With the start of the 2024 NFL Draft cycle getting underway with the Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl many analysts are trying to predict which players will go where. It’s an imperfect science, but based on tape, performance at the college all-star games, combines, and team needs all help people try and guess who NFl team will draft.
Recently, Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers of NFL Stock Exchange had a two round mock draft on their YouTube page which had the Pittsburgh Steelers draft Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell in the first round and Texas A&M LB Edgerrin Cooper in the second round.
When discussing the Steelers first round pick at 20, Sikkema and Rogers discussed how Mitchell’s performance at the Senior Bowl will help him rise up the draft boards.
“It’s not what I would do, but Quinyon had a statement week,” said Rogers of picking Mitchell over Iowa CB Cooper DeJean.
Both Sikkema and Rogers emphasized that Pittsburgh needs help at cornerback, and because of Mitchell’s great week at the Senior Bowl both Sikkema and Rogers believe he will be the first cornerback off the board. NFL Draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah posted a video to Twitter of Mitchell in one-on-one drills and you can see him cover the wide receiver like a blanket.
It is no secret Pittsburgh needs cornerback help as other than rookie CB Joey Porter Jr., Pittsburgh’s corners last season were not good. CB Levi Wallace struggled all year as he simply wasn’t athletic enough to stay with the high level wide receivers across the NFL and CB Patrick Peterson is on the older side and while his play picked up as the season went on, it is clear he needs more of a limited role or a move to safety at this point in his career.
That is where Mitchell enters. While not as lengthy as Porter, Mitchell still is a well-sized corner standing at 6’0 and weighing 195 pounds. Like Porter when he was in college, he rarely allowed receptions. Last season, PFF gave Mitchell a 91.5 grade and charted him being targeted 62 times but only allowing 27 receptions and zero touchdowns. Throughout his college career, Mitchell has six interceptions, with five of them coming in 2022, and 46 pass breakups which is Toledo’s all-time record.
Putting Porter and Mitchell together could lead to a great partnership, and Sikkema and Rogers aren’t the only people to think this, as just the other day Eric Edholm of NFL.com had Pittsburgh drafting Mitchell at 20 in his mock draft.
In the second round with pick 52, Sikkema and Rogers have the Steelers dressing their need at inside linebacker, having them pick Texas A&M’s Cooper.
“I’m giving them the most athletic linebacker that we got in the class,” said Sikkema.
After season ending injuries to LB’s Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander, the Steelers’ linebacker room fell apart. The room hasn’t been consistent since Ryan Shazier got injured back in 2017. Pittsburgh has been crying out for an athletic linebacker and Cooper could fill that void.
Cooper is 22-years-old and stands at 6-foot-3 weighing 230 pounds. He’s a redshirt junior, who excelled when he saw the field. Cooper totaled 204 tackles, 8.5 sacks, eight pass breakups, three forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries in his collegiate career. For his 2023 season, PFF gave him an impressive grade of 90.8. Cooper’s 2023 was so impressive he was named to the AP All-American First Team.
With the Steelers’ need at linebacker, grabbing Cooper could help shore up that room as the team does not know how Holcomb will be returning from his knee injury. The elite teams of the NFL such as the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens have stud middle linebackers and the past six years have shown Pittsburgh needs one.
If you would like to read more about Cooper, he met with Steelers Depot’s Josh Carney at the Shrine Bowl.
Sikkema and Roger’s draft picks are both notably on the defensive side of the football. Pittsburgh does need offensive line help, but at the same time the Steelers are much younger on that side of the football. In a passing league teams need good cornerbacks and good inside linebackers. Other than Porter they don’t have good cornerbacks, and right now Pittsburgh doesn’t have a good coverage linebacker. Both Mitchell and Cooper are picks that would hopefully change that and have the defense anchor the team while the offense learns and grows under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
