The offensive line is definitely a weakness, but having Justin Hartwig at center should help protect Ben Roethlisberger where Sean Mahan was absolutely abysmal last year.  Marvel Smith’s return at left tackle should improve the line play, as it will allow Trai Essex to move into a reserve role.  Chris Kemoeatu will step in at left guard and hopefully begin to show some of that vast, angry potential that the Steelers have been talking about for two years while Kendall Simmons will play the right guard spot (with Mahan backing him up).  The right tackle spot will be one of the most intense on the team, as Willie Colon and Max Starks will battle it out, with the loser being very unhappy with his situation and hopefully pushing the other one to success over the course of the season.  All in all, the Steelers’ line doesn’t have any stars this year, but should be able to pull together into a patchwork group capable of protecting the stars long enough to let them make plays.

The pick of Mendenhall may have upset one of these stars, Willie Parker, who has tried as much as possible to play the good soldier since it happened.  Yesterday, however, he said that he probably would have taken a tackle in the first round and was surprised that the Steelers didn’t.  Newsflash, Willie, they were all off the board.  An NFL-record eight were taken in the first round and at least one of them (Sam Baker) is seen as an extremely iffy pick by experts.

Instead, the Steelers took the next pick thing for Parker-a dynamic, talent running back to team up with Parker and extend his career.  An argument can be made that Parker didn’t wear down too badly last year (he had strong weeks in 14 and 15 against strong Jacksonville and New England defenses that didn’t let Roethlisberger beat them), but in weeks nine through 13, Parker was not very good.  His style (running into people) isn’t conducive to a long career and last season he had 321 carries.  Adding Mendenhall, who is a strong runner and will probably see most of his action in short-distance situations this season, will lengthen Parker’s career and give the Steelers an option just in case he does get hurt.

The Sweed pick, which is already being used as another respect card by Hines Ward, is the one that could make the Steelers’ offense scary, though.  Ward is still an intense, talented player who will be successful any time he steps on the field.  Santonio Holmes is still one of the quickest, best young receivers in football.  Nate Washington is still an excellent third option, except he’ll be fourth if Sweed can catch onto the offense.

A tall, very talented receiver, Sweed self-admittedly has issues with route running.  All of the ability in the world is there, but he may or may not be able to put it all together, something that he’s going to have at least one season to do without any pressure before being expected to take on a bigger role.  As the number four receiver, Sweed will come in during passing downs and red zone situations and stretch the field or give Roethlisberger that huge target in the end zone that he has been asking for.

With that going for him, in addition to the two very good tight ends (Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth), Roethlisberger has all the weapons he can possibly ask for.  Now he just needs to win against what has been labeled (and I paraphrase the much maligned Peter King) the toughest schedule in the recent history of the NFL.

• I will feel neglectful if I don’t mention Mendenhall’s being robbed at gunpoint.  It sounds as if he wasn’t up to anything bad and as if he handled the situation about as well as could be expected, but there is that saying that nothing good happens after midnight.  Mendenhall and other Steelers should learn that saying by heart.  It’s good that he and his “female companion” are okay.

Stull, a redshirt junior, has spent the most time in Pitt’s system and is the oldest of the quarterbacks, but he is probably not the best.  Last year was supposed to be Stull’s year, with Pat Bostick maybe receiving some playing time toward the end of the season, with the two kind of splitting time this season if Stull was ineffective or Stull holding the job outright if he was good.

In the first game of the 2007 season, against Eastern Michigan, however, Stull went down to an injury.  He had looked very solid prior to that injury, but it was one that would keep him out for the remainder of the season.

In the interim, Wannstedt attempted to turn to Kevan Smith to fill the void left by Stull, deeming Bostick unprepared for the challenges of being a Division I quarterback.  Smith looked absolutely atrocious, embarrassing himself and Pitt during his time on the field and leading to Bostick’s being inserted into the lineup beginning with a portion of the Connecticut game.

Bostick was turnover-prone throughout the season, demonstrating the flaws that commonly plague freshman quarterbacks such as throwing into traffic or misreading a defense.  He did, however, mature as the season went on and, along with fellow freshman LeSean “Shady” McCoy, led Pitt to a seminal victory over West Virginia (13-9, anyone?).

Bostick’s teammates know that he can lead them to victory, but he still hasn’t shown an ability to win games.  That means that, as long as the offense is based around McCoy, Bostick will do just enough to not lose.  It also means that Bostick may or may not have the ability to make the deep throw or to work in a pressure situation.  Under Bostick, who went 3-6 as a starter, Pitt lost four games by a touchdown or less.   As Bostick matures, Pitt may win some of those games, but this is a team with enough talent to hope for a legitimate bowl berth, if not a Big East Championship, this season.

