NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah released his second mock of 2017 on Wednesday and this time around he has the Pittsburgh Steelers selecting Temple edge rusher Haason Reddick with the 30th overall selection in the first round.
Jeremiah writes of the selection:
Some guys just play like a Steeler — Reddick is one of those guys.
By now, you should be aware of who Reddick is being as he took part in this year’s Senior Bowl where he measured in at 6014, 237-pounds. The former Temple edge rusher played in 47 games during his college career and registered 148 total tackles of which 46 of them resulted in losses. He was credited with 18 total sacks of which 10.5 of them came during the 2016 season.
While Reddick is currently considered an edge rusher in this year’s draft class by many draftniks, a few other top analysts such as Lance Zierlein are wondering if the prospect’s speed and athleticism might be better suited for him to play either as a 3-4 inside linebacker or a 4-3 weak side inside linebacker at the NFL level rather than trying to bulk up and play on the edge.
Regardless of the position that Reddick winds up being best suited for, the Steelers will probably take a long hard look at him just the same. It goes without saying the Steelers need a young pass-rushing outside linebacker and preferably one that can also set the edge against the run. Additionally, the Steelers could also stand to use another athletic inside linebacker to play alongside Ryan Shazier, who Zierlein notes in his profile Reddick best compares to.
Reddick said during the week leading up to the Senior Bowl that he’s aiming to run a 4.3 40-yard dash during the upcoming scouting combine. Even if he doesn’t, he figures to post one of the faster times when it comes to the defensive linemen and linebacker position groups. In short, his final combine numbers figure to be top-rated when it comes to SPARQ scores and such and we know how much the Steelers value those kinds of explosive players.
In case you missed it, Alex Kozora has already profiled Reddick and you can read that post by following the link below.
