The past several weeks have seen a loose consensus form around Georgia T Amarius Mims as the most likely target for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Even though they have a bigger hole at center, the 20th-overall selection better fits their need at tackle. They have Mims’ Georgia teammate, 2023 first-round pick Broderick Jones, already in tow, but they can upgrade Dan Moore Jr.
Mims is very inexperienced, however, with just eight starts in his college career, but that doesn’t put off Steve Palazzolo of Pro Football Focus. He said of the young prospect, “I’d be perfectly happy taking Amarius Mims in that 15-25 range”.
Palazzolo discussed the Steelers’ draft needs on 93.7 The Fan yesterday with Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller. During the discussion, he also called Mims “athletic enough to play on the left” side of the offensive line. That raised the subject of Jones, whom the Steelers drafted 14th overall in 2023 after trading up, in comparison.
“I think Jones is higher. I think I’d put Jones a little bit higher” as a prospect than Mims,” he said. “Mostly because the play was a little bit better, sample was a little bit higher.” Jones did not have a great deal of starting experience coming out of college, either, however. He also did not enter the starting lineup until the middle of his rookie season.
While the Steelers don’t necessarily need a Day One starter, the complication with Mims is who plays where and when. If they draft Mims and he’s not the starting right tackle right away, who is? Do you leave Jones there and stunt his growth as a left tackle? Do you move Jones to left tackle right away and hope Moore can play on the right side for a bit?
But this is a short-term concern when you need to have a long-term vision with your first-round pick. Do you think Broderick Jones at left tackle and Amarius Mims at right tackle give you an excellent offensive line for the next decade? Then, don’t think twice about pulling the trigger based on immediate return on investment concerns.
“I think Mims is perfectly fine. I might like some of the other guys a little bit better as far as the right tackles go”, Palazzolo said, but, as mentioned above, insisted that he is worthy of the Steelers’ first-round draft pick.
However, one wonders how other teams view him and how high they are willing to draft Mims. You have Joe Alt, in my opinion, who is the only definite lock as universally agreed to be the superior prospect. I can easily see some teams rating Mims higher than others, like J.C. Latham or Taliese Fuaga, based on upside. How do they compare against Broderick Jones as a prospect from last year, though?
That is what makes this tackle class so interesting. More than in most years, I think you can make the case for a lot of different ranking hierarchies. And that’s probably reflected in the 32 draft boards the NFL scouting departments are putting together. That makes it more likely that a team might pull off a trade to move up and get their guy.