That means that Stull needs to be the starting quarterback, with athletic transfer Greg Cross serving as the Tim Tebow, coming in during red zone situations in order to provide the Pitt offense with a more mobile dynamic from the quarterback.  This season is essentially like last season, with Bostick ready to step in if Stull falters, but with Stull receiving the first crack at starting.

And that’s fair to all of the quarterbacks, but, more importantly, is fair to their teammates and to the Pitt fans.

That resulted in mock drafts having the Steelers as picking Pitt tackle Jeff Otah or Virginia guard Branden Albert.  The problem with that is that both of those players have rocketed up the boards, with some mock drafts having Albert going as high as seventh overall to the New England Patriots and almost all having Otah in the top 20.  In other words, the Steelers are not going to have the opportunity to pick either one of the two players who fits their needs best.

Gosder Cherilus is the next-best option, then, as the behemoth tackle could become a huge, consistent force at the right tackle position.  The experts claim that he won’t be a left tackle in the pros, but he could be an immediate starter at right tackle.  Plus, the guy’s from Haiti.  That means that the Steelers could have a Haitian and a Samoan (Kemoeatu) on the field at the same time, which would be pretty awesome.

Despite the potential upside of Cherilus, however, the Steelers should still attempt to trade their pick in an effort to acquire more picks in this year’s draft and to kickstart the hole-filling that must start taking place immediately.  Last year, the Cowboys received the Browns’ first-round pick from the 2008 draft as well as their 2nd round pick (36th overall) in the 2007 draft for the 22nd overall pick, which the Browns then used to pick up Brady Quinn.

The Steelers, then, could ask for a future first and a second for their pick as long as a team felt a pressing need to move up to pick their guy, which would probably mean a trade with a receiver-desperate team (the Titans are definitely going to take the highest receiver available).

Granted, if Oregon running back Jonathan Stewart is still on the board, the Steelers would have a tough decision to make.  Do they draft a potential star or see what he can fetch in trade?  That would be tough with Stewart, who may actually be the best all around runner in this draft, but otherwise the Steelers would be better off picking up an early second round pick and either a first round pick the next season or a third and fourth for 2008 for their pick.

Having more selections means filling more holes means better overall quality.

The Steelers are a team that traditionally have upstanding character, rarely taking risks on potential attitude problems and releasing players once they show hints of becoming detrimental to the character of the team. The team’s release of Cedrick Wilson after he was charged with hitting the mother of his son was, therefore, completely unsurprising and in line with the character that the organization has created for itself. Rooney, however, made comments that need to be revoked as soon as possible.

Rooney said that the Steelers hadn’t released Harrison because the circumstances were different and because Harrison was trying to have his son baptized at the time of the incident. There are other reasons for not releasing Harrison such as the incident becoming commonplace in the NFL and dealing with it internally, but justifying spousal abuse, which Rooney seemed to do, is uncalled for and disgusting.

The real reason that Harrison was not released and Wilson was can be traced back to the status of both players on the team. Wilson is a productive fringe player who never seemed to find his home in Pittsburgh, while Harrison is one of the team’s current defensive stars. Releasing Harrison would be akin to the Patriots releasing Teddy Bruschi four or five years ago. It just wouldn’t happen.

Where Rooney went wrong was in trying to justify the decision to release one player and not the other, something he never should have attempted, at least not with out having a prepared statement (and if he was reading from a prepared statement, then there are more problems with the Steelers than we are willing to admit). The comments he made demonstrated an outmoded and inappropriate style of thinking on the part of the Steelers’ higher ups. Hitting a woman is not appropriate whether it is to get a child baptized, to get a sandwich made, because you’re a little bit upset with her or for any other reason.

Rooney could deservedly face a maelstrom of criticism (Bob Smizik has already written a column about the issue) if he does not clarify or take back his comments.

The Steelers’ owner has certainly done a wonderful job of making a story here where there absolutely did not need to be one.

At Ohio State, Pryor will have the benefit of not being thrown into the fire immediately and being able to learn the system for a year before being handed the program.  At Michigan, Pryor would have been the immediate starter and would have been expected to produce in an offense seemingly designed for him, albeit one that is designed primarily for the college game and doesn’t highlight the NFL abilities of quarterbacks like Ohio State’s system does.

Pryor will be given the opportunity to take the field next season in a role that is continually being compared to that of Tim Tebow on Florida’s 2006 team.  Like Florida, Ohio State has a capable senior quarterback and a freshman quarterback who is one of the highest-rated in the land.  Like Tebow, Pryor is expected to take over the system once that senior leaves.  Like Florida fans, Ohio State fans are going to want to see what Pryor can do next season.  Whether that means bringing Pryor on in goal-line situations or letting him play a certain amount in each game is not yet clear, but Tressel will probably take a page from Florida coach Urban Meyer’s playbook and utilize Pryor’s skills the way that Florida utilized Tebow’s.

