We are staring to see a trend in the latest batch of mocks of the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have signed free agent safety Mike Mitchell. Outside of Rob Rang of CBS Sports, the major media draftniks appear to be abandoning the notion of the Steelers taking a safety in the first round.
Don Banks of Sports Illustrated has now released his second mock draft version of the offseason and like Charles Davis of the NFL Network on Tuesday, he has the Steelers drafting Michigan State cornerback Darqueze Dennard with the 15th overall selection in round one.
The Mike Mitchell signing in free agency seems to eliminate safety as a first-round option, but the Steelers would still be wise to get younger in the secondary, where there’s a little too much experience on hand. Dennard is a pro-ready prospect and Pittsburgh could use more defensive backs who give Dick LeBeau’s defense a fighting chance against the likes of AFC North receivers A.J. Green, Marvin Jones, Torrey Smith, Steve Smith and Josh Gordon.
Banks is on point with his view of the Steelers and I suppose this will be the general thinking of other major media draftniks for the time being.
Two offensive targets the Steelers might have interest in, wide receiver Mike Evans and tight end Eric Ebron, Banks has coming off the board a few picks before Pittsburgh is on the clock. In addition, Banks has three tackles being selected within the first nine picks along with three quarterbacks. We can only hope that the actual draft plays out like that.
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