NFL Draft: Day 2 observations

Jets fans in April.                                              Steelers fans in February.

  > No matter how much draft experts say they evaluate talent, there’s still a tendency for them and for all of us to overvalue “big name” players when it comes to evaluating the draft on the day after. Today, everyone is saying the Eagles “won” by picking Jeremy Maclin and Shady McCoy. Remember that last year at this time the Steelers were being hailed as “winners” when they grabbed Rashard Mendenhall and Limas Sweed.
  > With that in mind, we still love the selection of Kraig Urbik in the third round. Wisky linemen usually are NFL ready and Urbik should give Darnell Stapleton a run for his money at some point in 2009.
  > On the other hand, the Black and Gold selected Ole Miss’s Mike Wallace in the third round with Deon Butler still on the board. We have a feeling they’re going to regret that pick. The Steelers think Wallace can be a “Nate Washington type” of receiver. We’re not sure how much of a compliment that is.
  > We’ve been saying this since January to whoever would listen and we’re going to say it today: We think A.Q. Shipley is a perfect fit for the Steelers and a diamond in the rough who can become a 10-year starter in the NFL.
  > You knew the Steelers weren’t going to get out of the draft without taking a tight end. Not with Bruce Arians around.
  > Suzy Kolber’s Sunday interview with Mike Tomlin was enlightening in many ways. First, the number of times Tomlin said “body of work” strengthens the idea that one of the Steelers new draft strategies is to look for mult-year starters from major colleges. Second, Tomlin made a point of mentioning how much Bruce Davis, last year’s third round LB from UCLA, has improved.