scott was an undrafted free agent who played four seasons with us. Scott's deal was three-years for $13.5 with a $6.5 million guaranteed bonus. Additionally, Denver just re-signed linebacker Joe Mays to a three-year, $12 million ($4.5 million guaranteed) instead of signing McClain. With the top ILB's still on the market (Tulloch, Lofton, Hawthorne), not to mention a pretty solid MLB draft class coming up, McClain has very little leverage at this point.

Same story every season, just different names. The schedule always looks intimidating at the beginning of every offseason. Studs will become duds, and duds will become studs. The bottom line is that we will be competitive in every game.

Mike Wallace was just interviewed on Sirius NFL Radio. Here are the highlights: - He said his "heart is in Pittsburgh" but he needs to take care of his family first and wants to sign a long-term contract. Repeatedly mentioned he wants to stay in Pittsburgh but understands its a business - His top priorities are: a long-term deal, going to a winning team, and playing with a proven QB. Wallace said he would not want to sign with a losing team. - Adam Schein brought up New England and San Francisco as ideal fits, and told Mike the Pats would be the Super Bowl favorites with Mike. Mike thought both teams were a good fit and Super Bowl contenders - Schein also asked Mike if Alex Smith would qualify as a proven QB. Mike said he likes Coach Harbaugh a lot, the "sky's the limit" for that team and likes how Harbaugh puts that offense in "good situations." - Mike was completely blindsided by Arians (BA he called him) being fired. Really liked him. Wondered if something happened "behind the scenes." Said he has not spoken with Haley nor does he see it as important until his contract situation is cleared up. - Got a little ticked when the hosts brought up his drought down the stretch of the season, challeneged "anyone to look at the film" with him. - Wants to improve his short game and his YAC skills And finally the last question asked... - Mike laughed when asked if he would sign a contract with the Ravens. Said it would be difficult and would never want Steeler fans to hate him, but if that's what it took for him to take care of his family financially he would have to consider it Schein stated from what it sounds like, if the Steelers cannot reach a deal with Wallace before the beginning of free agency, he's as good as gone. He kind of put words in Wallace's mouth, but Wallace seemed to agree with that statement.

I love the move. As a QB coach we are not asking Caldwell to run the offense. We are asking him to keep up on Joe's mechanics (something Zorn did very well and Joe's mechanics would become sloppy at times this year without the attention to detail he received in 2010). And add in whatever insights he feels Joe might not be seeing on the field. Caldwell was bound to pick something up from Peyton since working with him in 2002 that would be useful to any NFL QB (by the way, even though Peyton is very much self-made, he was not a seasoned vet in 2002, so I'm sure there was a lot of mutual learning and growth for these guys). When you think about it, how do great coaches become great? Most of the time it is by who they surrounded themselves by. Whether it's players or other great coaches. A lot of the great coaches today didn't play the game themselves in the NFL, so they've become great by their ability to learn. Caldwell played DB in college, but somehow became an offensive coach for five different college teams and two (now three) different pro teams. So Caldwell must be knowledgeable enough where a team would want to hire him for his knowledge after interviewing him. Especially in our situation where the QB coach is essentially an expendable position for us where we would only hire one if we felt he had useful knowledge to bring. You have to think that Ozzie and DeCosta remembered his head coaching interview back with us in 2008 and Caldwell left a favorable enough impression to reach out to him to join the staff. The guy went 24-8 in his first two seasons as head coach. He has eight years of college head coaching experience. He made the Super Bowl his first season as head coach too. I don't care how good the team is you coach, making the Super Bowl as an NFL coach is impressive regardless. At the very least we got ourselves a very qualified QB coach. I like the move.[/indent] A guy at my work is a huge Colts fan. He is a big fan of Caldwell and wanted to keep him. He stated Caldwell has Dungy traits. He is quiet, reserved, and respectful, but he has a quiet fire and is extremely intense. Sure this move might not pay huge dividends, but at the very least it will not hurt us. Oh yeah, and the fact that he chose us over the Steelers... I'll take any win over the Steelers I can get!

Evans Blue - Eclipsed, Pin-Up, Quote, Shine Your Cadillac, Cold (But I'm Still Here), Beg, and Over are all good songs.

The Twlight soundtrack: 1. Supermassive Black Hole - Muse 2. Decode - Paramore 3. Full Moon - The Black Ghosts 4. Leave Out All the Rest - Linkin Park 5. Spotlight (Twilight Mix) - Mute Math 6. Go All the Way (Into the Twilight) - Perry Farrell 7. Tremble for My Beloved - Collective Soul 8. I Caught Myself - Paramore 9. Eyes on Fire - Blue Foundation 10. Never Think - Robert Pattinson 11. Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron & Wine 12. Bella's Lullaby - Carter Burwell #2, 4, 5, 8, 11, and 12 are all really good tracks. As a whole, I really like the soundtrack.