With the information currently available, including pre-draft visits, reported interest at pro days, and formal meetings at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, Georgia OT Amarius Mims seems like one of the leading candidates to be the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. He checks a lot of boxes being just 21 years old, measuring at the Combine to be 6076, 340 pounds, with 36 1/8-inch arms, and he comes from a Power Five conference, but he is lacking experience that you typically see with first-round picks. His eight college starts make Broderick Jones from last year’s draft look very experienced, having 19 during his time at Georgia.
Part of that stems from playing at Georgia, the school that has been producing the most and the highest-level NFL talent over the last few seasons, but he also had some ankle injuries that robbed him of a handful of games in 2023.
Understandably, many are concerned over the lack of experience, and question whether it is a good idea to invest a first-round pick in that type of player. According to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo, who appeared on Donny Football’s show on 93.7 The Fan Monday evening, the Steelers might be better equipped to handle that type of raw prospect than in previous years. He was asked if he prefers a more experienced prospect who might have a lower ceiling or a less experienced prospect with all the potential in the world.
“It’s always an interesting debate,” Fittipaldo said. “I think if you have confidence in your offensive line coach, if you have confidence in that veteran offensive line room—and I think the Steelers have that now with Pat Meyer and with guys like [Isaac] Seumalo in that room—I don’t think there’s any issue taking a chance on a guy like Mims.”
He brings up an interesting point. Guys like Kendrick Green, Dan Moore Jr., Chukwuma Okorafor, and Kevin Dotson never knew any semblance of stability or continuity. Okorafor was the most veteran, and from 2018 to 2023 he played under five different offensive line coaches—Mike Munchak, Shaun Sarrett, Adrian Klemm, Chris Morgan, and Pat Meyer. One of those seasons even saw the OL coach leave the team in the middle of the season in Klemm and Morgan being promoted in the interim.
Also during that span, many of the veteran players retired or moved on from the Steelers. Guys like Alejandro Villanueva, Ramon Foster, David DeCastro, and Maurkice Pouncey saw their time in Pittsburgh end, and that left the young players without a solid veteran presence in their room. And all while the team continued rotating through coaches.
Now OL coaches Pat Meyer and Isaac Williams are entering their third seasons in their respective positions, and the team has a pair of veterans in James Daniels and Seumalo to help stabilize the group. They also have Broderick Jones, who was teammates with Mims at Georgia, starting to step into a leadership role as he grows into his full potential in the NFL.
Yeah, the Steelers didn’t do a great job at developing many of their recent offensive line draft picks, but there is some context there that must be considered, and many of those things are not issues that face the current roster.
While Mims may be a bit of a gamble, the handful of games he put on tape looked very solid, and there just aren’t that many humans on planet earth who have the type of size and athleticism that he possesses at the position.
