No surprise, DeCastro has emerged as a top guard
It was pretty exciting when guard David DeCastro mysteriously lasted until the latter-portion of the first round, and the Steelers made him the 24th pick of the 2012 NFL Draft.
You talk about filling a need and getting great value in the process? DeCastro (a player expected to go in the top-half of Round 1) was the poster-boy for it. With Pittsburgh’s offensive line needing a major overhaul for years, the athletic, smart and intense All-American guard from Stanford would quickly make the interior of said line a strong-point as he lined up to the right of Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey that season and beyond.
And then, that was pretty much it in-terms of the hoopla.
That’s how it is when your favorite team drafts an offensive lineman in the first round. Even if the pick somehow generates excitement, how long can that be sustained when the player isn’t out there on the field doing things before the naked eye, like catching passes, racking up 100-yard rushing performances or tallying double-digit sacks?
But if there ever was a sure-thing, DeCastro was the closest to come along for the Steelers in quite some time.
The inevitable consistency of DeCastro’s guard-play was delayed in his rookie year, when he missed all but four weeks after injuring both his ACL and MCL during his third preseason game, when tackle Marcus Gilbert fell into his knee.
Predictably, DeCastro has started 47 of a possible 48 games since 2013–including 32 of 32 the past two seasons. Over that time, Pittsburgh’s offensive line has gotten better and better, and those sacks quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had to endure on an annual basis have dropped exponentially in recent years (No. 7 was taken to the turf a combined 53 time the past two seasons, after being sacked 50 times in 2009–the season before Pouncey was selected in the first round).
In an article from March, Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller ranked DeCastro as the sixth best right guard in the NFL a season ago. Not much of a surprise, considering No. 66 made his first Pro Bowl in 2015.
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It’s fitting that DeCastro wears No. 66 and made his first Pro Bowl in his fourth year; the legendary left guard who led many sweeps and thwarted many inside pass-rushers during his 10 years in Pittsburgh–Alan Faneca–also wore No. 66 and made his first of what would turn out to be nine-straight Pro Bowls in 2001–his fourth season.
At 6′ 5″ and 316 pounds, DeCastro has the size to be a top-flight NFL guard. He can pass-protect. He can run block. He has athleticism, quickness and strength.
Maybe you already knew this, but if you didn’t–if you’re no expert on NFL guard play–that’s okay. When it comes to offensive linemen, the less the average fan notices them, the chances are, the better they’re performing.
When they make eight or nine-straight Pro Bowls, nobody bats an eye. When the really good ones get elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame after their playing days, very few argue.
Maybe this is why so few people get excited (and many act disappointed) when an offensive lineman–especially a guard–gets drafted in the first round.
But that’s okay, because those hogs upfront aren’t supposed to generate excitement. They’re supposed to quietly and efficiently do their jobs so the skill-position players can generate the yards, the scores and the excitement.
DeCastro will be a free-agent after this season, and it would be in the Steelers best interests to try and lock him up to a long-term deal.
After all, if David DeCastro isn’t around for 2017 and beyond, that could generate the wrong kind of excitement, and fans will surely notice.
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