Closing The Books...aka 2007 NFL Draft Retrospective Part IX

At 5:30 on Sunday, April 29, that about wraps it up for the Steelers 2007 NFL draft.

After our 4th round pickups, we also acquired Cameron Stephenson, OG Rutgers; William Gay, CB Louisville; and Dallas Baker, WR Florida.

I'll admit, out of those three the only one I'm remotely familiar with is Dallas Baker, whom I think is a good receiver pick for us. I think the hope is that if he made the team, and could show us something over the next year, two years, we would groom him to be a backup to Hines Ward. He's not a super fast guy, more of a posession receiver. The only thing that worries me is that according to Scouts Inc, he doesn't like to work the middle and does not block well. So Hines Ward he surely is not. I think the first obstacle for Baker will be making the team, then we'll see where he goes from there.

Cameron Stephenson - After doing a little light reading on Stephenson, I understand he has both size and athletic ability, but is a little on the light side at 6'4 1/2" and 306 pounds. Plus, his technique is lacking and his durability is "questionable". So as many of our later round picks, Stephenson will be a wait and see how he does in camp type of guy. Sounds like he doesn't get much drive off of his initial step, so might not be a great run blocker, but again, we shall see.

William Gay - My initial reaction is that I like pretty much any pick out of Louisville who was coached by Bobby Petrino. Though I don't remember much about Gay, I did see a few Louisville games this year and as a defensive unit they seemed pretty good. So I would hope that Gay could be a viable backup to our decent corps of defensive backs. I couldn't find a whole lot of objective analysis on him, but he's a little short, at 5'10" (a problem I have with DeShea Townsend), and only weighs 187. For a guy that light, running a 4.56 40 isn't super impressive (especially as a DB), but like the other two, I can only speculate as to how successful he could be in the NFL.

So there you have it, the last of the Steelers 2007 NFL Draft crop. It's been a long two days, and frankly, I've seen about all I need to see of this business.

Look forward to comments...if you've got 'em, bring 'em on.