With the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers set to face off on Monday Night Football to conclude the Week 11 schedule, the Pittsburgh Steelers are currently projected to pick 8th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft according to Tankathon after losing at home to the division rival Cincinnati Bengals.
Even if the Cardinals lose tonight, who currently sit at 4-6 on the season, they will still have one win over Pittsburgh as the Cardinals haven’t reached their bye week yet. Therefore, they likely will remain behind the Steelers in terms of draft order at the conclusion of the week’s slate of games.
As of now, the Steelers are projected to own three picks in the top 40 selections in the 2023 NFL Draft with the 8th overall selection in Round One, the Chicago Bears second-round selection (34th overall), and their own second-round selection (39th overall). After the first two rounds, Pittsburgh’s selections sit currently at 70th overall in the third-round, 107th overall in the fourth-round, 185th overall in the sixth-round, and 226th overall in the seventh-round.
It has been a difficult season for Pittsburgh who had to overcome the loss of OLB T.J. Watt Week 1 to a pec injury that landed him on IR until this past Sunday’s game against the Saints. After having Watt and several other key defenders return from injury last week to help Pittsburgh get the victory, it appeared as if this team was on-track to turn their fortunes around yet this season. However, the defense got bludgeoned by QB Joe Burrow and the Bengals passing attack while the offense yet again failed to establish any sort of consistency in the second half after taking a 20-17 lead into halftime.
The Steelers look like a shell of their former selves this season after the retirement of QB Ben Roethlisberger as the offense still ranks near the bottom of the league as one of the most vanilla, predictable units in all of football. The environment hasn’t done rookie QB Kenny Pickett any favors as the young passer has only three TDs passes to eight INTs in six games played this season.
The offense and the defense have plenty of glaring holes that need to be addressed this coming offseason to help take this team out of the gutter and back into relevance in terms of competing in the AFC for a playoff berth. Pittsburgh did manage to hit a potential gold mine in trading WR Chase Claypool to the Chicago Bears for their second-round draft choice that appears to be a top selection at the beginning of the second round which could land Pittsburgh a talented, impact player with Round One caliber.
With so many needs to address on the roster including OL, DL, ILB, EDGE depth, CB, S, and potentially another slot WR, Pittsburgh will have to hit on their picks with prospects that can develop into long-term as well as bring in a few impact free agents from the outside or retain some of their own to get back to “The Standard” and have a roster talented enough to play winning football in the National Football League.
