The Pittsburgh Steelers need to find a center in the 2024 NFL Draft, and the team has been doing its homework, hosting pre-draft visits with the three centers widely regarded as the top three in the class in Duke’s Graham Barton, Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson and West Virginia’s Zach Frazier. Of those three, Barton is expected to be the first one off the board due to his versatility, as he can play guard, tackle, or center. Even though Barton hasn’t played center since taking 430 snaps at the position as a freshman at Duke, NFL analyst Brian Baldinger told Andrew Filliponi and Chris Mueller on 93.7 The Fan that he thinks Barton is the best center in the class, and he broke down what makes Barton so talented.
“I don’t believe he’s gonna be an elite left tackle. I think he could be a Pro Bowl guard. But I think he could be a really good center,” Baldinger said. “I like him because I think he can run better than anybody else. I think he pulls and leads better, and I think he gets to the second level better than all those other centers do. I feel that’s the position where he’s gonna be best suited in the NFL.”
For Barton, one issue with him playing outside is his arm length, and despite playing offensive tackle at Duke, it’s going to be tough for him to play tackle in the NFL with 32 7/8-inch arms. But his 6053, 313-pound frame could fit well in the interior of an offense, and he’s someone center- and guard-needy teams alike could target in the first round.
Barton’s athleticism is something that helps him be as versatile as he is, and it’s also what Baldinger believes sets him apart from other centers in the class. Being able to pull and lead is especially important with the Steelers wanting to maintain a ground-and-pound playstyle, something Daniel Jeremiah noted when breaking down the team’s draft options today.
Barton ran a sub-5.0 40-yard dash at his Pro Day, per ESPN’s Jordan Reid.
If the Steelers do take Barton, it will be to play center, as Gerry Dulac noted that’s the position the team views him playing. That aligns with Baldinger saying that center is also his best position, but after whiffing on Kendrick Green in the 2021 NFL Draft, the Steelers could have some concerns about drafting a player who didn’t primarily play center throughout his college career. But Barton’s athleticism and talent are tough to ignore, and Jim Hester compared him favorably to former first-round picks Justin Pugh and Zach Martin in his Steelers Depot scouting report. There’s a real chance that he could be the pick for the Steelers at No. 20 overall.
