Will a run on tackles prevent the Pittsburgh Steelers from grabbing one in the first round?
I will admit this is an imprecise question because it implies the assumption that the Steelers intend to draft a tackle in the first round. They may very well intend to do just that, but we don’t know for sure, and they have their board. The Steelers list 20 players, in order, that they would draft at 20 to minimize variables. I doubt the top five or six names are all tackles.
But it’s a topic we need to consider now that the first round is here: who will be available at 20 at tackle for the Steelers to draft? While this is an unusually deep first round at the position, that may simply translate into a run on tackles. Daniel Jeremiah’s final mock draft projects six tackles off the board before 20, the Steelers taking the seventh. And they end up with Tyler Guyton, which, at that point, you’re strongly considering other positions.
Obviously, the Steelers taking a tackle at 20 presupposes that there is a tackle worth taking at 20. I don’t see Pittsburgh reaching here when they could potentially get a really good center, receiver, or cornerback. As much as fans want him to go, they seem fine with Dan Moore Jr., for at least one more season.
But we can safely surmise a number of teams want to draft tackles early, and some will trade up accordingly. I’m not sure if the Steelers are serious enough about drafting a tackle to trade up for one again.
Let’s say Joe Alt, Troy Fautanu, Taliese Fuaga, and all the other top tackles down to Amarius Mims are off the board. Guyton is their best option at the position, but Graham Barton, Brian Thoms Jr., and multiple cornerbacks are available. Scratch that—let’s say Barton is gone as well. What do the Steelers do at this point? I could see them trading back in this scenario, for sure.
With all the pre-draft hype now very nearly in the rearview mirror, the draft will reveal the truth. Will we see a typical round in which certain positions receive priority, like tackle? While the tackle class is unusually deep at the top, that might just mean more teams draft one in the top 15.
The Steelers’ 2023 season has been put out of its misery, ending as so many have before in recent years: a disappointing, blowout playoff loss. The only change-up lately is when they miss the playoffs altogether. But with the Buffalo Bills stamping them out in the Wildcard Round, they have another long offseason ahead.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Does Russell Wilson make them a Super Bowl-caliber team, or are they wasting a year? Will he play just one season in Pittsburgh before moving on, or the Steelers moving on from him? How will the team address the depth chart?
The Steelers are swirling with more questions this offseason than usual, frankly, though the major free agent list is less substantial than usual. It’s just a matter of…what happens next? Where do they go from here? How do they find the way forward?
