NFL.com draft analysts Daniel Jeremiah released his third mock draft of 2018 on Tuesday and after previously predicting that the Pittsburgh Steelers would select LSU cornerback Donte Jackson and Boise State linebacker Leighton Vander Esch in the first-round of his two previous mock drafts, he now has them selecting Louisville cornerback Jaire Alexander 28th overall in his latest offering.
Jeremiah writes:
I love Alexander’s swag and ball skills. He can play inside or outside and he’ll be ready to start from Day One.
We’ve now seen Alexander mocked to the Steelers quite a few times by major media draft analysts over the course of the last several weeks. With that said, I think it goes without saying that many fans of the Steelers will be quite shocked should Alexander wind up being the team’s first-round pick in 2018.
Alexander, who measured in at this year’s scouting combine at 5102, 196-pounds, registered 77 total tackles, 7 interceptions, 15 defensed passes and a forced fumble in his three seasons at Louisville. He did, however, miss several games last season because of a knee injury. While in Indianapolis he ran the 40-yard-dash in Indianapolis in 4.38-seconds and posted a 35-inch vertical jump and 10’7″ broad jump in addition to posting a great 20-yard shuttle time of 3.98-seconds.
It’s worth noting that Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin both attended the Louisville pro day severaly weeks ago and reportedly had dinner the night before with a few players and speculation is that Alexander was one of them.
As far as the Steelers cornerback depth chart currently goes, Joe Haden, Artie Burns and Mike Hilton should still sit atop it this spring with second-year players Cameron Sutton and Brian Allen, both of whom were drafted last year, providing depth behind those three players along with veteran Coty Sensabaugh. While the Steelers could certainly draft another cornerback this year, one would think such a selection would happen in the middle to later rounds if it happens at all.
