Steel trap: Replacing Santonio Holmes won’t be easy
Article By ddillon.tsn on 13th April, 2010
Santonio Holmes changed the look of the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense. Without him, the Steelers might have to change the look of their draft board.
Speedy Mike Wallace needs a complement to keep the Steelers' passing game going.
Before Pittsburgh shipped its Super Bowl 43 MVP to the New York Jets for a fifth-round pick late Sunday, you could have made a case that its No. 1 target in next week's draft would have been an interior offensive lineman, such as Mike Iupati or Maurkice Pouncey; a safety, such as Earl Thomas or Taylor Mays; or a cornerback, such as Joe Haden or Kyle Wilson.
Now, the Steelers might be looking in another direction with the 18th overall pick.
"Now, I think you have to look at (Dez) Bryant or (Demaryius) Thomas or one of these other (wide receivers) in the first round," NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger said.
Putting his character issues aside -- and that's something the Steelers decided they no longer could do -- Holmes has developed into one of the NFL's best wideouts. He is fast, he is a deep threat, and, at 26, he is just moving into his prime. And no one will ever forget his balletic reception of Ben Roethlisberger's game-winning pass in the Super Bowl 14 months ago.
The Holmes trade takes away more than just big numbers from the Steelers' offense (he caught 79 passes for 1,248 yards and five touchdowns last season). It also removes a key component in the passing game. Holmes and Mike Wallace, a speedster who made a big contribution as a rookie last season, gave defenses double trouble.
"When you had Holmes on one side and Wallace on the other," Baldinger said, "either one of them could get behind the defense on any given play."
It might seem strange to see Pittsburgh and passing in the same sentence.
For years, running the ball was the Steelers' hallmark. But with Bruce Arians as the coordinator and Roethlisberger as the quarterback, the philosophy ha...
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