The Pittsburgh Steelers have a number of needs as the 2024 NFL Draft approaches, as the team has holes to fill at cornerback, wide receiver, center and potentially offensive tackle. On the defensive side of the ball, the team could also look to add line depth and inside linebacker depth, and ESPN’s Bill Barnwell thinks the Steelers should move down from their pick at No. 20 in the first round to add depth on defense.
“The Steelers are perilously thin at cornerback, wide receiver and along the offensive line. They fielded the oldest defense in football last season, and while they moved on from corner Patrick Peterson, there are five starters on that side of the ball who will be on the wrong side of 30 by the end of the season. Pittsburgh is still great at drafting and developing homegrown defensive talent, as we saw with defensive tackle Keeanu Benton and corner Joey Porter Jr. last year; they just need more of it,” Barnwell wrote.
Barnwell also said the Steelers can address center later in the draft, and adding extra picks allows them to find a center while also adding depth on the defensive side of the ball.
It’s a center class that has some names at the top who could come in and start on Day 1 for the Steelers, but if they want to gamble with a veteran stopgap (and at this point, Mason Cole might be their best option if they bring him back) and a rookie who could start either midseason or beyond 2024, there are some names in the third round and beyond that could be in play. But if the Steelers want a true plug-and-play center, they’ll likely look to target Duke’s Graham Barton, Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson or West Virginia’s Zach Frazier in either the first or second round.
The argument for trading down if you’re the Steelers is that their need positions are ones that the draft has a lot of depth at. Both the wide receiver and cornerback classes are deep this year, and trading down allows the Steelers more picks to build out their roster and make them contenders to win now while also giving them more shots at finding a potential game-changer. Of course, moving down might cost them a player who could potentially be that game changer as a more talented player than someone they might select later in the draft, but it’s easy to see the argument when you look at the depth at the positions Pittsburgh needs.
Last year, general manager Omar Khan moved up in the first round of the draft so the Steelers could select OT Broderick Jones. We’ll see if he looks to move down the board in the first round this year, something the Steelers haven’t done since 2001.
