Over the next few weeks, I plan to go through the Steelers’ position groups to identify the areas of wants and needs and provide some quick descriptions of Round 1-3 targets you may want to start learning about. The tables are organized by my too-early-to-reveal grades, and then alphabetically for the prospects I cannot separate. Please feel free – invited! – to sound off with your opinions. Same for names you think are missing. I know they’re out there because I’m still finding new ones almost every day.
Finally, I have not dug down past the 2023 starting lineup, with a few backups I happen to know off the top of my head. Please share if you have any current roster depth that you think we need to consider in the wants & needs analysis.
Offensive Tackles
- Broderick Jones
- Dan Moore Jr.
- Chuks Okorafor
Jones has been a hit. ‘Nuff said. I can’t wait to see the improved, second-year version.
I believe there’s a lot of unjustified hate aimed at Moore, whom I see as a young, still-developing player the team can live with. Could his spot be upgraded? Absolutely, and it would be awfully hard to pass on Broderick 2.0 if the board falls that way. But it is a want, not a need. After all, we have an established baseline because Moore beat out Okorafor in 2023. Most of us went into the season giving Okorafor a confident but dead-average grade such as: Adequate But That’s It. Dan Moore cannot be viewed as worse.
Looking deeper, Moore’s run blocking has regularly been better than average. His pass protection…well, I’d say he’s been erratic more than bad. There have been some very good games, many average games, and some that I’m sure he’d rather forget. It would add up to a simmering problem if he wasn’t so young. Offensive tackles tend to keep improving for at least the first five years of their career and often a few years more. Moore has followed right along that curve. Pick any six-game span and he’ll be as good or a little better at the end compared to the beginning. This gives me some confidence that 2024 will see improved play over 2003. I can’t say where or how, but if he’s just adequate going in, and more than that coming out… See where I’m coming from?
Let’s be clear: I do not foresee the young Mr. Moore maturing into an All-Pro any time soon. If ever. But you can’t have greatness across the OL. The standard is no one who is bad, and a couple of stars to make the rest of them better. If Moore equates to an OT version of longtime LG Ramon Foster, we can live with it until the Board offers someone distinctly better.
Chuks Okorafor… It’s 50:1 that he won’t be on the team for 2024, but whatever. Let’s just call him the opposite of Moore: an above-average pass blocker and a very spotty run blocker. The key difference arises from age and price. Okorafor will be a seven-year pro next year so what you see is what you get. I still say that’s worth his $10 million a year. That’s just the market price for adequate tackles, however gasp-worthy it seems to regular people. But that’s simply too big a price to pay a backup. In the ideal world an OT-desperate team would trade a Day Three pick for the chance to get ahead of the line in free agency, but that does not move the needle for our analysis.
VERDICT: The Steelers will go into free agency with one extremely promising tackle, one adequate but improvable tackle, and a serious need for depth. Which means it will probably go into the 2024 NFL Draft with the same two starters and a No. 3 who’s only good for emergency work over a few-game span.
DRAFT CLASS OVERVIEW: It’s a strong class in the first 50 picks or so, at which point the prospect pool thins out noticeably. Here’s my initial list of prospects to consider. Please note that (A) I’ve stripped out my initial grades because it’s simply too early to treat them as more than stabs in the dark; (B) a lot of debate will exist about which of the fringe-first talents can survive at OT, and which will need to move inside to Guard; and (C) I fully expect the process to produce a few names that I have failed to find at this early stage.
- NOTE: “T/G” means probably a Tackle, but Guard capable if that experiment fails. “G/T” means probably a Guard who can provide extra depth at Tackle. “OT,” “OG,” and “OC” means the prospect should be viewed as fitting only that one position. Those are subtle distinctions, and your input would be welcome on any suggested revisions. Italicized Orange Text means the prospect’s full description appears at one of the other positions, and has been graded with that as the most likely spot he would play in Pittsburgh.
