Did the Pittsburgh Steelers come away from the 2021 NFL Draft with any huge value picks? I suppose the answer to that question mostly depends on who you ask. If you ask Pro Football Hall of Famer Gil Brandt, a long-time draft talent evaluator and conttubutor for NFL Media the Steelers got a steal with their first of two fourth-round picks this year.
Brandt listed the Steelers fourth round selection of Texas A&M tackle Dan Moore Jr. at 128th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft as the seventh-best value pick of the entire annual event. Brandt indicated that Moore was taken 65 spots behind where he would have taken him.
According to Brandt, the best value pick in the 2021 NFL Draft was the Kansas City Chiefs selecting Tennessee guard Trey Smith in the sixth round, which was 152 slots after where he projected the offensive lineman would go. The Carolina Panthers made the top of Brandt’s board twice with their selections of Alabama guard Deonte Brown in the sixth round getting a plus-131 rating and Iowa defensive tackle Daviyon Nixon as plus 83 in the fifth round.
The Seattle Seahawks selection of Florida tackle Stone Forsythe in the sixth round (+115), the Baltimore Ravens selection of Ohio State corner Shaun Wade in the fifth round (+80) and the Houston Texans selection of TCU linebacker Garrett Wallow in the fifth round (+73) rounded out Brandt’s top five value choices for the 2021 NFL Draft.
So, what does all this mean? Right now, nothing as it’s all just subjective awards, if you will. They are fun to look at and especially in the case of Brandt, who has been evaluating NFL talent since the early modern era days of the league.
Personally, I view the Steelers selection of outside linebacker Quincy Roche in the sixth round as the team’s biggest value pick when it comes to the 2021 NFL Draft. I had Roche pegged as a possible late third round or early fourth round selection. The Steelers drafted Roche 216th overall. Only 43 total players were picked after Roche was selected and two of those remaining picks were made by Pittsburgh.
