I get it. Mock drafts are hard for anyone in the national media. It’s an impossible task for anyone to know all the needs, all the particulars of one team. That’s coming from a fellow idiot who did his own seven round mock and probably botched things for several teams (sorry, Miami!).
But oh boy, does Peter Schrager’s last mock draft take the cake. He posted his three round mock Wednesday morning. It starts out normal. Sam Darnold to Cleveland, Bradley Chubb to the Giants, Baker Mayfield to the Jets. Cool, cool, cool.
Then it gets to Pittsburgh. And things turn ugly.
With the 28th pick, he has the team selecting Iowa cornerback Josh Jackson. He writes:
“Pittsburgh gets a talented cornerback who saved his best efforts for the Hawkeyes’ biggest games of last season. Three interceptions against Ohio State and a dominant performance against Wisconsin are on tape. He can play right away in Pittsburgh, and they might need him to.”
No, they’re probably not going to need him to play right away. But he isn’t the first to mock the Steelers a corner, as wrong as it likely is, so it can be forgiven with two other sensible picks.
Except that doesn’t happen.
In the second and third rounds, he has the Steelers taking two offensive linemen. Tackle/guard Tyrell Crosby at pick 60 and guard Taylor Hearn in the third. There’s no explanations for anything after the first round, which is a good thing since there is NO REASONABLE EXPLANATION FOR DOING THIS.
Inside linebacker? Not addressed. Safety? Nope. Outside linebacker? Lol, why would they?
There’s a chance this team doesn’t taken an offensive linemen at all in the draft, let alone selecting with two of their first three picks. Who thinks a Steelers’ line with studs across the board, everyone under contract, needs this much help while ignoring the painfully obvious issues elsewhere.
This is the worst of the worst. Bottom of the barrel. The mock draft equivalent of the Great Crash of 1929. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to fall asleep until 8 PM tomorrow. After reading this, I’ve earned it.
