Posts tagged LimasSweed at FanHouse

Two weeks ago, Willie Reid was thought to be battling for a roster spot, now could he possibly start the season as the No. 4 receiver?

It's still unlikely, but as Limas Sweed keeps dropping passes, it's a fair to ask if the Steelers can depend on a rookie who has dropped three passes in the past two weeks. While Sweed is watching his chances slip through his fingers, Reid now leads the Steelers receivers in receptions (9) and yards (81).

What is pretty apparent, and something that is being mentioned by Steelers beat writers is that the team could be in the market for plucking a veteran receiver off the waiver wire. Sweed could end up being a pretty good receiver, even by the end of this year. But right now he's pretty inconsistent.

It's preseason, so there's no reason to freak out too much over the Steelers loss to the Bills, but here's what jumped out to me from the game.

• Steelers fans have been noticing Santonio Holmes for two years but this is the year taht evberyone else will get to notice the third-year receiver. It's not hard to imagine Holmes going for 1,200+ yards with an outstanding yards per catch average. In two games this preseason he's looked unstoppable.

• It's hard not to get excited about the idea of James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley coming off the edges. For the second straight week, Pittsburgh generated a pretty solid pass rush just by lining up and beating people off the edge--something that hasn't been true in recent years.

Steelers fans love big receivers.

Ever since Plaxico Burress left town and the Steelers started fielding a roster of smurf-like receivers, fans have been asking for a new big target. Ben Roethlisberger even got into the act before the draft, asking for some bigger targets.

But now that 6-foot-4 Limas Sweed is snagging most everything thrown his way in training camp, what is a realistic expectation for the rookie out of Texas?

There seems to be a lot of expectations that Sweed will step in and immediately take over the No. 3 wide receiver job, bumping Nate Washington down to the No. 4 spot. While that might seem exciting, a closer look makes it seem somewhat unlikely.

Even if Sweed is fully recovered from the wrist injuries that ruined his senior season at Texas (and it looks like he is), the simple reality is that rookie receivers rarely make much of an impact in Pittsburgh.

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...
Most balanced offense in the NFL. With the addition of Rashard Mendenhall the Steelers now have a talented between the tackles runner to go with Fast Willie Parker. This is thunder and lightning to a higher level with the single-back abilities each guy has. They can go deep to Santonio Holmes, or to the reliable possession receiver Hines Ward. Add the extremely athletic 6'4" Limas Sweed to the fray to catch jump balls, and the very solid over-the-middle TE Heath Miller. Oh yeah, and Ben Roethlisberger is coming off easily the most prolific season of his career.

The Breakout
Really tough call here. Did Santonio already have his breakout season last year? (YES) Is Sweed really ready to have a good enough season to call it a breakout? (HMMM ... ) Hasn't Mendenhall received enough hype that he's accurately "rated" (as opposed to underrated or overrated)? I guess if pushed I'll go with Mendenhall. Ward seems a lot less ready to yield his spot outside than Fast Willie is in the backfield to me, plus Nate Washington clouds things at WR. Mendy (yeah, just made that up) will at least vulture the goal-line TDs and has enough speed to fully take over should Parker go down via injury.

Pittsburgh Steelers 2008 Draft Picks:

Round 1 (23): Rashard Mendenhall, RB, Illinois
Round 2 (53): Limas Sweed, WR, Texas
Round 3 (88): Bruce Davis, OLB, UCLA
Round 4 (130): Tony Hills, OT, Texas
Round 5 (156): Dennis Dixon, QB, Oregon
Round 6 (188): Mike Humphal, ILB, Iowa
Round 6 (194): Ryan Mundy, FS, West Virginia

The Good: Mendenhall and Sweed are outstanding value picks who fell into the Steelers laps. Mendenhall was supposed to go somewhere around pick No. 15, while many mock drafts had Sweed going to the Titans with pick No. 24. There are some knocks against both of them--Mendhall is a one-year starter and Sweed has a worrisome wrist injury--but at the spots they were taken, Pittsburgh got outstanding value. Third-rounder Bruce Davis was a productive college player who fits the profile of a Steelers 3-4 outside linebacker. Fourth-rounder Tony Hills is another boom-bust pick, but if things work out, he could end up as the Steelers starting left tackle in 2010.

The Bad: Pittsburgh went the route of best available player in the first two rounds, which gave them great value, but also ensured that some pressing needs were left unfilled. Even though every significant defensive lineman on the roster is on the wrong side of 30, Pittsburgh did not draft a defensive end. They have to hope that Aaron Smith and Brett Keisel avoid injuries, and that practice squadder Ryan McBean develops (as he recovers from a stress fracture in his foot).

At FanHouse, one man's trash is another man's treasure. But only the few raise to the level of Notable Moments in FanHouse Commenting.

