The pick is in.
The 2024 NFL Draft is Omar Khan’s second one as the Steelers’ general manager and like in past years we evaluate the value of each pick. Based on projections for each player by draft outlets as well as our own reports, we want to see if the pick’s value is above or below how they were ranked coming into the draft.
Round 6 (Pick 178) – Logan Lee DL Iowa
Into Round 6 and the two positions we thought still needed to be addressed were defensive back and defensive line. The team continues the trend of pre-draft visitors with Logan Lee.
Lance Zierlein’s profile of him at NFL.com gave him a 5.69 grade (Candidate For Bottom Of Roster Or Practice Squad). He opined, “Durable three-year starter as an undersized defensive tackle in the aggressive Iowa front. Lee has the size and length of a 5-technique but might not possess enough twitch and power to control blockers from that spot. He has good strength but needs time to ramp it up and doesn’t have as many quick wins as teams will want. Lee’s pass rush is very pedestrian but could improve some with better hand work and training. He’s a hard worker but fails to stand out with power, quickness, or pass-rush talent, which puts a firm cap on his upside.”
Dane Brugler had Lee listed 271st overall in his Top 300. In his draft guide, The Beast, he listed him as the number 26 Edge player seeing him as defensive end. Overall, and he has this to say, “A three-year starter at Iowa, Lee played defensive tackle in defensive coordinator Phil Parker’s even-man front, lining up primarily over the B-gap. He was a model of consistency for the Hawkeyes, starting every game since his sophomore season and posting consistent production each year. Quicker than he is explosive, Lee is an active player with aggressive hands and a nose for the football. What he lacks in creativity, he makes up for with his assignment-sound approach, but he lacks the desired power twitch for interior work and might not have the range or ability at the point of attack for outside or five-technique versatility. Overall, Lee is a good-looking athlete with a worker-bee attitude, although his frame and skill set might find him caught in between positions at the next level, limiting his NFL ceiling. He projects best as a reserve base end or three-technique in a four-man line.”
CBSSports.com had Lee as the 195th player on its board and the 22nd defensive lineman. “Logan Lee is a long interior defender who uses that length to get his hands in passing lanes when his rush does not get home. High pad level makes it difficult to dig out blockers in short-yardage situations, and he lacks the ideal lower body mass to hold up in the run game. Lee has good quickness.”
The report by Greg Cosell for the 33rd Team said he was a “classic Day 3 pick with physical traits”. He summarized Lee by saying, “The more I watched Lee, the more I saw just enough flashes with his combination of strong hands and more-than-functional play strength to believe he could develop into an important piece in the 7-8 DL personnel deployments that have become more prevalent in the NFL. But there is no question he will need to generate more explosiveness off the ball, especially in the run game.
Lee’s traits will project better in odd fronts and likely in more 5-2 alignments, as opposed to 4-3 even fronts.
The bottom line with Lee is that he is a grinder who, on occasion, flashed the needed traits to be effective as both a run defender and inside pass rusher. But I did not see enough of those plays. He lacks the kind of explosiveness you’d like to see, but his athletic testing numbers suggest there might be more there as he develops with coaching and maturity.”
I did our profile on Lee, giving him a 6.2 grade (End of Roster/Practice Squad – 6th Round). I analyzed his play by saying, “Lee has very good starting experience and a very good motor. He plays with solid snap quickness and good pad level. Good hands and play strength allow him to yank blockers out of the way, and he displays flashes to rush the passer. He played a lot of 2-gap defense with the ability to shed blockers. He has quickness to get in gaps, high effort and good chase get him around the ball often.
Areas to improve include staying under his pads on power rushes, being more consistently aggressive to get after the quarterback and developing his pass rush plan. Adding play strength, keeping his eyes up when taking on blocks and shedding more quickly will allow him to make more plays.
The reported meeting with defensive line coach Karl Dunbar led me to take a look at Lee. He has the requisite height to play defensive end in the Steelers scheme but would need to add about 20 pounds of muscle. His arm length isn’t ideal, but if he can turn the aggression up, he could be a solid rotational defender. The sack totals are not that high, but he was held often in the games I watched, so there is some potential to see improvement.”
Overall, Lee is someone the team was interested in and fills a need for depth on the defensive line. Dunbar will know how to get more out of him. Based on the evaluation, he was late Day 3 pick. Grabbing him in the sixth round makes this solid value.
