Steelers go to Hood in opening round 2009
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John McGee gets a photo of the six Super Bowl trophies during the Steelers 2009 Fan Blitz at Heinz Field. -
Missouri defensive lineman Evander Hood runs a football drill at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, Feb. 23, 2009. -
Benjamin Rankin, 6, from Moon Township, gets a lesson in quarterbacking from Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch during the Steelers 2009 Fan Blitz at Heinz Field yesterday -- part of draft day festivities. -
Laura Souider and her nephew Matthew Scardina, 3, from Towanda, Pa., rest up while waiting in line to kick a field goal during the Steelers' 2009 Fan Blitz at Heinz Field yesterday. -
Abigail and Emily Lovell, 10, wait for a lesson from Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch during the Steelers 2009
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The Steelers ended a 20-year drought yesterday when they drafted defensive end Evander "Ziggy" Hood in the first round.
Now, they must hope they do not repeat that long-ago history.
They previously drafted a defensive end in the first round in 1988, Aaron Jones of Eastern Kentucky, and that one did not pan out. In fact, the Steelers have never drafted a Pro Bowl defensive end in the first round.
They would like to change that with Hood, who is 6 feet 21/2, 300 pounds. He played defensive tackle at Missouri but his future will be as a defensive end in the Steelers' 3-4. He is the first defensive lineman the Steelers have drafted in the first three rounds since they chose nose tackle Casey Hampton in the first round of 2001.
After trying and failing to make a trade to move higher in the second round, the Steelers instead wound up trading out of the round altogether. They traded their picks in the second and fourth rounds to Denver for two third-round choices from the Broncos, Nos. 79 and 84 overall.
The Steelers have a good but aging three-man line with no young prospect of promise behind them.
Of their starting three, end Aaron Smith is 33, nose tackle Casey Hampton will be 32 and end Brett Keisel will be 31. Backup nose tackle Chris Hoke is 33 and No. 1 backup end Travis Kirschke will be 35 when the season starts. Hampton and Keisel also enter the final years of their contracts.
"Ziggy Hood is a Steelers-type of player," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "There are no holes in this guy. He's a high-character guy."
Kevin Colbert, the Steelers' director of football operations, said he was "pleasantly surprised" that Hood was not drafted earlier.
"He's a special guy, he really is," Colbert said. "This is a high-quality player and a person."
Colbert said Hood also could "help out" at nose tackle and could be used as one of their two inside rushers when they go to a four-man line in their nickel and dime passing defenses or "sub" packages.
Hood's agent told him yesterday he thought Detroit would draft him at No. 24. Instead of getting picked by the winless Lions, however, he wound up with the Super Bowl champs.
"I couldn't describe the feeling," Hood said in a conference call to Pittsburgh yesterday. "My stomach just tightened up all of a sudden and I choked and I almost fainted.
"I feel excited, especially for the Super Bowl team. Just to be part of [the defense] known as the Steel Curtain, it's just a real honor."
On only a few occasions Hood has played in a 3-4 defense when the Tigers would use that briefly against a few opponents, but for the most part he played a "one-gap" in Missouri. With the Steelers, he will have to play in a two-gap system.
"I'll have to work more with my hands and develop more punch off the ball,'' Hood said of the challenge.
"My work," he said, "begins tomorrow."
Hood started 31 games over the past three seasons in Missouri's 4-3 defense. He had 15Â 1/2 career sacks from his tackle spot, including five last season. He was Missouri's team captain last season, was selected All-Big 12 Conference and was second-team academic all-conference. He started every game last season on the right side.
By all accounts, Hood not only has talent but good citizenship, and the Steelers believe that's important.
"It was more than my ability, speed and strength," Hood said. "I think I presented myself as having good character."
Smart, too. He said he grew up a Denver Broncos fan but when asked yesterday which team he rooted for in Super Bowl XLIII, Hood responded, "I was rooting for my team. I was rooting for us."
"I didn't grow up too much listening about the Pittsburgh Steelers because at the time they were not my team," Hood said. "But now that it is, I'm going to learn everything, every history point."
Hood said he could accept not moving into the starting lineup as a rookie with so much talent in front of him.
"It may take some time," he said.
Colbert called the action in the second round "fast and furious" as he and Tomlin stayed in their draft room after their first-round pick to try to move higher. When that failed, they opted to pick up extra picks higher in the third round because of the quality of the players there, Colbert said.
"There is a nice group of guys left," Colbert said. "Instead of [drafting] one of that group, we have a chance to get three."
Barring more trades, the Steelers today will have eight picks -- three in the third round, none in the fourth, two in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh.
First Published April 26, 2009 12:00 am
