With the 2023 NFL season winding down, the focus will soon shift to free agency and the NFL draft. Last year was general manager Omar Kahn’s first draft in charge of selecting players with assistant GM Andy Weidl being in charge of setting the draft board along with the scouting staff. The early returns on their first draft in charge have been extremely promising with five of the seven drafted players making meaningful contributions in their rookie season and four of those five getting at least several starts.
Last season, the Steelers were in need of some offensive linemen after a shaky performance from the unit in 2022 and they addressed the future of the tackle position with the drafting of OT Broderick Jones out of Georgia. They had to trade up three spots to leap the New York Jets, who were also after help at the tackle position. Jones’ natural position is left tackle, but he made just one start there in this season due to an injury that kept Dan Moore Jr. out of Week Five against the Baltimore Ravens. He took over as the starting right tackle in Week Nine and has played there ever since.
Pro Football Focus’s Trevor Sikkema released his fourth iteration of a 2024 mock draft and has the Steelers selecting OT JC Latham out of the University of Alabama with the 18th overall pick. With the draft order not set, he threw in a disclaimer that he will be updating the draft order and the picks on Monday to reflect at least the first 18 picks that will be locked in at that point. If the Steelers end up making the playoffs, they will not be selecting at 18th overall.
“I like the idea of them focusing on the offensive line,” Sikkema wrote. “They drafted Broderick Jones in the first round last year, and I think he can be their starting left tackle of the future. I believe the same could be said of Latham as their right tackle. That gets both of those players at their natural spots and allows the Steelers to comfortably move on from Dan Moore, if desired, with his contract expiring next offseason.”
While a lot of mock drafts are focusing on the secondary, like in Sikkema’s earlier iterations of this exercise, he likes the idea of the Steelers solidifying the offensive line for years to come with another tackle. The Steelers probably learned a lesson or two this year with how OG Kevin Dotson has performed in Los Angeles with the Rams. He has been one of the best guards in football, and he credited some of that to returning to his natural position at right guard. The Steelers moved him to left guard and didn’t get nearly the performance that he is giving in Los Angeles.
Drafting a right tackle would allow for Jones to go back to his natural position and it would make a decision on Moore all the easier this offseason. The Steelers typically opt to extend their players with one year remaining on their contracts, and Moore is entering that window. His performance doesn’t warrant a large extension of any kind. Hopefully that means Jones can go back to his natural position, sooner rather than later, and drafting or signing a tackle this offseason will allow the flexibility for that to happen.
Latham is a junior at Alabama and is listed at 6-6, 360 pounds. He is widely regarded as one of the top tackle prospects in the draft and was named All-SEC by the Associated Press and the SEC coaches for the 2023 season. With draft season around the corner, we will soon start pumping out draft profiles and other draft content, so stay tuned to the site.
