Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan have made it a tradition to give the Steelers a heavy presence at Michigan Pro Day every year. They ended up missing it this year on March 21 due to Aaron Rodgers visiting Pittsburgh. They did still have DC Teryl Austin and director of pro scouting Sheldon White on site.
It was previously unknown if Khan and Tomlin were in town the day before to meet with Michigan’s draft prospects, but Pittsburgh-Post Gazette’s Gerry Dulac is now reporting that they were.
“Just so you know, they still met with the Michigan players they wanted to meet the night before their pro day, then went back to Pittsburgh to meet with Rodgers,” Dulac wrote Wednesday in his weekly fan chat via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
He didn’t explicitly state that Tomlin and Khan were present, but it’s a reasonable assumption given their history the last few years of attending.
This is especially notable because they haven’t had any Michigan players in for pre-draft visits with only five more remaining. The Steelers have a big need along their defensive line, and Michigan has two of the very best prospects at the position in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. Graham should be long gone by the time the Steelers are on the clock, but Grant has at least an outside chance of making it to them.
Dulac didn’t report which players the Steelers wanted to speak to, but I would assume Grant was high on that list. Some of the other players who could be potentially interesting are CB Will Johnson, TE Colston Loveland, EDGE Josaiah Stewart, and RBs Donovan Edwards and Kalel Mullings.
Especially if they don’t bring in any of the Michigan players for a pre-draft visit, this is an important point of information to keep in our back pockets when it comes to the Steelers’ draft plans. They don’t hide their interest in players, so presumably meeting with Grant is an important step in the process toward potentially drafting him.
The Steelers finally broke the drought of first-round defensive linemen for pre-draft visits today with Oregon’s Derrick Harmon in town. Could Kenneth Grant be next?
