Ah, I fucked up. It was Lewis I was meaning to ask about not Smith. Good stuff tho, thx
I really like those three players. Especially Lewis. Big strong corners are rare.
Yeah, I had a feeling you didn't mean Smith. You know, the really cool thing about Lewis is that he is childhood friends with Mike Wallace, so he literally grew up covering Mike Wallace. As a rookie in 2009, he had a really hard time learning LeBeau's schemes, and he was even making boneheaded plays on special teams, but Tomlin loved his potential. He eventually ended up with a season ending injury. The second year, he was in legitimate competition to earn the 2nd CB spot over McFadden, and he looked the part in the first two preseason games, but then he had a meltdown against Denver with some stupid penalties, and then to top it off, he took his frustrations out in the locker room by punching and breaking a glass sign, which really put him in Tomlin's doghouse, and that was pretty much it for him in 2010. He played on special teams, but even Anthony Madison, one of those players that are only in the league for the ST ability, got in on defense ahead of him.
This past year, he really took in everything he could from Carnell Lake. Lake employed a lot more man schemes, which Lewis is more of a natural for than cover, especially in his first two years. All of a sudden he was looking like a different player. After McFadden got injured in week 1 and Gay took over the starting job in week 2, Lewis entered the rotation for good, but the interesting thing is that he wasn't really the nickel back. Like Charles Woodson, Gay would move to the nickel when they went to that package, and Lewis would play the outside spot, so Lewis is kind of already a known quantity as a starter. I really like a Taylor/Lewis starting lineup with most likely Curtis Brown as the nickel this year and Cortez Allen coming in on dime packages or nickel packages to cover larger tight ends, because he has a size advantage over the other CBs on the team.
I do hope that they bring Gay back. In all honesty, I would love if they moved him to safety. He's still only in his mid 20s, 5 years younger than Clark, so he could take over the FS position when Clark retires. Lake made the transition from safety to cornerback as a player, so he could not only teach both positions effectively, but help a player convert. And Gay would be just about the most valuable #5 CB in the league. Obviously he's not exactly a Pro Bowler, but he has value. He just met with the Cardinals today, and he's supposed to be going to Tennessee tomorrow, although he would like to return to Pittsburgh.
The Steelers also signed Myron Rolle, although I kind of doubt he even makes the practice squad.