Most relevant to the Pittsburgh sports scene is Pryor’s revelation that he probably would have looked harder at Penn State if he had been assured that Tom Bradley would be the coach when the Joe Paterno era finally comes to an end.  That should be the single most obvious sign to Penn State administrators yet about the way that they should handle the coaching situation there, meaning that they should inform Paterno that this coming season will be his final one and tell the world that Bradley will be the coach starting in two years (they could just sign Bradley to a lengthy contract that states that he is guaranteed the job, but that would allow the Paterno reign, something that needs to come to an end, to keep on going).

Now, Penn State is going to have to deal with the threat of Terrelle Pryor at the helm of a national champion contender for the next three or four seasons.

• Pryor announces that he’s entering the Arena Football League. Friday Night Lights’ Smash Williams may have passed up an offer to join the indoor warriors, but Pryor decides that he’ll try to take the Adrian McPherson path to NFL glory and play on the 50 yard field. The short distance allows him to display his true athletic ability as he can fire rockets to receivers that no one has ever heard of, play cornerback as well as quarterback and even catch his own passes (thrown off of the netting at the back of the end zone, of course) in red zone situations. Also, the league has a contract with ESPN meaning that Pryor would receive immediate and constant exposure, replacing Jon Bon Jovi as the league’s resident circus act.
• Pryor announces that he’s going to Pitt and has really just been screwing with everyone the entire time. Dave Wannstedt promptly announces that he is going to shave his mustache in honor of the achievement. Bloggers everywhere see their computers explode.
• Pryor announces that he is done with sports altogether, instead choosing to follow in the footsteps of Pittsburgh’s own Wiz Khalifa and become a rapper. Khalifa is at the press conference and announces that Pryor has not come up with a rap name yet, but that Jeanette will certainly hold another press conference after he and Khalifa figure it out. Khalifa goes on to announce that he will be producing Pryor’s albums and that Pryor is in “good hands.”
• Pryor announces that he is going to follow in the footsteps of fellow former Pitt recruit Herb Pope and New Mexico State (and you thought I was going to write get shot) to play basketball. As for his reasoning, Pryor says that he figured that even bad basketball players get paid about $5 million a year, while he would actually have to be good at football to earn a massive amount of money.
• Pryor announces that he is joining Cirque du Soleil as an acrobat after stint in Barnum and Bailey’s, where he is going to be the lion tamer. When asked if he fears for his life at all, Pryor gives the reporter a dead stare and, without saying a word, causes the reporter’s pen to fall out of his hand.
• Pryor announces that he is going to search the world for Tupac in order to fulfill one of his childhood dreams of meeting the legend. He cites 7/7/2007 as the most disappointing day in his life because Tupac failed to return and claims that he will find Tupac eventually. Jeanette’s principal tries to wrest the microphone out of his hands before Pryor can finish the announcement, but Pryor simply holds it out of the man’s reach until he feels he has made his point.
• Pryor announces that he is going to play basketball in Europe for a year before returning to America to play in the NBA, stating that he can get two years of NBA play in before he is eligible to play in the NFL and that he figures it is the best way of handling his dual-sport skill and earning the most money. Jeanette is promptly overrun by men representing European basketball teams who wear too-tight jeans , drive sport cars and refuse to buy beer if they pay under $10 for it.
• Pryor announces that he never once considered going to Canada, stating that playing in the CFL is just too cold for him and that he can’t imagine why Canadians would possibly play football with three downs. Strangely, everyone in the room starts nodding during the announcement, where Pryor ends up pulling out the Ohio State colors and putting them on, thereby ending the Longest Recruiting Process Ever.

On top of Hartwig’s signing, the team retained Chris Kemoeatu, who will probably start at left guard, and Trai Essex, who will probably be the team’s backup at the tackle positions.  With the signing of Hartwig, Mahan will move into a reserve center/guard role that he is probably more appropriate for than the starting position that was foisted upon him at the beginning of last season.

The signing of Hartwig means that the Steelers have moved to upgrade at center through free agency two years in a row, but the length of the contract, two years, also indicates that they do not see Hartwig as a long term addition and will probably move to replace him in the draft either this year or next year.  The contract is also only for $4 million, meaning that it will have very little effect on the salary cap.

I’m not quite sure what this signing means for Max Starks, as I believe that, including Starks’ $7 million or so that he was guaranteed due to his transition tag, the team is now over the salary cap.  Some veterans will either need to have their salaries reworked or be released.

