Once you get close enough to the NFL draft, many of these CBS Sports analysts have published countless mock drafts over the last two months. Chris Trapasso and Josh Edwards took a different approach on Monday evening with a live alternating mock where they switched off making the selections and providing analysis on the picks. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Pittsburgh Steelers came out of this exercise with a familiar name, selecting Oregon C Jackson Powers-Johnson with the 20th overall selection.
Center is the most obvious need on the roster with no clear starting option if the team does not come out of the draft with one. However, there are valid questions as to whether the value is there to select a center in Round 1. Over the last ten drafts, an average of two centers have been taken off the board over the first two rounds. There are three center prospects whom many view as being plug and play, though Graham Barton is among that group and would be converting back to center, which he has not played since 2020 with just 430 total college snaps there.
Here is what Trapasso wrote about Powers-Johnson:
“I would not personally go in this direction, but there has been a lot of smoke regarding Jackson Powers-Johnson and Pittsburgh. In most instances, I would ignore that smoke, but the Steelers are a team where the pre-draft buzz historically matches reality. He has guard/center flexibility.”
He isn’t wrong about the Steelers’ first-round selections often being predictable, and Powers-Johnson has had plenty of demonstrated interest from the team. Starting at the Senior Bowl, where he began talking to the team, the Steelers followed up by sending OL coach Pat Meyer to his pro day and bringing him in for a pre-draft visit. To many, he is the top-rated pure center prospect on many analysts’ boards, so it is hard to dislike the fit in Pittsburgh. It also makes sense when you look at how the board broke leading up to the 20th pick.
Five tackles were already off the board, including the most pro-ready right tackle prospects in Taliese Fuaga and JC Latham. Troy Fautanu, whom the team has also shown plenty of interest in, was also taken just a few picks earlier. In this scenario, the decision would likely be between Georgia OT Amarius Mims, Duke OL Graham Barton, and Powers-Johnson.
While Mims presents immense upside as a prospect, he only had eight college starts and might not be ready to start at RT to open the season. However, this would put you in a bind trying to find a right tackle in the second round, with Mims and Tyler Guyton going later in the exercise. If he lasts to 51, you would be looking at BYU OT Kingsley Suamataia as the next-best option in the second round.
The Steelers have also shown interest in Notre Dame OT Blake Fisher, who is projected to go somewhere in the third round. He is one of the three offensive tackles who checks all the boxes in Alex Kozora’s study.
For an in-depth scouting report on Powers-Johnson, check out Jonathan Heitritter’s post below.
