NFL Network draft analysts Bucky Brooks certainly has quite a few interesting selections in his latest mock draft that was released on Wednesday and especially when it comes to his choice for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Brooks now has the Steelers selecting Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer with the 30th overall selection in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft and he writes:
Big Ben announced his return for a 14th season but the Steelers could start preparing for his eventual departure by drafting a QB1 of the future at this spot.
Well, isn’t that special.
While the Steelers appear to be very interested in selecting a quarterback at some point during this year’s draft, it’s still hard to imagine them spending their first-round selection on the position. Additionally, while the team has already brought Patrick Mahomes, Joshua Dobbs, and Nathan Peterman in for pre-draft visits this month, Kizer has yet to visit Pittsburgh to meet with the team.
While we wait to see if Kizer winds up being one of the Steelers 30 allotted outside pre-draft visitors, its probably worth noting that offensive coordinator Todd Haley did attend the Notre Dame pro day a few weeks ago and presumably to get a closer look at the young quarterback.
At this year’s scouting combine, Kizer, who completed 60.8 percent of his passes for 5,809 yards and 47 touchdowns in the 25 games that he played in at Notre Dame, measured in at 6042, 233-pounds. He was a two-year starter at Notre Dame and is only 21 years of age.
In Brooks’ three previous mock drafts, he had the Steelers selecting Alabama edge rusher Tim Williams in two of them and Temple linebacker Haason Reddick in the other. The Steelers brought Williams in for a pre-draft visit on Tuesday.
