The eighteenth pick in the inaugural edition of the Cincy Jungle Mock Draft is brought to us by special guest momma rollett, selecting for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Her explanation for the pick is after the jump. Thank you for your participation momma rollett .
With the eighteenth pick in the 2010 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers select...
Kyle Wilson, CB, Boise State
There has been a tremendous amount of discussion in Steeler Nation as to how we choose the first round pick. There are those who passionately defend a particular player. Mays, Thomas, Wilson, Spiller, Iupati, McClain, and players even less likely to fall to #18 have all had their fervent partisans. There are those who are arguing for the position itself - do we need to look for ____'s replacement in round 1 this year? The most common names to go in the blank are James Farrior and Ike Taylor, but others have been put forward. Then there are those who argue for shoring up a) our aging defensive line, b) our frequently bested secondary (at least when Troy Polamalu is out), or c) the o-line. There are those who contend that a player that the coaching staff has been developing is ready to step up next season - Joe Burnett/Keenan Lewis in the secondary, Ziggy Hood on the defensive line, and so on. Finally, there are the perennial arguments as to whether you take the BPA at your slot, regardless of whether you actually need that person or not.
The almost unprecedented activity of the franchise in free agency has also changed the picture somewhat, as have the, um, extracurricular activities of a few of our stars players. Although I've never experienced the whole draft circus before, as I am a rookie fan, I get the feeling that things are even more up in the air than usual this season.
The final consideration is my own particular bias, which is to take the BLA (best looking available) player. I have some scientific support for this, as a recent study demonstrated that there is a statistically significant reason to think that the best looking player is typically also in the top class athletically. I put together several mocks based on looks alone and found some pretty solid players that way.
So the players that are left that seem to make the most sense for us at this point are NT Dan Williams, CB Kyle Wilson, and C Maurkice Pouncey. I'm basing my choice on a combination of the factors listed above - the player where positional need and BPA intersect in what seems to me to be the best manner for the team, and thus I'm drafting Kyle Wilson.
Since we just re-signed Casey Hampton, Williams, while tempting, is probably not the greatest need, and Pouncey would be more tempting at a lower pick, but is probably a bit overvalued at #18. If we had trade options I would have considered trading down for him - on the other hand, I also would have considered trading up for Earl Thomas. But sticking at pick #18, I believe that Wilson makes the most sense for us. As well as his impressive showing as a CB, he offers flexibility on special teams (his punt return average was an impressive 14.2 y/rt, with 3 TDs, and we rather sucked on punt returns this past season.) And luckily for me, he is definitely a contender in the BLA category as well, as the second picture demonstrates...
Kyle Wilson Highlights:
(via ProDraftParty)