One of the best parts of the NFL draft is the passion that fans show for their teams. We see it in a ton of FanHouse comments, including this one a Titan fan gave to this entry from JJ Cooper entitled "Titans Sure Love to Draft Running Backs." Unfortunately, the comment wasn't published because of some very naughty words, but I have cleaned it up some so you can read its passion without serious profanity offending your delicate sensibilities:

**** YOU TITANS!!!! IM A DIE HARD FAN AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN THIS MAD AT MY TEAM BEFORE. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE IN THIS PICK. WE DONT EVEN NEED A ****ING RUNNINGBACK AND THERE WAS LIMAS SWEED (VINCE'S FORMER ****ING TEAMMATE!!!!) AVAILABLE!!!!!!!!!! WATTTTT THEEEEEEE ****KKKKKKKKK ARE YOU DUMB ****SS THINKING IN TENNESSEE. SO NEXT YEAR WHEN VINCE ONLY THROWS FOR 9 INTS AGAIN, DONT BLAME HIM. YOU SHOULD HAVE GIVEN HIM A ****ING RECIEVER. NOT ANOTHER ****ING RUNNINGBACK FOR THE THIRD ****ING YEAR IN A ROW

Let me make a brief point on style. I believe the Titan fan makes a cogent argument that might be shared by other Titan fans, but he does not need to use the all capital letters to make his point. Though popular among certain enthusiastic fans with poor typing skills, all caps is not the preferred commenting style at FanHouse. You might see all caps around here a lot, but really, please don't do that.

I leave you with a public service couplet: Please keep the comments clean, so that they can be seen. Thank you.
Sorry, No Photos

Ben Roethlisberger should be very, very happy.

Pittsburgh managed to add the tall receiver Roethlisberger has been asking for, and managed to get one who had been rumored by many to be a first-round pick. Pittsburgh may go into Sunday having done nothing to fix their line problems, but hey, they have helped upgrade the skill positions. Sweed immediately should battle Nate Washington for the No. 3 wide receiver position, and eventually he could become Hines Ward's replacement.

A couple of years ago before Chad Johnson went crazy and Chris Henry kept ending up in the back of police cars, the Bengals caused Pittsburgh all kind of problems by sending Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh on intermediate routes while sending Chris Henry deep against single coverage. Now, Pittsburgh will be able to do the same thing, while also sending Washington on deep routes as well.

Of course, all of that supposes that Ben Roethlisberger is still standing to throw the bomb when Sweed comes open. It's a concern, but if Pittsburgh can keep Roethlisberger protected, the Steelers have assembled a very impressive group at the skill positions.

With each pick of the FanHouse mock draft, we get into the head of an NFL general manager and let you know who he'll pick and why.

The Buffalo Bills have several needs, but a quality wide receiver to line-up across from Lee Evans is certainly at the forefront. And with the team now looking to use a more high-tempo type offense, a 6'4'' play-maker like Limas Sweed certainly fits the bill.

But is it too early to draft a wide receiver?

One of the major problems facing the Bills this year is the quality and depth at the wide receiver position. There are a handful of players that appear to have legitimate talent, but none that seem to warrant such an early pick. However, given the current nature of Buffalo's offense and the potential for missing out on one of them, the Bills may have to reach in round one.

The next question is, why Sweed?

Many people believe Malcolm Kelly is establishing himself as the number one wide receiver in this year's draft and it's hard to dispute that. He's a tall, physical receiver like Sweed, but he comes with a variety of injury concerns. And although his agent is quick to pass them off, they are legitimate concerns. For that reason, Sweed seems like the safer bet for Buffalo.

While Sweed also comes with injury concerns, they are not nearly as troublesome as Kelly's. And on the plus side, Sweed is considered a Plaxico Burress-type receiver with unparalleled motivation and an impressive work ethic. By all accounts, he has the intangibles to become a legitimate number one in the NFL.

The Skinny:
Team Needs - WR, CB, OLB, DT, DE
Player Select - Limas Sweed, WR, Texas
Also Considered - Malcolm Kelly, WR, Oklahoma; Leodis McKlevin, CB, Troy

Previous Pick: No. 10, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Saints

Next: No. 12, Denver Broncos

Everyone knows the Titans need some wide receivers, which would seem to make picking for the Titans in a mock draft relatively easy. And it would be if there was any consensus on the top wide receivers for this year's draft.

But a survey of 14 reputable mock drafts finds that there's not much of a consensus at all. Nine of the mocks have the Titans picking a wide receiver, but it could be any of four different receivers. Texas' Limas Sweed is the favorite pick as four of the mock drafts see the Titans reuniting Young with his Longhorns teammate. But DeSean Jackson and Malcolm Kelly are also mentioned in multiple mock drafts.

Here's the full list of mocks:

NFL.com's Pat Kirwin: Limas Sweed, WR, Texas
NFL.com's Vic Carucci: Kentwan Balmer, DT, North Carolina
SI.com: DeSean Jackson, WR, California
Sports XChange: Jonathan Stewart, RB, Oregon
CBS Sportsline's Pete Prisco: Devin Thomas, WR, Michigan State
CBS Sportsline's Clark Judge: Felix Jones, RB, Arkansas
ESPN's Hashmarks Blog: Malcolm Kelly, WR, Oklahoma
Rivals.com: Calais Campbell, DE, Miami
Scout.com: Quentin Groves, DE, Auburn
NFL Draft Countdown: Limas Sweed, WR, Texas
Football's Future: Limas Sweed, WR, Texas
Scout's Notebook: DeSean Jackson, WR, California
New Era Scouting: Malcolm Kelly, WR, Oklahoma
Pro Football Weekly: Limas Sweed, WR, Texas