After a quiet weekend on the draft circuit, Pro Days are back, highlighted today by NC State’s workout Monday morning. Most teams were in attendance, including the Pittsburgh Steelers. Via Draft Analyst’s Tony Pauline, Pittsburgh had Director of College Scouting Phil Kriedler there.
“Also in attendance today is Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht and Phil Kreidler, college scouting coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Kriedler is a long-time Steelers scout in his 27th season with the team. As we’ve highlighted in the past, one theme of stability in the Steelers’ organization is low turnover in the front office. Five of their scouts/personnel directors have been with the Steelers for at least 14 years and the team hasn’t added/subtracted anyone knew since hiring Rick Reiprish to be a senior consultant three years ago.
Defensive end Bradley Chubb highlights the Wolfpack’s Pro Day, viewed as a sure-fire top ten selection. Obviously, someone not in the cards for Pittsburgh. NC State has a couple of interesting running backs. Jaylen Samuels is a hybrid player who worked out with the tight ends at the Combine, turning in some excellent times and looking natural as a receiver. He had 78 carries and 75 receptions as a senior, finishing his career with 47 touchdowns.
Nyheim Hines is a true running back but will be viewed as a scat back at the next level, weighing in at 5’8 193 pounds at Indy. He posted the fastest 40 of any back in attendance, turning in a 4.38. A junior in 2017, he averaged 5.6 yards per carry with 12 rushing touchdowns. He served as the team’s kick returner all three years, averaging 24.7 yards a kick and scoring twice. He dabbled on punt returns last year, housing one of his 12 returns.
The Steelers are certainly looking for a third running back and return man, though Hines’ size is smaller than what the team has gravitated towards and the failures or Dri Archer and Chris Rainey may scare the team off.
On the defensive side of the ball, defensive tackles B.J. Hill and Justin Jones are big but athletic interior defensive linemen who have performed well in pre-draft workous. The Steelers are likely to add a defensive linemen at some point to replace Daniel McCullers.
UPDATE: The Steelers are also at Temple’s Pro Day, per PennLive’s Jacob Klinger.
UPDATE (4:11 PM): Steelers DL coach Karl Dunbar was also at the NC State Pro Day to check out those two linemen mentioned above.
“Honor to meet you, Coach Belichick.”
The @Patriots head coach led Bradley Chubb (@ASTROCHUBB) through a drill at @PackFootball‘s Pro Day. pic.twitter.com/uzWsGzPtDq
— NFL (@NFL) March 19, 2018
