The Pittsburgh Steelers certainly didn’t hide their interest in Baylor defensive tackle Andrew Billings at the school’s Wednesday pro day as they even brought Hall of Famer Joe Greene with them to observe the young player. After the event ended, Greene was asked what he thought about Billings in an interview with David Smoak of ESPN-Central Texas.
“He has the body type for the position,” said Greene of Billings. “He’s strong, he’s quick and I saw a little nasty in him.”
Even though Billings posted a great 40-yard dash time a few weeks ago at the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, he surprised a few people Wednesday by attempting to better his time. Greene was asked what he thought about the decision to do that.
“That means he’s a competitor,” said Greene. “He had a time that he ran in Indianapolis at the combine and he wanted to beat that and we talked a little bit last night, and he said he probably wasn’t going to run. But he came in here today and he saw the excitement that was surrounding his teammates and he decided to be a part of it.”
Billings is regarded as having a great character and at one point on Wednesday, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin were both spotted talking to his parents. Greene was asked to talk about the importance of young players entering the NFL having a strong character in addition to a great support system.
“It always matters,” said Greene. “But these young men that are coming into a new environment, it is so important that they have support at home because it really is very easy to go in the wrong direction. You can be down that path and not even know it, but that support at home definitely helps.”
It’s great to see Greene back on the road looking at draft prospects and you can tell that he really likes Billings. He had dinner with him Tuesday night and one would think the two were joined by Tomlin.
Billings definitely helped cement his status as a first-round draft pick on Wednesday and now we’ll have to wait and see where he winds up being selected. It will be interesting to see if the Steelers bring Billings to Pittsburgh for a pre-draft visit in April.
If Wednesday was just a smoke-screen, the Steelers certainly produced a thick one.
In case you missed it, below is Billings’ media session at the combine.
