One of the biggest parts of the pre-draft process for any NFL team is visiting with players. Each team gets 30 visits with non-local players to sit down and meet with these prospects. It can be a real good chance for a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers to get an even deeper evaluation and more time with coaches.
The Steelers typically draft players they bring in on pre-draft visits in the early rounds of the draft. When general manager Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin met with the media for their pre-draft press conference on Monday, they both spoke about the importance of these visits, per video from the Steelers’ YouTube channel.
“The more access you can get to know these players [the better], and some players you might have medical issues or other questions,” Khan said. “To have the opportunity to bring them in and sit down with the coaches and understand how they would fit for us and how we would fit for them if we do business with the, it’s extremely important.”
Getting that in-depth time with a player can really help a team figure out any lingering questions. While teams can meet with players throughout the process at places like the Senior Bowl and the NFL Scouting Combine, those aren’t ideal for truly spending time with a player. There’s always a time crunch factor. Bringing a player to Pittsburgh and to the Steelers’ facility can allow positional coaches and coordinators to really invest time in getting to know a player and their potential fit.
“In some instances, it’s significant, and in some instances, it’s a box check,” Tomlin said. “We got several ways to gain exposure to players during this process. Those that participate in the Senior Bowl, we had an opportunity to interview those guys down there. Obviously, we get Combine opportunities. Omar and I myself, we travel to a lot of Pro Days. And so the 30 visits is another means of gathering pertinent information. Sometimes, a guy’s a non-Combine invite and we want medical information for example. Sometimes, a guy wasn’t a Senior Bowl participant and we didn’t interview him at the Combine. We also have local visits that are non-counters. I just think largely for us, it’s about exposing ourselves to as many of these guys as we can. And the 30 visit is just a means of catching something if some of the other opportunities have not provided that.”
When Duke OL Graham Barton visited with the Steelers, Alex Kozora wrote about how that checked a big box for Barton potentially being the Steelers’ first-round pick. The Steelers did not get to meet with Barton at the Senior Bowl due to him having to withdraw because of an injury. Barton is a perfect example of what Tomlin said about a player not participating at the Senior Bowl.
In the 2023 NFL Draft, the Steelers traded up to select OT Broderick Jones. The Steelers attended his Pro Day at Georgia before bringing him in for a pre-draft visit. In fact, four of the Steelers’ picks were pre-draft visitors: CB Joey Porter Jr., TE Darnell Washington, and DL Keeanu Benton.
The visitor list can also give people an idea of where the Steelers see their needs. For this draft, the Steelers have brought in more offensive linemen than any other position with wide receivers and cornerbacks right behind. So people can expect that those are positions the Steelers are going to target with their seven draft picks.
It’s pretty obvious that these pre-draft visits play an extremely large role in the process. Whether it’s filling in knowledge gaps or solidifying where a player fits with the team, people can expect that the Steelers have a reason to bring in every single player on these visits. It’s not the end-all, be-all of the process. The Steelers do plenty of homework with these prospects on Pro Days, at the Senior Bowl, and the Combine.
These pre-draft visits are a significant part of the process, though. If all goes well on the visits, people can expect a number of the Steelers’ draft picks to come from the list of visitors.
