Though there are still six games to go in the regular season, holes on the roster for the Pittsburgh Steelers to address this offseason are becoming increasingly clear.
Wide receiver, cornerback, defensive line, and likely even offensive line are all areas of need for the Steelers, assuming that one of Russell Wilson and/or Justin Fields is re-signed at the quarterback position.
The Steelers are a good football team, period. Their record says that, and so do the numbers. But there are some holes that they need to try and fill for the 2025 season and beyond.
Knowing that, Pro Football Focus’s Trevor Sikkema attempted to address those holes in his latest three-round mock draft, which dropped earlier in the week. In that mock draft, the Steelers landed a cornerback, a wide receiver, and an offensive lineman.
In the first round of Sikkema’s mock draft, he has the Steelers landing Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron at No. 26 overall.
“Joey Porter Jr. has had a tough season, earning a 47.5 coverage grade through 13 weeks—fourth worst in the league among corners with 200-plus coverage snaps. On top of that, he leads the league in penalties at his position with 13. The Steelers lack depth at outside corner, making it imperative to consider reinforcements if Porter continues to struggle into 2025,” Sikkema writes of the Barron selection for the Steelers in his mock draft. “Texas’ Jahdae Barron could be a perfect fit. Barron has excelled at safety, slot corner, and outside corner during his collegiate career and earned a stellar 90.9 coverage grade in 2024 while primarily playing on the outside.”
Barron is an intriguing cornerback in the draft class. He’s listed at 5’11”, 200 pounds at Texas, and will almost certainly be a first-team All-SEC defender this season for the Longhorns.
He’s played all over for Texas and has recorded 42 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, four interceptions, 12 pass breakups, and one fumble recovery.
Barron is starting to get a lot of buzz, especially from ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., who has raved about Barron all season long and recently highlighted him as “his guy” for an ESPN.com article, comparing him to the Eagles’ Cooper DeJean regarding his position versatility.
“Barron does everything and reminds me of how we talked about Cooper DeJean in the leadup to the 2024 draft. Barron can play outside corner, slot corner, safety over the top, and even linebacker at 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds,” Kiper writes of Barron. “Barron is instinctive with plus-level ball skills, tackles well, can match in coverage, and knows how to time his blitz when called upon. Simply put, I’d want this player on my team.
“He’s inching closer to my top 25, and right now, he’s at least a top-40 guy.”
With Donte Jackson a pending free agent and Joey Porter Jr. struggling this season, the Steelers could be eyeing some upgrades at the cornerback position, and Barron would fit there. That’s not his only clear fit, though. He could handle the Cameron Sutton role in the secondary as a guy who can move all over and wear multiple hats, allowing the Steelers to deploy Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliott in different ways in 2025.
Following the selection of Barron in his mock draft, Sikkema paired the Steelers with Miami (Fl.) wide receiver Xavier Restrepo in the second round at No. 58 overall, plugging a hole or Pittsburgh on the offensive side of the football.
Restrepo is listed at 5’10”, 198 pounds for the Hurricanes, and has been a dominant weapon for the U in an explosive offense under potential top-5 pick quarterback Cam Ward.
During the season, Restrepo has hauled in 69 receptions for 1,127 yards and 11 touchdowns, being that dependable, sure-handed receiver for the Canes.
In the scouting report of Restrepo by The 33rd Team’s Kyle Crabbs, Restrepo is described as a football player to his core who is “tough, feisty, plays bigger than he is, and has great instincts.” That fits what the Steelers could — and should — be looking for at the receiver position under coordinator Arthur Smith and position coach Zach Azzanni.
He’s not the flashiest name, but Restrepo would fit well into a receiver room with George Pickens, Calvin Austin III, and Roman Wilson moving forward. However, the Steelers could argue that they need a bigger receiver than Restrepo opposite Pickens.
Finally, in the third round at No. 90 overall, Sikkema has the Steelers selecting Missouri offensive tackle Armand Membou, who recently declared for the NFL Draft.
Membou is listed at 6’3″, 314 pounds at Missouri, and started 30 career games for the Tigers. This season, he allowed just one sack in 388 pass-blocking snaps. He found himself on the watchlist for the Outland Trophy this season and was a key part of the Missouri offensive line that was a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award for the nation’s best offensive line.
With Dan Moore Jr. having a strong season and set to hit free agency next offseason, and Troy Fautanu a relative unknown after missing most of his rookie season with a knee injury, offensive tackle could be an area of need for the Black and Gold, though spending a third-round pick on a potential depth tackle in Membou — assuming Fautanu and Broderick Jones are the starting tackles next season — seems like a waste of a premium draft resource like a top 100 pick.
However, the trenches are the most important, and the Steelers have emphasized building through there.
Outside of Sikkema’s mock draft, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler recently dropped his first mock draft of the year and had the Steelers going in a similar direction as Sikkema in the first round.
In Brugler’s mock, the Steelers are selecting Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston at No. 25 overall.
“The Steelers’ cornerback unit has been a roller coaster all season. Donte Jackson, who leads the team with five interceptions, is an impending free agent; Joey Porter Jr. has looked great at times but lost on other plays (he leads all NFL defenders with 14 penalties),” Brugler writes of the Steelers’ selection of Hairston in his mock draft. “Hairston missed a chunk of the 2024 season with a shoulder injury, but he is a long, twitchy cover man and doesn’t lack for confidence.”
Hairston was a popular name at the cornerback position coming into the 2024 season, but missing a big chunk of the season might hurt his draft stock.
He played in seven games this season and recorded 19 tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception, one touchdown, one sack, two forced fumbles, and five passes defensed. He’s listed at 6’1″, 186 pounds, and was a second-team All-SEC selection for the Wildcats last season. He entered the season on a number of national watchlists.
Cornerback could be a massive area of need for the Steelers in the NFL Draft, depending on what happens with Donte Jackson and how Joey Porter Jr. finishes down the stretch for the Black and Gold.
