ESPN Insider Todd McShay has now released his first 2014 NFL Mock Draft and for what it is worth, I think he is way off base when it comes to who he has the Pittsburgh Steelers selecting.
McShay has the Steelers drafting Notre Dame nose tackle Louis Nix with the 12th overall selection and below is what he has to say about the choice in his analysis of the pick.
Nix might be a little bit of a reach here. He didn’t have a great season in 2013 for the Fighting Irish, and when NFL teams get a look at a couple of bad tapes of his play (he didn’t perform well against Michigan State, in particular) his stock could drop. But I still have a hard time seeing him fall out of the first round, given the way he dominated in 2012. With his size and the way he can move, he has the potential to be a very good player. If the Steelers are comfortable with his durability and work ethic, he could become their new Casey Hampton. Offensive tackle and secondary are two other need areas they could address here.
As we sit here in December, I just cant see the Steelers spending a first-round draft pick on a nose tackle. The team seems to be happy with Steve McLendon, Al Woods and Hebron Fangupo moving forward and with good reason. In addition, there are just too many other holes that need to be filled.
If you listen to the podcast or follow me on Twitter, you already know my early thoughts on the direction that I feel the Steelers should go in the first round. The position is of course wide receiver and a big one if at all possible. McShay doesn’t have a wide receiver coming off the board until pick 13, but he does have six currently going in the first round.
I am a big Kelvin Benjamin fan right now and McShay has him going 27th overall should he ultimately decide to come out. He also has big boy Mike Evans going 20th overall.
This should wet your whistle as far as early draft talk goes, so get busy in the comments below.
