Finding OLBs tougher now as more rivals deploy 3-4

Once easy pickings, finding outside linebackers turned as difficult for the Steelers as finding playoff victories.

See for yourself: Their top four outside linebackers include a first-round draft choice who did little in his two seasons, a veteran backup promoted to starter, a Canadian Football League player who could not make it previously in the NFL and a former All-Pro called out of retirement.

Their outlook at outside linebacker has not been so bleak since Chuck Noll’s teams in the late 1980s, when a nose tackle once led them with four sacks.

They need to find one in this draft, and it’s not like it was for them in the 1990s or the early part of this century. Then, they were among the few teams playing a

3-4 defense — once, they were the only one — and those undersized yet athletic 4-3 college defensive ends few other pro teams wanted were readily available to convert to 3-4 outside linebackers. No more. “The value of them has gone up because more teams are taking them,” said Bill Cowher, whose 15 teams with the Steelers included 14 visits to Pro Bowls by his outside linebackers. “Guys in our day, you’d get in the second or third round. Today, you better take him in the first because he won’t be there.”

More NFL defenses have converted from a 4-3 that valued cover linebackers to a 3-4 that needs linebackers who can rush the quarterback, cover receivers and stop the run. Yet, many colleges do not play a 3-4.

“There are more 4-3 defenses, and 3-3-5 defenses with the emergence of the spread offense in college football,” Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said. “So there’s more projection for the [NFL] teams, which I think is about 14 [that use the 3-4 defense]. So there’s more guess work on our part.”

It is why they drafted Jarvis Jones in the first round in 2013, although he played outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense at Georgia. The chances of finding Joey Porter (third round), Clark Haggans (fifth), Greg Lloyd (sixth) and James Harrison (undrafted) are fewer.

They found two Pro Bowl players more recently in LaMarr Woodley and Jason Worilds in the second round, then each flamed out for different reasons.

It takes not only a trained scout’s eye but a projection when they look for a college defensive end who will convert to an outside linebacker in the NFL’s 3-4 defense.

“The workout is huge,” Cowher said of the postseason drills the pros put the prospects through. “You look at his hips, his feet, how they move in space, that’s the biggest thing. With a guy who played with his hand on the ground, the space is so limited he’s working in. Standing up, he’s now looking at the whole field, he’s outside the numbers rather than inside.”

Mistakes often are made, as they were with 1991 firstround pick Huey Richardson, 2003 second-round pick Alonzo Jackson and 2008 third-round pick Bruce Davis.

“I like to see a history of him having done it, everyone does — one of those guys who has done everything right,” said Tom Modrak, executive director of the BLESTO scouting combine to which the Steelers belong.

The typical college defensive end projected as a 3-4 outside linebacker this year is Missouri’s Shane Ray. He is 6 feet 3, 245 pounds, but ran only 4.68 in the 40, probably because he had an issue with a big toe that might require surgery, according to Larry Zierlein of NFL.com.

“The kid from Missouri has that exceptional acceleration,” Modrak said. “He’s not built powerful but he knocks you around.

“There are a couple of other ways to get to the finish line at that position. That’s the reason mistakes are made. Aaron Maybin could get off the ball but he couldn’t do anything else.”

Buffalo drafted Maybin, from Penn State, with the 11th overall pick in 2009. After two seasons, the Bills waived him. He previously played for Toronto in the CFL in 2013.

The Steelers hope Jones is not the next Maybin. Regardless, they need help at that position. There are tantalizing projected 3-4 ends in this draft who will go in the first round but might still be available at No. 22. Among them are Bud Dupree of Kentucky and Randy Gregory of Nebraska.

Gregory tested positive for marijuana at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, so that may cause him to drop on teams’ firstround boards.

Eli Harold, among those who visited the Steelers this month, played defensive end at Virginia. He could go late in the first round. Utah defensive end Nate Orchard, another Steelers visitor, is projected as a 3-4 outside linebacker but in the second or third round.

Somewhere, the Steelers will draft an outside linebacker. These days, the good ones go fast.