Lessons Learned from Pittsburgh Steelers', Kevin Colbert's 2012 Draft Strategy

The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most conservative drafting franchises in the NFL. They are still difficult to read going into any particular draft because they aren't slaves to need, rarely selecting players at their most glaring holes in early rounds. Their philosophy about what makes a player work in their system is crystal clear, although they have had a bad run of picks at outside linebacker as of late.

General manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin's final decisions this year forced us to revise a few long-standing ideas about how the team approaches the draft.

The Steelers will spend early picks on guards and tackles... if the right players fall to them.

The team has been to two Super Bowls in the last four seasons, and yet they've fielded one of the worst offensive lines in the league. While 2011 second-round tackle Marcus Gilbert and 2010 first-rounder Maurkice Pouncey look like keepers, fans were driven up the wall by the team's unwillingness to invest in many high picks at guard and tackle.

That changed this year, as the team took one of each with their first two picks. Of course, the first-round guard David DeCastro was expected to go much higher, and the second-round tackle Mike Adams was rated a first-rounder by some (including Steelers OL coach Sean Kugler).

The fans finally got their wish, but it was probably a result of the Steelers' good luck and Adams' poor decisions, rather than a specific goal set by the team to address the offensive line early and often.

The Steelers will take character risk players... if they prove their remorse to them.

Since the Steelers traded 2006 first-round pick Santonio Holmes for a fifth-round pick after repeated incidents off the field, it has been assumed that an organization already averse to character risks would completely swear off such players in the draft.

Instead, the team stuck their neck out for Ohio State offensive tackle Mike Adams.

There is one "but," and that is that Adams sought out the Steelers (and only the Steelers) for a meeting after his positive drug test at the combine came out. At that meeting, the Steelers gave him specific criteria and stipulations that were necessary for him to complete if they were going to consider drafting him.

Fifth-round pick Chris Rainey also had a felony arrest for stalking two years ago, but he is very close to 2010 first-round Maurkice Pouncey, and Rainey has no pattern of problems other than that incident.

The Steelers wanted a new kind of "slash" player.

Pittsburgh is known for putting athletic quarterback/wide receiver slash players in their offense and creating plays to maximize the value of their versatility. Kordell Stewart, Hines Ward and Antwaan Randle-el all famously made unconventional, exciting plays in the Bill Cowher era.

Now, Rainey brings speed and the ability to play wide receiver and running back (in addition to returning kicks). The team has never had that type of player before.

Don't assume new offensive coordinator Todd Haley lobbied for Rainey after he was part of the Kansas City regime that drafted Dexter McCluster. According to Len Pasquarelli, that didn't happen. 

The Steelers will take a player they like, even if he isn't an obvious fit.

Even if the team hadn't released James Farrior earlier in the offseason, inside linebacker was a moderate to strong long-term need. A linebacker in the third round shouldn't be a surprise, but when it's a 5'11," 231 lb. outside linebacker when the biggest hole is at a spot that is required to take on blocks, the pick does raise eyebrows.

Spence projects as a "mack" ILB, the spot currently manned by Lawrence Timmons, so he wasn't taken to replace Farrior. In this case, the Steelers took a player they believed in and decided to worry about how he fits in later.