Former Pittsburgh Steelers S Ryan Clark’s disappointment was evident last night via a video posted by the Pivot Podcast after the Steelers selected Oregon DL Derrick Harmon with the No. 21 overall pick over a quarterback. Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up this morning, Clark expanded on his thoughts.
“I’m gonna give them a ‘B’ [grade] because they did the right thing. If they didn’t have a quarterback ranked that high. They picked a very good player at a position where they needed to get depth, where they needed to be younger. So they did the right thing, I guess,” Clark said. “I’m just so sad. I’m so, so sad. It’s fine, he’s a very good player, he’ll learn from Cam Heyward, he’s on the line with T.J. Watt, that’s gonna be a great room and a great position on the team.”
Despite acknowledging that Harmon is a good fit for the Steelers, Clark was left wanting for more. Much more.
“It’s mind-boggling that you get to that position and you can look at your quarterback room and feel comfortable going into the season with Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson,” he said. “Because no matter what you think Aaron Rodgers is going to do, no one in that office, no one in that building has a relationship with him where they can read his mind.”
There’s no question that Pittsburgh’s quarterback room right now is one of the worst in the league. Either the team really is comfortable with Mason Rudolph as its starter or it has a good sense that Aaron Rodgers is coming to Pittsburgh. The Steelers reportedly asked Rodgers for a decision before the draft, and while we don’t know whether he gave one privately or not, passing on a quarterback in the first round is a sign that they are fine with where they are.
As Clark said, the Steelers badly needed to add depth and youth along their defensive line, and it’s rare that a high-end player with the traits that Harmon possesses is available for them. It’s a near-perfect fit between player and team, but if the Steelers did have a quarterback ranked highly enough, they probably would’ve taken one.
The team chose not to reach to for a quarterback, a decision that will be questioned and may not look like the right one in a few years. But the Steelers added an important player for their defensive line in the short and long term, and while it may be disappointing for Ryan Clark to not see them address quarterback, this is a team that clearly wants to win now and took a player that gives it the chance to do so.
His grade recognizes that, and while Clark may not be happy with it, he at least admitted the Steelers did the right thing.
