NFL Network draft analyst Charles Davis released his first mock draft of 2019 on Friday and he has the Pittsburgh Steelers selecting a wide receiver in the first-round with the 20th overall selection after trading away wide receiver Antonio Brown to the Oakland Raiders last weekend. If that’s not enough, Davis has the Steelers drafting Brown’s cousin, Marquise Brown.
Davis writes of the selection:
Amidst all the hand wringing after the loss of All-Pro WR Antonio Brown, the man they call “Hollywood” — who happens to be Antonio’s cousin — steps into the breach, and provides instant big-play ability. He wasn’t able to work out at the combine or Oklahoma’s pro day due to a Lisfranc (foot) injury, but he’s expected to be ready for training camp.
While Marquise Brown is an extremely talented wide receiver coming out of Oklahoma, it’s hard to imagine the Steelers spending their first-round selection on him after all they went through with Antonio Brown this offseason. It seems like such a selection by them would be inviting a repeat of what happened this past offseason several years from now.
The Antonio Brown bloodline aside, Marquise Brown measured in at this year’s scouting combine at 5093, 166-pounds. The diminutive wide receiver declared for this years’s draft as an underclassman back in January after registering 132 receptions for 2,413 yards and 17 touchdowns in the 27 total games he played at Oklahoma the last two seasons.
As talented as Marquise Brown is, there are perhaps a few other wide receivers in this year’s draft class likely to be drafted ahead of him and thus the Oklahoma product might have to wait until the second or third round to hear his name called.
The Oklahoma pro day was this past week and neither Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert nor head coach Mike Tomlin were reportedly present for it. Even though Marquise Brown was sidelined for that event by his foot injury, Colbert and Tomlin would have likely still attended the Oklahoma’s pro day to visit with the wide receiver some if they were really interested in selecting him the first round of this year’s draft.
Marquise Brown might very well become a the NFL’s next great smallish wide receiver such as Tyreek Hill. However, if that ultimately happens, odds are good that the Oklahoma product will do that on a team other than the Steelers.
As to the rest of Davis’ first mock draft of 2019, he has two linebackers, Devin White of LSU and Devin Bush of Michigan, both being selected in the first 11 picks and back-to-back at that. He also doesn’t have LSU cornerback Greedy Williams being selected in the first round of his first mock draft of 2019.
