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2012 NFL Combine Schedule: Steelers To Get Look At Dontari Poe, Other Defensive Linemen And Linebackers

Monday's NFL Schedule Combine schedule is all about defensive linemen and linebackers, who have drills. The Steelers will surely be paying attention, since nose tackle and middle linebacker are both near the top of their list of needs. Behind The Steel Curtain's preview of Monday's action focuses on Dontari Poe, the mammoth Memphis nose tackle who has appeared as the Steelers' pick in one mock draft after another.

Few disagree Poe's size will make him a valuable 0-technique nose tackle in a 3-4 scheme. His strength will give him the ability to occupy inside blockers, a key trait of a nose tackle in that defense.

The questions are focused around his ability to do more than that, which leads to questions around whether he's worth a pick as high as the 24th in the first round ...

... [T]he Steelers have to ask themselves if they can risk using a first round pick - or at least the 24th pick - on a player with less of a chance to see the field his rookie year than a lot of the other guys they could draft.

The idea is that Poe's performance at the combine could tell us a lot about whether he's worth using the No. 24 overall pick on. Stay tuned.

A full NFL Combine schedule may be found here.

For more on the NFL Draft, check out Mocking The Draft.

Photographs by dizfunk used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.