Despite their pick of the litter, the Pittsburgh Steelers passed on the chance to draft a center in the first round: Duke’s Graham Barton, Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson, and West Virginia’s Zach Frazier. Instead, the team grabbed Washington OT Troy Fautanu with the 20th pick, getting the tackle and player it rated highest on the board.
While it’s hard to argue with that direction, it does leave an open question. When – and who – will the Steelers draft at center? Through the first round, only one is off the board. Barton went 26th overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but Powers-Johnson and Frazier remain on the board entering the second round.
Overall, that’s good news for the Steelers. If they want to be aggressive about trading up for one, they should have the opportunity. And they’re still ahead of center-needy teams like the Dallas Cowboys, who also took a tackle in Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton on Night 1. It’s hard to say how much further Powers-Johnson and Frazier will fall but the more they do, the cheaper the price tag of trading up will be. And the idea of one of them dropping to No. 51 is plausible. Frazier’s toughness and experience in the middle certainly makes him an attractive option.
Heading into the second and third rounds, the Steelers have three selections. They pick at No. 51 in the second round with a pair of third-round selections, No. 84 and No. 98. Pittsburgh picks again at No. 119 in the fourth round before finishing out the draft with a pair of sixth rounders.
Should Pittsburgh not grab Powers-Johnson or Frazier, fallback options include Penn State’s Hunter Nourzad, Georgia’s Sedrick Van-Pran Granger, and potentially South Dakota State’s Mason McCormick, primarily a guard in college but with the option to play center and brought in for a pre-visit. It’s unclear what direction they’ll go and if they truly have confidence in internal options like Nate Herbig and Spencer Anderson. We got one answer Thursday night and could get the rest Friday.
