Missouri's Stryker Sulak, a 251-pounder, has linebacker coaches across the league taking a second look as well. His performance on special teams as well as his 16 career forced fumbles — he led Division I with six in '08 — make many believe he could make the move easily.

But the learning curve awaits and one of the defense's old guard, the one who had the league's Defensive Player of the Year in James Harrison at outside linebacker, says patience has to be in the mix if many of the draft hopefuls are to succeed in the move.

"It depends what (other teams) already have on their roster, changing from a 4-3 to 3-4," said Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert. "There are certain players who can make the change, certain players don't have the physical characteristics. The hardest transition is for the tweener defensive end who is 260, 265 pounds. ... It's always a challenge for us, but we're used to it now. When we look at 260- or 255-pound guy, (we ask) can they make the transition to do the things they need to do from a coverage standpoint? That's always our challenge.

"It limits your pool to a certain extent, and it also reminds you you're going to have to have a lot of patience with these guys as they develop. Everyone who has been in our system as outside linebackers, it usually took them a minimum of two years and usually three-to-four years before they were ready to contribute, and a lot of those guys contributed a heck of a lot as they turned into starters."