ESPN Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. held his first media conference call of the draft season a few days ago and you can hear it in its entirety below.
Early on in the call Kiper was asked a question about the Pittsburgh Steelers by Scott Brown of ESPN.com.
Brown: How heavy do you expect the Steelers to go in this draft as far as defense and who might be some pass rushers who could be options for them early in the draft?
Kiper: Well, in terms of the Steelers, it is when you look at the need areas, cornerback, outside linebacker, d-line, safety. I mean their defensive needs are pretty much at the top of the list more so than anything else. In terms of defensive players that are going to go in terms of pass rushers, there’s a lot of them. That’s probably the strongest position in this draft is those combo guys that can get after the quarterback. Early on you got [Randy] Gregory and [Shane] Ray, but you also have some guys like Nate Orchard at Utah, who is more of a second or third rounder, or Trey Flowers at Arkansas. Lorenzo Mauldin at Louisville is another one that would fall into that category. Alvin “Bud” Dupree from Kentucky, a real good pass rusher. So this is the kind of year if you want those types of players, they’re out there in high numbers this season.