| OT Joe Alt, Notre Dame (Junior). 6’7”, 305 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 21 in February. An absurd athlete who can mirror and match with the best of them. Moves well with good balance, hands, and strength in pass protection. Needs to build his grown-man strength for run duties. An easy Top-10 talent. |
| OT Olu Fashanu, Penn. St. (Junior). 6’6”, 321 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 22 in December. Has every physical asset you could want and could be truly great if he can only nail down the fine points of the trade. The technique is there most of the time but with lapses that would be unacceptable at the next level. Top-10 talent all day, every day. |
| C/G/T Graham Barton, Duke (Senior). 6’4”, 315 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 22 in June. |
| OT JC Latham, Alabama (Junior). 6’6”, 325 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 21 in February. A genuinely huge young man who carries it extremely well. Could be special if he can clean up the waist-bending habit that makes him more vulnerable to quickness and counters than he should be. Projects best as an excellent RT. The late November scouting profile by the highly respected Brandon Thorn admires the “padlocks for hands…tone-setting, physically imposing ability and demeanor,…[and] striking blend of size, play strength, power and competitive toughness to overwhelm defenders in the run and pass game. He needs added patience to counterbalance his attacking play style, but he has the tools, skill set and runway to start in year one with Pro Bowl potential within his first contract.” |
| OT Amarius Mims, Georgia (Junior). 6’7”, 340 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 22 in October. An astonishing physical talent with perfect dimensions and athletic potential so high it’s hard to believe. As Brandon Thorn’s November scouting profile put it, he “[l]ooks like he was made in a lab with a towering frame, rocked-up build, big hands and long arms… [who is also an] easy mover out of his stance,… has powerful strikes [and] grip strength,… [and has] good quickness and fluidity on the move.” The problem? Only eight starts in his college career. In earlier years that’s easy to explain due to Georgia’s championship-level OT talent ahead of him (such as Broderick Jones). And in 2023 he looked great as the starting RT even though he injured his ankle in the opener and played hobbled until the injury got worse in December. So the bottom line is that he requires more projection than you’d like, but he could easily end up being the best lineman of the draft or even the best overall player. And the dice roll says… |
| T/G Taliese Fuaga, Oregon St. (RS Junior). 6’6”, 330 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns __ in ___. A legit 330 without a lot of flab, Fuaga was a two-year starter with very good explosiveness, size, and strength; the ability to hit the second level effectively; a powerful punch; and decent feet. The drawbacks come from inconsistent technique, especially with his footwork. That is coachable, but it takes a lot of time to fix. Projects as a dominant run blocker early in his career but could be a leaky pass protector until things get cleaned up. A cartoon version might be something like: a bigger Dan Moore who should be as good in his rookie year as Moore was Years Two and Three and has a higher ceiling. The late November scouting profile by Brandon Thorn ends by saying, “Fuaga has the size, power and run-blocking skills to earn a starting role in his first training camp at guard inside a run-first, play-action-based system. He also has enough quickness to play tackle in a pinch.” |
| OT Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma (Junior). 6’7”, 330 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns __ in ___. Athletic enough to start his college career as an oversized H-back, he is a one-year starter who looked good in both pass protection and run blocking due to those natural assets. Boundless potential, but his technique needs to clean up from the footwork up through all other facets. When he loses, he loses big, particularly to extreme speed off the edge. This goes to the January scouting profile by the always reliable Brandon Thorn. He concludes, “Overall, Guyton is a young, inexperienced and green tackle prospect with elite physical tools and flashes of dominance that can get him on the field right away. He can eventually bloom into a high-end starter in the NFL, but he will need to be brought along slowly in a conservative scheme and veteran O-line room before bridging that gap.” |
| G/T Jordan Morgan, Arizona (Senior). 6’5”, 325 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 23 in August. |
| OT Kingsley Suamataia, BYU by way of Oregon (Soph). 6’7”, 305 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turned 21 on Thursday. Team captain. Two-year starter. The assets are there, including All-Pro potential as an athlete, but the technique is just as inconsistent as you might expect from someone who left college at the age of 20. Flashes of greatness offset by the occasional eye-rolling mistakes, especially when he gets too eager. This goes to a December scouting report from the well-respected Brandon Thorn, which ends with this summary: “Suamataia has the physical tools of a starting tackle with an unrefined skill set that is built on flashes rather than proven consistency. But he’ll be only 21 when he gets drafted, and he has the runway to add polish to his game and bridge that gap within his first contract in an RPO/play-action based system that can help bring him along slowly.” |
