With just over one week until the 2024 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers have an important class of rookies about to filter in. Given their list of needs, the first-year group will be counted on to contribute right away, giving the team little margin for error when it comes to where and who it will pick. During a Wednesday conference call, lead NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah offered his thoughts on the Steelers’ path.
“I think they have specific things they need to get accomplished here,” Jeremiah said via the call with our Joe Clark attending. “Starting with the center position. Adding something to the wide receiver room. I think they can be a little more targeted to answer your question there. Thinking about best player available or do we target specific needs? I think it’s helpful when you don’t just have one specific need in a sense. They have a couple different areas they need to address and they [can] kind of be flexible based off who’s there of what order they go in addressing those positions.”
Pittsburgh’s needs are numerous. They don’t have a starting center or wide receiver opposite George Pickens. The team wants to push Broderick Jones back to left tackle but that’ll require finding a right tackle to fill that spot. Cornerback is a concern on the outside and certainly in the slot while the d-line is aging without great depth, as shown by the impact of losing Cam Heyward for half of 2023.
As Jeremiah noted, center and receiver are atop the team’s list. Pittsburgh’s done its homework on both positions, bringing in the top three centers – Duke’s Graham Barton, Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson, and West Virginia’s Zach Frazier – for pre-draft visits. The Steelers also hosted six receivers, largely Day 2 options, and it’s likely they’ll spend a second- or third-round pick on the position. Yesterday, Jeremiah offered up Barton and Florida WR Ricky Pearsall as the top two “ideal” picks for Pittsburgh in Rounds 1 and 2.
Jeremiah noted that the Steelers have an identity they want to stick with. There are also high expectations for this team to not just win in the regular season but the postseason, the latter something they haven’t done since 2016.
“They’re ready to win right now. I think they’ve tried to form their identity, get back to who they are,” he said. “They wanna run the football, they wanna be better up front. I thought the offensive line took some steps forward with the additions they had last year. I think they continue to add to it this year.”
Pittsburgh used a first-round pick on Jones last year, trading up three spots to nab him. If they address offensive line again this year, it’ll mark the first time in team history they’ve used back-to-back first round selections on the position. Selecting an offensive lineman at No. 20, or even another trade up, is the most likely scenario. But sitting in the middle of the round makes it tough to know what players will be on the board.
Jeremiah also said quarterback will drive the team’s success. Pittsburgh flipped the room on its head with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields now dotting the top of the depth chart.
“They’re ready to go right now,” he said of the team. “They need to plug some of those spots.”
