Some more NFL Draft rumors to make us all squirm a little more. Despite minimal pre-draft interest, tight end may still be in play for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Day Two of the draft.
It’s all just last second news dumping, so take it all with a grain of salt, but Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller is as clued in as anyone to the draft process. He writes the Steelers are considering a tight end in round two. Here’s his whole Steelers’ blurb.
“The Steelers had a need at safety last year and grabbed Sean Davis from Maryland, but a source with the staff told me they will consider Jabrill Peppers in Round 1 if he’s available. A tight end in Round 2 is considered the plan right now. Expect a quarterback in the middle rounds of the draft.”
The Peppers news is nothing ground-breaking, though it’s hard to tell if this was noted before or after his failed drug test, and quarterback has been all the rage too. But hearing about taking a tight end high is newsworthy, especially after they brought in just one for a pre-draft visit. And that was a late round/undrafted guy.
However, it is important to remember how many tight ends they interviewed at the Combine and in that moment, how obvious it seemed the interest was. They interviewed eight of them:
Evan Engram/Ole Miss
Gerald Everett/South Alabama
Pharoh Brown/Oregon
Adam Shaheen/Ashland
Jeremy Sprinkle/Arkansas
Scott Orndoff/Pittsburgh
Michael Roberts/Toledo
Jordan Leggett/Clemson
From the list we have, it was the second most interviewed position, only trailing outside linebacker. Names to keep in mind for the pick include Shaheen and Leggett. Shaheen is a small school player from D-II Ashland but a well-rounded guy with great size at 278 pounds. Leggett is a try-hard blocker but doesn’t have that kind of strength and is more of a bigger receiver and vertical threat down the middle of the field.
Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert said they had no update on Ladarius Green’s status during their press conference on Tuesday. Though Colbert didn’t specifically say it, it’s fair to think Green is in a similar boat as Senquez Golson. Someone that is hard to trust going forward.
