I'm buried in book work so I am pleased to see the activity kept up at a fast and furious clip by y'all. Many thanks to syrsteelerfan for this entry, a first crack at predicting the Steelers 53-man roster when the '09 season commences in early September. - Blitz-

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Here is my first projected 53 man roster based on recent signings, upcoming cuts, the draft, and my own opinions.

I'll update this after mini-camps, OTA's, and training camp as we learn more about these players. For now, I've tried to restrain myself from assuming too much about our rookies, they'll have to prove it at camp. I've included all of our round 1-5 picks in the roster, and while i love this draft that may not happen. The safest bets are high picks, guys at thin positions, and those who can play special teams.

Throughout the spring and summer we'll learn which of these guys are players, which are competing to start and which to make the team, what free agents are better than the players we drafted or have on the roster, etc. So this is just the first draft, and we'll learn more when they hit the field.

**UPDATE** Well, looks like I should have waited until tomorrow to put this together, as the Steelers today announced the signings of 4 veterans including WR Shaun McDonald, and the release of LS Jared Retkofsky.

I've edited the below to reflect that.

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I was watching NFL Network tonight, and they showed a segment with Mike Mayock and Brian Billick predicting teams picks. It's a regular segment, and tonight they predicted the Steelers pick.

I've made no secret of the fact that Mike Mayock is my favorite draft guru. I've trusted him since last year, when I was impressed with his NFL.com analysis, he predicted like 8 picks in a row on draft day, and he was proven right about the future success of NFL picks (he loved Matt Ryan, didn't like MacFadden, for example).

Nevertheless, I was suprised to hear him predict Alphonso Smith, CB from Wake Forest as the Steelers pick at 1.32. I've heard a lot about Mack, I think Darius Butler or Hakeem Nicks could fall, and my favorite Steelers beat reporter Jim Wexell both loves Eric Wood.

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Interesting...

32. Pittsburgh Steelers: Eric Wood, C, Louisville

Wood has been a player on the rise of late, and with his size and skills he could find himself a Steeler for a very long time.

64. Pittsburgh Steelers: Jairus Byrd, CB, Oregon

96. Pittsburgh: Quinten Lawrence, WR, McNeese St.

132. Pittsburgh: Sen'Derrick Marks, DL, Auburn

I'm no Kiper fan, but I'd give this draft a B+.

1) The Steelers analysts I trust most pick Wood as our guy at 1.32. Big, strong, incredible intangibles, can excel at G and then move to C.

2) Jairus Byrd has been someone i've been thinking about in the 2nd round for a while. He's big, physical, the knock is that he's not quite fast or quick enough to play a ton of man coverage and is a better fit for a zone system. Luckily we are primarily a zone system, and he'll come up and play the run - one of the main things we look for in a corner.

3) Don't know much about Lawrence other than this but he sounds like the fast return specialist / slot receiver we need; other options may be better here.

4) Not wild about Sen'Derrick Marks. It sounds like he has a lot of potential but is more of a project, and I'm not sure he has the length to play the 5 technique in our system.

What do you all think?