| OT Patrick Paul, Houston (RS Junior). 6’7”, 315 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 24 in November. Four-year starter and team captain. Played D-Line all through high school. Enormous and athletic in all ways but being nimble. Very solid anchor. The technique is still a work in progress across the board, which may force him to sit a year because polished pros would find exploitable holes. This goes to a December scouting report from the well-respected Brandon Thorn, which ends as follows: “Paul still needs significant technique work to play with better leverage, control and sustain skills. But he has ideal length with starter-level athletic ability, play strength and a nasty demeanor that can be harnessed into a starting role within his first few seasons.” |
| OT Blake Fisher, Notre Dame (Junior). 6’6”, 315 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 21 in March. The RT running mate to all-world LT prospect Joe Alt for the last two years. Supposed to be an extremely smart player with a high ceiling who needs a good year or three of coaching from the ground up on technical matters. Tossing him in early would provide a decent run blocker and someone who needs to have a TE next to him on passing downs. |
| OT Zion Nelson, Miami (Junior). 6’5”, 315 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turned 23 in January. |
| OT Matt Goncalves, Pitt (RS Senior). 6’6”, 330 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turned 23 in January. Quick, strong, and at least average as an NFL athlete, but requiring a year or three of solid coaching to fix fundamentals that would make him shaky against next-level competition. |
| G/T Dominick Puni, Kansas (RS Senior). 6’5”, 320 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 24 in February. |
| OT Andrew Coker, TCU (Junior). 6’7”, 305 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turned 24 in January. |
| OT Kiran Amegadjie, Yale (Senior). 6’5”, 318 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns __ in ___. Injured quad at the end of 2023 season. Dominated his vastly less athletic competition, so he looks the part and acts the part, but… Yale? |
Offensive Guards
- James Daniels
- Isaac Seumalo
- Nate Herbig
I grade both Daniels and Seumalo as B+ talents who might get an A- on a generous curve or a straight B on a tough one. Both men are in the prime of their career, with Daniels going into Year Seven (age 26) and Seumalo going into Year Nine (Age 30). I wouldn’t blink at drafting the next David DeCastro, but short of that I expect Omar & Co. to leave well enough alone.
As for depth, you could do a lot worse than Nate Herbig. No need there either.
VERDICT: Don’t pass on greatness, but otherwise don’t bother.
DRAFT CLASS OVERVIEW: Meh. A more or less average group with the top rank coming from college OTs who should probably move inside.
| C/G/T Graham Barton, Duke (Senior). 6’4”, 315 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 22 in June. |
| G/T Troy Fautanu, Washington (RS Senior). 6’4”, 317 lbs. with 35”(?) arms and ___” hands. Turns 24 in October. A solid Tackle prospect who projects as a very good Guard with Tackle flexibility. The No. 1 asset is fundamental athleticism so good that he’s also played DL and even as a volleyball player. Excellent length he knows how to use, which would be a special asset if he moves inside. Brandon Thorn’s late-November scouting profile describes him as a “dynamic run-blocker… with very good athletic ability, quickness, power and length, [who is] a weapon on the move…[and] extremely agile and quick in pass protection.” |
| T/G Taliese Fuaga, Oregon St. (RS Junior). 6’6”, 330 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns __ in ___. |
| G/T Jordan Morgan, Arizona (Senior). 6’5”, 325 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 23 in August. ACL tear in 2022 but played all of 2023. Three-year starter. Balanced profile for both run and pass blocking. A good, technically accomplished college LT who projects as an even better Guard. As summarized in the late November scouting profile by the well-respected Brandon Thorn, “Morgan has the frame, build, play strength and physicality to make a smooth transition inside to guard, with the initial quickness and burst to be a high-quality run-blocker. His questionable range and middling redirect skills will be difficult to overcome on an island [i.e., as a Tackle] against NFL edge-rushers, but he could make it work inside a run-first, play-action-based scheme that limits those exposures.” |
| OG Cooper Beebe, Kansas St. (Senior). 6’3”, 320 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 23 in May. Extremely good anchor with all the quickness needed to play in a phone booth. Even succeeded as a college Tackle, though his build will push him inside – especially since he tends to be a waist-bender. Extremely nasty run blocker too. “[A] highly decorated, massively built, sawed-off, smart and strong presence with proven versatility to project as a high-floor, solid starting guard in a downhill run scheme,” according to the New Year’s scouting profile by Brandon Thorn. |
| G/T Dominick Puni, Kansas (RS Senior). 6’5”, 320 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 24 in February. A multi-year starter, almost exclusively at OT, who will probably move inside at the next level. Looks like a Guard; run blocks like a good Guard; has the play strength, physicality, and phone-booth power to be a Guard; and would have excellent mobility as a Guard; he lacks the extraordinary size and condor wingspan that’s normal for an NFL Tackle. Offers added value as a potential swing Tackle because his sound fundamentals should protect him up to the point where he loses on purely athletic grounds. This goes to a January scouting profile by the always reliable Brandon Thorn. |
Center
Bias alert! Let’s get Pavelle Center Rant 1.0 out of the way:
Mansfield to Webster to Dawson to Hartings to Pouncey. HOF to GOAT to GOAT to Tremendous to HOF.
