If there’s a year where the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Blue’s Clues” could break, 2024 is it. For every first-round pick since at least 2010, the team’s first-round pick has had Mike Tomlin and/or the general manager, Kevin Colbert or Omar Khan, attend their Pro Day. That streak could end with Tomlin and Khan making only four stops this cycle. We loved that historical nugget and the list it created for us. But we know when it might end and are honest enough to acknowledge it.
If it does, it seems certain the Steelers will have another indicator for their 20th pick: a pre-draft visit. For a team that loves “hearts and smarts” and the intangibles, it’s hard to believe their first-round pick won’t have Tomlin/Khan at his Pro Day or a pre-draft visit to the Steelers’ facility.
If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but I can’t see that happening. I can’t believe they’ll choose a first-rounder whom they’ve had limited meeting time with, an 18-minute Combine formal, or sit down at the Senior Bowl. For a first-rounder who defines your class, you want two of the three key decision-makers to be comfortable with the player and the person they’re getting, the key reason for Pro Day meetings and pre-draft visits. Last year, the Steelers did both, attending Broderick Jones’ Pro Day and bringing him in for a visit.
Which makes Oregon C Jackson Powers-Johnson’s visit to Pittsburgh critical. Offensive line coach Pat Meyer attended his Ducks’ workout but Tomlin nor Khan were there. The positional coach getting eyes on a prospect is important, but it’s not enough to make him the pick. But Powers-Johnson coming to the facility, meeting the head coach and general manager, getting in that building, it goes beyond whatever meetings they had at the Senior Bowl (and they had at least two, likely why there wasn’t a formal at the Combine).
It’s a pretty obvious statement, but the team’s first-round pick is highly likely to come from one of those buckets. Tomlin and Khan at their Pro Day or a prospect brought in for one of the team’s allotted 30 visits. I know that casts a wide net, but it’s a box Jackson Powers-Johnson hadn’t checked until yesterday. Now, he has and is in the running to be the pick at No. 20.
