As we previously posted, Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN has the Pittsburgh Steelers taking Arizona State safety Damarious Randall in his final mock draft of 2015. His sidekick Todd McShay also has the Steelers going safety with the 22nd overall selection in his final mock that was posted Thursday morning, but his safety is the one out of Alabama.
With cornerbacks Byron Jones and Marcus Peters still on the board at 22, McShay has the Steelers selecting Alabama safety Landon Collins instead. In case you forgot, McShay previously had the Steelers selecting Kentucky edge-rusher Alvin Dupree in his previous mock draft.
McShay writes:
The Steelers really need to improve their secondary, and Collins could be an effective in-the-box safety for them who excels against the run and is athletic enough to hold up in coverage against many running backs and tight ends.
I’m afraid that several Steelers fans would jump out of their windows should McShay’s mock play out exactly the way he has it. The Steelers did have Collins in for a pre-draft visit, however, so there’s definitely some level of interest in the 228-pound Louisiana native.
At Alabama, Collins started 23-of-41 games and recorded 190 tackles (120 solos) with 8.5 stops for losses and four quarterback pressures. He recovered four fumbles to go along with five interceptions. The 21-year-old also deflected thirteen passes and caused three fumbles.
As far as Peters and Jones go, McShay has the former going to the Baltimore Ravens at 26th overall and the latter going to the Green Bay Packers at 30th overall.
