While Pittsburgh Steelers corerback Joe Haden certainly doesn’t have any say in who the team will draft this year, he does have a very good pulse on what the immediate needs are with four weeks now remaining until the annual selection process gets underway in Nashville, TN.
On Thursday, Haden was a guest on ‘Total Access’ on the NFL Network and he was asked what he believes the Steelers need the most heading into this year’s draft and his response wasn’t a bit surprising.
“What do we need? I think linebacker would be a spot,” Haden said. “I think ever since we lost [Ryan] Shazier, that’s been something. You know, Vince Williams and our linebackers that we have are great, but at the same time, losing Shay, you can’t really replace him with one person. So, I think a linebacker will help us.”
Haden then went on to explain another draft need he believes the Steelers have this year.
“And then losing Antonio Brown is another great thing,” Haden said. “I mean, he’s the best receiver in the league. So, you can never have too many offensive playmakers to help out with JuJu [Smith-Schuster], James [Conner] and James Washington. So, definitely I feel like an inside linebacker and a wide receiver will help us out a lot.”
Haden is certainly spot on with his positional draft suggestions for the Steelers as inside linebacker and wide receiver are certainly two of the main needs the team has this year even though they did sign wide receiver Donte Moncrief and inside linebacker Mark Barron, both of whom are very experienced players, during free agency. The Steelers could also stand to draft another cornerback, outside linebacker, defensive lineman, safety and tight end this year as well.
Speaking about the need for another cornerback to be drafted this year, the Steelers did seemingly make that particular position a little less of an immediate need with their signing of free agent cornerback Steven Nelson a few weeks ago. Nelson, who was previously a starter for the Kansas City Chiefs, should be expected to start opposite Haden this upcoming season.
“Oh, for sure,” Haden said Thursday when asked if he believes Nelson being added this offseason can hopefully help out the Steelers secondary in 2019.
