The 2024 NFL Draft is over sixth months away as we trudge on through the thick of the 2023 regular season. However, with the national media periodically putting out mock drafts for NFL fan bases, there appears to be a growing trend regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers and their selection in the first round.
Right tackle is one position that continues to pop up beside the Steelers in mock draft exercises. CBS Sports paired Pittsburgh with Alabama OT JC Latham last week and Connor Livesay of the 33rd Team stuck to the same position for his most recent mock draft, giving the Steelers Oklahoma OT Tyler Guyton at 22nd overall.
“A year after drafting their left tackle of the future in Broderick Jones, the Pittsburgh Steelers find their right tackle of the future in Tyler Guyton,” Livesay wrote. “Guyton, a TCU transfer, has some of the most impressive traits in this draft class given his blend of size, speed and length. The Steelers’ offense has had plenty of issues so far in 2023, but the addition of Guyton could help the Pittsburgh offense start to figure things out. They could improve their protection and run blocking by adding a franchise offensive tackle in back-to-back drafts.”
Coming off the bus, there’s a lot to like about Guyton as a prospect. The 6-7, 328-pound redshirt junior has all the traits you’d want in a starting NFL offensive tackle, possessing the wingspan to land punches early in the set as well as the size and strength to move opposing defenders in the running game. The former high school basketball player shows good movement skills in space as a run blocker as well as working in pass protection to set the pocket, keeping pass rushers from turning the corner.
Guyton began his career as an H-back/tight end for TCU just two years ago, starting his transition to the offensive line in his final season with the Horned Frogs before transferring to Oklahoma. He’s packed on the size while still maintaining that high-end athleticism you desire in your tackles in today’s league. Guyton still has plenty of room to develop. He can mistime his punch or miss his target and could play with more core strength to prevent lunging into blocks. Still, Guyton has progressed quickly given that he became a full-time offensive lineman just two years ago, suggesting that he is only scratching the surface of what he can develop into.
The Steelers benched starting right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor in their last game due to what he said in the Jaguars game, opting to start rookie Broderick Jones with Dan Moore Jr. manning the left. Guyton would give Pittsburgh its bookend tackles for at least the next half decade as Guyton and Jones provide the combination of size, athleticism, and upside to develop into a formidable duo on opposite sides of the line of scrimmage.
