With the Pittsburgh Steelers 2017 season now over we are quickly turning our attention to the 2018 NFL Draft. The Senior Bowl is now a weekend away and our very own Alex Kozora will once again be present for the annual All-Star game to help kick off our draft coverage. In the meantime, we’ll be passing along several of the major media mock drafts to you as we usually do during the offseason.
Thursday morning, ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. released his first mock draft of the offseason and he has the Steelers selecting Alabama inside linebacker Rashaan Evans in the first-round with the 28th overall selection.
Kiper writes:
The big looming question for the Steelers is Ryan Shazier’s future, and no one knows if he’ll play again. Even if he returns, though, the Steelers need depth at linebacker. Evans is versatile enough to play inside or outside, and he had 15 career sacks at Alabama, where he often played on the edge and blitzed. He is a perfect fit in the middle of a modern-day defense — he can play every down.
In his four season at Alabama, Evans played in 53 games and recorded 150 total tackles with 23.5 of them resulting in lost yardage. He also had 15 total sacks and was credited with 5 pass breakups and 2 forced fumbles. Evans was voted a team captain this past season as well
Evans currently measures in at around 6-3, 235-pounds. While he was invited to this year’s Senior Bowl, Evans reportedly turned down the offer so we’ll have to wait to see him get measured in at the NFL Scouting Combine.
The Steelers will likely address the inside linebacker position early in this year’s draft and Evans could certainly be a player they have interest in. We’ll have a full breakdown if the Alabama linebacker in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here are a few videos of Evans from the 2017 season to look at it.
