The Pittsburgh Steelers had a solid overall draft, addressing key needs and getting good value. Overall, NFL draftniks gave the Steelers passing grade. René Bugner on Twitter put together a chart tracking every major news outlet’s NFL Draft grades and turning them into what it would look like for their GPA. It’s a fun exercise, and the Steelers ranked right in the middle at No. 16, but with a solid 3.10 GPA.
Most people in school have that class or teacher they can’t catch a break from, and for the Steelers, their hardest grader was Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. Dunleavy ranked as the third-most difficult grader overall, and he gave the Steelers a D for their draft haul. Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report’s C was Pittsburgh’s second-lowest grade, but outside of two other C+ grades, one by CBS’ Pete Prisco and one by RotoWorld, the Steelers got a B- or better from every other outlet.
Prisco also talked about his favorite pick (Derrick Harmon) for the Steelers, while listing Kaleb Johnson as his least favorite pick.
Despite not having a second-round pick, the Steelers were able to find talent and value. Jack Sawyer was a solid value pick in the fourth round, while Kaleb Johnson went later than expected and the Steelers nabbed him in the third round. Will Howard in the sixth round was a good pick for a quarterback some thought could go on Day 2.
Draft grades as a whole in the immediate aftermath of the draft is a bit of a silly exercise. Everyone is just going to grade off their personal opinion of players and whether a team addressed their idea of the team’s needs. But if you look at Pittsburgh’s draft from the sense of taking advantage of value, their largely positive grades make a lot of sense. It’s not really fair to evaluate a draft until at least three years out, and even then, it’ll be hard to get a full picture.
Any good or bad grade can look like a mistake in a few years, but it’s at least a positive for the Steelers that their draft was pretty well-received by most.
The New England Patriots had the highest average GPA with a 3.67 based off their grades, while the Cincinnati Bengals had the lowest at 2.06. The Bengals received just five grades that were a B- or higher, and they didn’t receive any grade higher than a B. On the flipside, the Patriots had 18 A+, A, or A- grades, with just six lower than an A-.