Can any other team, in any sport, at any position, claim a lineage like that? It’s right up there with three HOF head coaches in 60 years, and our birthright as members of Steeler Nation. Every day without an heir is another day we’re being robbed of our rightful glory. Harrumph!
So with that in mind:
- Mason Cole, plus emergency depth
I don’t want this to come out wrong so let me emphasize that Mr. Cole seems to be a quality human being, and a fine leader on the Offensive Line. He might even be the best backup Center in the NFL if you ignore starters like Landon Dickerson who can just slide over. But “great backup” is a far, far cry from Heir To The Proud Steelers Tradition.
I want more. A lot more. It’s my Steelers Fan birthright! And it is also the easiest path to significantly upgrade the O-Line, and the rest of the offense with it.
VERDICT: The weakest spot on the OL and darned close to a “need” in my book (with the understanding that I might have a teeny, tiny bias on the matter). Don’t be at all surprised if the Steelers sign a free agent upgrade at this position and then also grab a draft prospect at a point where he’d be decent value but not a reach.
DRAFT CLASS OVERVIEW: It’s a four-horse race with a single Round One talent (if he really is a Center), trailed by a Round Two lock whose technique needs to mature, and then a pair of very solid, high-floor prospects with Round Two-Three grades.
| C/G/T Graham Barton, Duke (Senior). 6’4”, 315 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 22 in June. Keep an eye on this one Steeler Nation! He could be Pittsburgh’s No. 1 realistic target if he really can play Center, and at worst would be extraordinary depth across the line. Barton fits an archetype that would be perfect for this team: the fringe-first college Tackle who (a) succeeded on athleticism, attitude, and technique, (b) projects better and with high confidence as an IOL in the league, and (c) has experience playing Center in his freshman year. The main selling points are his explosion off the line, physical strength, excellent technique, work ethic, and dominance in the run game. The warnings all have to do with his length if viewed as a pure OT, which isn’t a concern for a potential Center. Limited competition as a Duke player vs. some other prospects. The early-season scouting reports by the Draft Network and PFN should provide a baseline view. I rely more on the scouting report by Brandon Thorn, who is one of the best and always deserve a full read. Teaser: I was very happy to see notes like, “Renowned leadership qualities, work ethic and drive to improve.” The particularly good, December scouting profile from PFN ends with a fringe-first grade and this intriguing summary: “…Barton’s ability to play any spot in a pinch would be immensely valuable, [and] as an interior lineman, his elite athleticism and overwhelming power and physicality grant him an extremely high ceiling.” This solid January scouting profile does a good job of explaining his limitations as an OT, and then lists assets like aggression, explosion off the snap, football IQ, coordination with linemates, and run blocking, all of which are what you want in a C/G. The summary from this New Year’s scouting profile would be: “In regard to stance, power, and nastiness, Barton is undoubtedly a first-round talent. Smart… explodes upward through his blocks… textbook technique… an absolute mauler in the run game… [but] his lack of foot speed and overall athleticism are lacking when compared to most good NFL tackles.” Another good New Year’s scouting profile adds, “Excellent mover, great grip strength, tremendous puller and mover in space, [and] has a mean streak to him.” |
| C/G Jackson Powers-Johnson, Oregon (Junior). 