By Christopher DiMarino
This article continues along with my pre combine look at key positions for the Steelers. For an explanation on how the rankings are calculated please reference the link below:
The Pittsburgh Steelers have two very interesting safeties right now. Ryan Clark has put together two pretty good back-to-back seasons for starters. Troy Polamalu used to be one of the league\’s best but he has battled injuries and aging. He ended up making his way back to being a decent contributor by the end of the year. albeit not worth his wage. Both positions need understudies of possible starting potential due to the age of their predecessors and the cap situation. So don\’t be surprised if two safeties are selected, but with the range of needs the Steelers have, they might need to get one this year and one next year.
| Name | School | Class | Height | Weight | Rank | Round | Position |
| Kenny Vaccaro | Texas | Sr | 6\’1 | 218 | 91 | 1st | 15 |
| Matt Elam | Florida | Jr | 5\’10 | 202 | 84 | mid 2nd | 46 |
| Eric Reid | LSU | Jr | 6\’2 | 212 | 87 | mid 2nd | 47 |
| Phillip Thomas | Fresno State | rSr | 6\’1 | 210 | 62 | early 3rd | 68 |
| Jonathan Cyprien | Florida Intl | Sr | 6\’0 | 209 | 66 | 3rd | 61 |
| Shawn Williams | Georgia | Sr | 6\’0 | 211 | 79 | late 3rd | 87 |
| Bacarri Rambo | Georgia | rSr | 6\’1 | 215 | 68 | late 3rd | 90 |
| Tony Jefferson | Oklahoma | Jr | 5\’11 | 212 | 78 | 4th | 89 |
| T.J. McDonald | USC | Sr | 6\’2 | 211 | 56 | 4th | 114 |
| Robert Lester | Alabama | Sr | 6\’1 | 212 | 56 | 4th | 126 |
| D.J. Swearinger | South Carolina | Sr | 5\’11 | 210 | 73 | 5th | 132 |
| J.J. Wilcox | Georgia South | Sr | 5\’11 | 214 | 65 | 5th | 165 |
| Josh Evans | Florida | Sr | 6\’1 | 205 | 49 | 6th | 163 |
| Duke Williams | Nevada | Sr | 5\’11 | 201 | 63 | 6th | 189 |
| Zeke Motta | Notre Dame | Sr | 6\’2 | 215 | 51 | 6th | 194 |
| Rashard Hall | Clamson | rSr | 6\’1 | 213 | 47 | 7th | 246 |
| Earl Wolff | NC State | rSr | 5\’11 | 206 | 47 | 7th | 250 |
| Shamarko Thomas | Syracuse | Sr | 5\’9 | 217 | 70 | FA | 243 |
| John Boyett | Oregon | rSr | 5\’10 | 205 | 49 | FA | 250 |
| Bradley McDougald | Kansas | Sr | 6\’0 | 208 | 55 | FA | 246 |
| Rontez Miles | Cal (PA) | Sr | 6\’0 | 202 | 41 | FA | 257 |
| Daimion Stafford | Nebraska | Sr | 6\’1 | 205 | 64 | FA | 274 |
| Brandan Bishop | NC State | Sr | 6\’1 | 206 | 15 | FA | 285 |
| Cooper Taylor | Richmond | rSr | 6\’4 | 229 | 15 | FA | 260 |
The chart shown below is all of the data I tabulated for you to get more insight into what these sites think about each player. A * means that this ranking was in a different category than the rest.
| Name | NFL.com | ESPN | CBS | DraftTek | Walterfootball | Draft Insider | ||||
| Score | Score | Pos Rk | Ovr Rk | Pos Rk | Ovr Rk | Pos Rk | Ovr Rk | Pos Rk | Ovr Rk | |
| Kenny Vaccaro | 87.8 | 94 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 1 | 1-2 | 1 | 1st |
| Matt Elam | 80 | 87 | 1* | 43 | 2* | 48 | 2 | 1-2 | 2 | 1-2 |
| Eric Reid | 87.5 | 86 | 2 | 50 | 2 | 43 | 3 | 2-3 | 3 | 2nd |
| Phillip Thomas | 74.1 | 50 | 3 | 66 | 3 | 69 | 7 | 2-4 | 5 | 2nd |
| Jonathan Cyprien | 84.6 | 47 | 2* | 47 | 4* | 75 | 9 | 3-4 | 13 | 4th |
| Shawn Williams | 74.8 | 83 | 3* | 99 | 3* | 74 | 10 | 3-4 | 8 | 3rd |
| Bacarri Rambo | 61.4 | 75 | 4 | 86 | 5 | 94 | 6 | 2-3 | 9 | 2-4 |
| Tony Jefferson | 73.2 | 82 | 5 | 93 | 4 | 85 | 8 | 2-4 | 11 | 4th |
| T.J. McDonald | 66.5 | 45 | 6 | 109 | 6 | 119 | 4 | 2-3 | 6 | 3rd |
| Robert Lester | 56.7 | 56 | 4* | 145 | 5* | 106 | 12 | 3-4 | 12 | 4th |
| D.J. Swearinger | 81.4 | 64 | 7 | 129 | 7 | 135 | 18 | 5-6 | 4 | 2nd |
| J.J. Wilcox | 77 | 53 | 5* | 178 | 7* | 152 | 5 | 2-3 | 16 | 5-6 |
| Josh Evans | 68 | 30 | 8 | 155 | 8 | 171 | 13 | 3-4 | 19 | 7th |
| Duke Williams | 67.7 | 58 | 6* | 196 | 9 | 181 | 11 | 3-4 | 14 | 5th |
| Zeke Motta | 71.2 | 30 | 9 | 170 | 9* | 218 | 21 | 5-7 | 7 | 3rd |
| Rashard Hall | 55.4 | 39 | 12 | 260 | 12 | 232 | 16 | 3-5 | 21 | 7-FA |
| Earl Wolff | 63.4 | 30 | 8* | 222 | N/A | 277 | 20 | 5-7 | 10 | 4th |
| Shamarko Thomas | 69.6 | 70 | 7* | 209 | 12* | 276 | 22 | 5-7 | 29 | FA |
| John Boyett | 67.5 | 30 | 14 | 311 | 10 | 188 | N/A | N/A | 25 | 7-FA |
| Bradley McDougald | 67.8 | 42 | 10 | 215 | N/A | 277 | N/A | N/A | 22 | 7-FA |
| Rontez Miles | 52 | 30 | 11 | 237 | N/A | 277 | N/A | N/A | 17 | 6th |
| Daimion Stafford | 68.4 | 59 | 15 | 328 | 11 | 220 | N/A | N/A | 15 | 5th |
| Brandan Bishop | 0 | 30 | 13 | 293 | N/A | 277 | 15 | 3-5 | 42 | FA |
| Cooper Taylor | 0 | 30 | 9* | 242 | N/A | 277 | 17 | 4-6 | 24 | 7-FA |
* Denotes SS candidate
With all of the information out there, at least a baseline is established for future conversation. I will try to break down this data before the combine, but if not, please give me an idea of who you like at safety by commenting below. Please try to keep the discussion about the safety position only for this post and I will continue thru the positions ASAP. Also, if you have any other sites that you think have thorough and insightful draft information, please post them below.
Sites:
www.nfl.com
www.espn.com
www.cbssports.com
www.drafttek.com
www.walterfootball.com
www.draftinsider.net