With the signing of Hartwig, the Steelers line currently shapes up like this:

LT: Marvel Smith, LG: Kemoeatu, C: Hartwig, RG: Simmons, RT: Willie Colon or Starks

Backups: Mahan, Essex, and Colon/Starks

•  I somehow managed to not post about this earlier, but the signing of Keyaron Fox is a solid one.  The former Kansas City Chiefs special teams standout is expected to continue in that role as well as a backup at all linebacker positions for the Steelers.  Fox is a classic Steeler signing, someone who was underutilized in his former role and could perform if asked to take on a greater role.

Pitt and Louisville have almost identical records this season, but one team is ranked and the other is not.  Louisville started slow and then heated up; Pitt started fast and then cooled down.  In March, however, it is all about who is hot at the right time and Pitt looks as if it could be heating up.

The Panthers were dominant at times, reeling off a lengthy run in the second half and one to start the overtime en route to winning a game that was never really in doubt, as DeJuan Blair avoided foul trouble, Sam Fields looked more athletic than anyone else on the floor and Levance Fields’ ball-handling was up to par.

The play of the game was definitely Gilbert Brown’s block in the second half.  I forget exactly which Louisville player it was, but the Cardinals stole the ball and appeared as if they had a fast break to any easy basket until Brown came out of nowhere to leap from behind whoever was taking the shot and cleanly reject it into the stands.  The play was an example of why Jamie Dixon trusts Brown more and more as the season goes on as the redshirt freshman appears to be the second most athletic player on the team, only trailing Sam Young.

Young was one of four Panthers to reach double digits in scoring, as Blair, Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields all scored at least 13.  Despite all of the positives from this game, however, it will be difficult for Pitt to win Friday night, as they will either be facing Marquette or Notre Dame, both of whom had an easy time with Pitt the last time that they played.

On top of that, Pitt has to be extremely exhausted from playing two games in two nights.  Notre Dame’s first game is Marquette, but the Golden Eagles had to play two games in two nights as well.  A game against Notre Dame would be Pitt playing against fresher legs while a game against Marquette would be a war of attrition.  Pitt’s chances don’t look so great.

Note: Four West Virginia Mountaineer football players plead no contest to charges of battery, including cornerback Brantwon Bowser (he could totally be a Super Smash Bros. character), running back/receiver Jockee Sanders (that can’t be his real first name), defensive back Eain Smith (Eain? really?) and the headliner of the group-RB Noel Devine, the gem of last year’s recruiting class.  This is a great start to the Bill Stewart era in Morgantown.

The right decision, of course, is to let guys like Marvel Smith walk away.  The cost of signing good offensive and defensive linemen is much higher in the modern NFL than bringing in a good coaching/scouting staff, drafting the right players and then developing them in the system.  The Steelers used to be good at this.

In the last few years, however, the Steelers have identified players such as Trai Essex, Chris Kemoeatu, Willie Colon and Max Starks as potential starters.  These players stepped in to play the line and promptly had Roethlisberger on his back.  Yes, they have size and some of them have skill, but they have clearly not developed the consistency necessary to be successful in the NFL.

At the moment, these players are the best that the Steelers have and they are going to have to use them until better options develop, but at the moment those answers just are not available.  If the Steelers are going to rebuild their team from the inside out, as they should, they are going to need to allow the older players to walk.  Sure, having some familiar faces around is a good thing, but growing attached is not the best way to develop a team.

In order for the Steelers to be successful in the future, they are going to have to make tough calls about who to sign and who to let walk and, unfortunately, the answer more often than not should be to let the player walk.

The free safety position is the oddity of these, as the Steelers have the injured Ryan Clark and the young Anthony Smith there. Clark was playing very well last season until he had severe internal issues after reacting badly to Denver’s high altitude. Smith then came on only to show that, as a second-year player, he was completely unprepared for the pressures of playing in the NFL, going for the big hit instead of making a play and looking completely lost at times.

If the Steelers think that Clark’s injuries will prevent him from taking the field healthy for a while and that Smith has sufficiently demonstrated that he will not be a good player.  If that is the case, it makes sense to be going after a consistent, veteran player such as Crocker or Wilson, both of whom could fit in with the Steelers’ plans by allowing Troy Polamalu to freelance and be the type of playmaker that he can be.

As for Hadnot, the guard/center started all 16 games for Miami last year and would bring a fair amount of versatility to a Steelers’ line that desperately needs the assistance.  Hadnot is a large, young lineman who would fit in nicely with the Steelers as either a starting center or guard or as a versatile backup.

White would help fill in at one of the Steelers’ areas of greatest weaknesses last season, special teams.  The former Packer is well-known for his ability on kickoff and punt coverage and the Steelers will be looking for a replacement on special teams and linebacker after releasing former ST captain Clint Kriewaldt earlier this offseason.

All in all, the Steelers are not looking at the cap-busting superstars whose signings indicate to the rest of the league just how desperate a certain organization is, but good, consistent players who would make them a better football team, the type of supplementary player that free agency should be used to add.