Just a few days after Daniel Jeremiah had Georgia tackle Amarius Mims to the Pittsburgh Steelers in his first mock draft of the offseason, NFL analyst and respected draft analyst Bucky Brooks dropped the same name in connection with the Pittsburgh Steelers for their first-round draft pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Last year, Brooks’ first mock draft had the Steelers selecting CB Joey Porter Jr. They didn’t end up grabbing Porter with their first pick but selected him with the first pick of the second round at 32nd overall.
In explaining his rationale for the pick, Brooks wrote:
“A commitment to retool the offense could prompt the Steelers to add a massive blocker to the lineup. Mims’ size, athleticism, and movement skills make him an intriguing option for a team that excels in player development.”
The Steelers are in need of another bookend to their offensive line to pair with Broderick Jones long term. They selected Jones out of Georgia last year with the 14th overall selection after trading up three spots to ensure they would get him. Mims already seems to be a trendy pick for the Steelers. Similar to Jones, Mims didn’t have a ton of starting experience at the college level. He exited college football as a junior and in 2022 served in a reserve role the entire season. In 2023, he started six games in seven appearances, but a high-ankle sprain held him out of play for a while. He underwent the same tightrope surgery that Steelers QB Kenny Pickett did in 2023.
Mims is ranked 23rd on Pro Football Focus’ big board, which is right around the Steelers’ range, Pittsburgh holding the 20th pick in the upcoming draft. He played all of his collegiate snaps at the right tackle position. Ideally, the Steelers select a right tackle so Jones can move back to his natural position of left tackle after spending most of his rookie season on the right side. The Steelers made the mistake of having OG Kevin Dotson on the left side while he was in Pittsburgh, and he underperformed only to go to the Los Angeles Rams and emerge one of the top guards in the NFL back at his natural right guard position.
Jones was considered inexperienced when he the Steelers made him their first-round pick last season. But he logged 930 snaps his last season in Athens and 1,383 in total over three college seasons. Mims only logged 801 total snaps in college, 297 this past season.
That inexperience will make him a difficult evaluation with limited tape out there. The snaps he did play, he graded out very well. He performed much better as a gap blocker than he did a zone blocker, but his pass blocking grade of 78.8 was very solid. According to PFF he never allowed a sack in college over 402 pass-blocking snaps.
At 6-7, 340 pounds, he would be another huge body to pair with Jones to solidify the line for years to come, but that is only if the Steelers feel comfortable after evaluating the Mims’ limited college action. They would have seen at least some of his tape in the backup role in 2022 when they were evaluating Jones. Dan Moore Jr. graded as one of the worst tackles in the NFL in 2023, so the need is certainly present, but would a tackle with this little experience be able to see the field in his rookie season?
In July, our Jonathan Heitritter profiled Mims as part of his Summer Scouting Series:
“Amarius Mims is in a similar boat to former Bulldog and current Steeler Broderick Jones was a season ago, coming off a strong season when he wasn’t the starter but flashed in a big way. Hopefully Mims can parlay that momentum into becoming a first-round pick himself in the 2024 NFL Draft, having the size, strength, athleticism, and smarts to become a quality tackle in the league for a long time.”
