The Pittsburgh Steelers are hosting Georgia EDGE Robert Beal Jr. for a visit today, according to Dale Lolley of Steelers.com.
Beal spent five years in the Bulldogs’ program, accumulating 72 total tackles and 10 sacks. His best season came in 2021, when he had 24 tackles and a team-leading 6.5 sacks. He also finished his career with 11.5 tackles for a loss.
Beal was Shrine Bowl invite but didn’t participate as he recovered from Georgia’s season in which it went undefeated and won it second national championship in as many years. A former five-star recruit who played at a major program, Beal has the pedigree the Steelers like in their draft picks and ran a 4.48 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. He’s a prototypical 3-4 outside linebacker, and for a Steelers team that needs depth at that position, he could be a nice pickup on Day 3 of the draft.
“Georgia’s Robert Beal (7.35 RAS) has elite speed, good explosion and agility, but poor size, with a historically strong 4.48 40-yard dash his best test but only 14 reps on the bench,” Steelers Depot’s Clayton Eckert wrote about Beal.
The concern with Beal is his general lack of playing time throughout five years, but he was playing on Georgia teams that were absolutely loaded with NFL talent. Beal, who may have gotten lost in the shuffle a little bit, is athletic and possesses solid pass-rush moves that can help him stick in the NFL as a rotational pass rusher. He isn’t all that sound against the run, but as pass-rush depth on Day 3, Beal could slot himself in as a backup to T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith.
I’m not sure Beal would be Pittsburgh’s fourth-round pick, but if he falls to the seventh, he’s the type of pass rusher I think the Steelers would love to have late in the draft. He’s athletic, he led a loaded Georgia defense in sacks in 2021, and he would come in as a highly regarded recruit from a Power Five school. It’s good to see the Steelers doing their due diligence on prospects who could go on Day 3.
