It’s no secret that cornerback is a huge position of need for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year as relates to the 2014 NFL Draft and the team has seemingly done their due diligence when it comes to evaluating the top-rated prospects that defend against the pass.
On Monday, Gil Brandt of NFL.com reported that Virginia Tech cornerback Kyle Fuller will be in Pittsburgh for a pre draft visit this week and he’ll make the sixth player that plays the position to stop by the Steelers facility that we know of.
The only top-rated cornerback that apparently hasn’t visited Pittsburgh over the course of the last several weeks is Oklahoma State’s Justin Gilbert, but the Steelers were present for his Pro Day. Maybe he’s already been in town and it just wasn’t reported.
By the looks of things, the Steelers are primed to select a cornerback in the first two rounds of the draft and that has only happened twice since Kevin Colbert became the general manager in 2000. In 2004, the Steelers drafted Ricardo Colclough out of Tusculum with the 38th overall selection and a year later Bryant McFadden was selected with the 62nd pick of the 2005 NFL Draft out of Florida State.
The last time the Steelers drafted a cornerback in the first round was in 1997 when Chad Scott was selected with 24th overall selection out of Maryland.
Last year, four cornerbacks were selected in the first round and the year before that the number was three. History is just that when it comes to the draft, however, as every year presents a different class strength along with different needs of teams. That being said, one would think that no more than five cornerbacks will be drafted this year in the first round.
While there seems to be a pretty good consensus as to which cornerbacks make up the top five or six in his year’s draft class, the rankings of those players really seem to differ from one draftnik to the next. Rankings are subjective of course and they likely differ from one team to the next as well depending on the style of play one is looking for as well as the kind of defense being implemented.
With the draft now just a little more than two weeks away, you all should be fairly well acquainted with top-rated cornerbacks in this year’s class. You should also have a good idea as to what the Steelers are looking for when it comes to the cornerback position.
In the comments below, rank the top five or six cornerbacks if you were drafting for the Steelers. Feel free to explain those ranking as well. Let’s see what the reader consensus is.