6’3”, 320 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turned 21 in January. Team captain. Won the 2023 Rimington Award for best Center. Hight school wrestler. Only 13 career starts. This article on why he changed his last name provides some good insight into the young man and his background. Built like the proverbial brick outhouse. Big, young, powerful, solid, nimble, and effective would be my keywords. A highly accomplished run blocker. More phone-booth quick than smooth in motion, he nevertheless climbs effectively, gets to his landmarks on screens, and has a knack for catching defenders in space. Pass blocking features a very solid anchor though Oregon’s system rarely put him in the classic pocket position. Plenty of room to improve on technical nuances. Brandon Thorn’s scouting report, always reliable, ends with a fringe-first grade, the line “Pro Bowl potential within his first contract,” and few worries beyond, “upright playing style with wide hand carriage and placement exposes chest, which can lead to stalemates and getting slowly pried open.” The PFN scouting profile agrees on the fringe-1st grade for the draft’s “best pure Center” who is “an explosive and nimble athlete in both the lateral and vertical modes [with] even more impressive power.” The TDN scouting profile calls him a “highly cerebral player who makes all the calls up front,” and ends on a Round Two grade after noting the lack of length and tendency to expose his chest. The NFL Draft Buzz scouting profile amounts to great run blocker but has to build technique if he wants to handle NFL quickness and counters in other roles. (Summary, not quote). This nice scouting profile ends in a Round Two grade due to an accumulation of quibbles over length, grip strength, and the transition from Oregon’s unusual offensive system. This Eagles-oriented scouting profile agrees on fringe-first, comparing him to a bigger and better Cole Strange. This goes to a late December, Tampa-oriented scouting profile. |
| C/G Zach Frazier, WVU (Junior). 6’3”, 310 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns __ in ___. Broke his leg in the season finale. Strong, quick, and definitely worth deeper study because of his anchor, length, power, burst, and football IQ. Quick hands. A wrestler’s understanding of how to use leverage. Mobile enough to play outside zone but would be better in a gap and inside zone scheme like Pittsburgh’s because of his burst and people-moving ability. Projects as a good, solid, long-term starter but probably not an All-Pro because of average NFL athleticism. Brandon Thorn’s scouting profile came out in late November, but he is good enough to trust even so. “Overall, Frazier is an experienced center-only prospect with adequate size, solid athletic ability and very good play strength that he combines with high-level football intelligence and competitive toughness to run the show pre-snap, lead and find ways to get defenders blocked in a variety of schemes. He projects as a long-term, dependable starter at the pivot.” This goes to a typically solid TDN scouting profile. |
| C/G Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, Georgia (RS Junior). 6’4”, 310 lbs. with ___” arms and ___” hands. Turns 23 in October. A multi-year starter who excels in people moving even though mobility is also a particularly strong asset, but his lack of length can be an issue. Supposed to be an excellent leader. A very good prospect with an exceptional floor who should be at least an average pro within his first few years. The questions go to his ceiling. Can he ever be an All-Pro Center, or is he going to be “merely” a mainstay in the top 10-15? Jonathan Heitritter’s gif-supported Depot scouting report ends in a Round Two-Three grade based on his excellent, well-rounded game offset by balance and core-strength issues. This goes to a January scouting profile by the well-respected Brandon Thorn. His words are worth more than mine: “A renowned leader [with a] strappy, squatty, and thick build; skilled run-blocker, solid initial quickness and burst, and finisher’s mentality, but middling body control and lateral quickness; needs to tighten up hand placement, and inconsistent anchor…He is best with guard help where he can utilize his frame and strength to plug the ‘A’ gap, but he will struggle away from help… Overall, Van Pran is an experienced, battle-tested leader with the play strength, demeanor, and skill as a run blocker to [compete for a starting job early in his career].” The NFL Draft Buzz scouting profile especially praises his football IQ. “A cerebral player, he’s quick to react to twists and stunts.” This January scouting profile says, “The on-field play is very good, but the leadership he displays is what makes him so attractive.” |
Conclusion
Thus ends my first foray into 2024 draft analysis. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments, and don’t be shy about adding your personal thoughts and observations.
