It’s been a very busy Monday for fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers and it’s included general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin both discussing several topics during their annual pre-draft press conference. With most of the main news from Monday now out of the way, I might as well start winding things down with another mock draft from a major media outlet.
On Monday, NFL Network analyst and former NFL general manager Charley Casserly released what will probably wind up being his final mock draft of 2017 and he has an interesting player for the Steelers at 30th overall.
Casserly, whose final mock draft last year I believe correctly had cornerback Artie Burns being the Steelers first round selection, now has Pittsburgh taking Temple linebacker Haason Reddick with the 30th overall selection in his latest offering and he writes:
A quarterback is a definite possibility here. Davis Webb?
Well, that’s not much of an explanation, but there you go nonetheless.
Should Reddick ultimately wind up dropping to the Steelers, he sure would be hard to pass up. During his four seasons at Temple Reddick registered 143 total tackles and that included 46 for losses and 18 sacks in 45 games played in of which he started 31 of them.
Reddick, who played defensive end at Temple, measured in at this year’s scouting combine at 6014, 237-pounds and many believe he’ll need to make a move off the ball at the NFL level due to his lack of bulk. He ran a 4.52-second 40-yard-dash while in Indianapolis and did 24 reps on the bench with his 32 3/4-inch arms. Reddick also posted a 36 1/2-inch vertical jump to go along with a 11’1” broad jump.
Many have Reddick as being a top 15 prospect in this year’s draft class but as we’ve seen in the past, players destined to play off the ball at the NFL level after playing on the edge in college can sometimes fall. We’ll know soon if that’s ultimately the case this year with Reddick.
Outside of probably paying Reddick some attention at this year’s Senior Bowl as well as the combine, the Steelers interest in him appears to have dwindled from there outside of having someone present at his early March pro day. In fact, Colbert was busy watching the Alabama pro day while the Temple was holding theirs.
The Steelers, by the way, haven’t drafted a player in the first round who didn’t play for a team in a Power Five Conference since they took quarterback Ben Roethlisberger way back in 2004 so that’s another strike against Reddick potentially being the pick this year and especially being as he wasn’t brought in for a pre-draft visit after Colbert snubbed his pro day.
In case you missed it, Casserly had the Steelers selecting Michigan safety Jabrill Peppers in his two previous mock of the first round and prior to that he had them taking Michigan edge rusher Taco Charlton in his very first offering of 2017.
