The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t often surprise us too much when it comes to the first round of the NFL Draft. They don’t hide their interest in players, and there is usually a pretty obvious breadcrumb trail of information linking them back to certain prospects. Whether it’s all-star games, NFL Combine meetings, Pro Day meetings, or pre-draft visits, their first-round pick almost always checks at least one or two of those boxes.
Pro Football Focus went a little outside of the box with a potential “surprise pick” for the Steelers this morning. It’s a familiar name from the early days of the pre-draft process, but he hasn’t been mentioned in Pittsburgh circles in a while. They have the Steelers selecting Missouri WR Luther Burden III at No. 21 overall.
“The Steelers don’t lack deep threats with DK Metcalf and George Pickens on the roster, but their passing game could use more variety,” Dalton Wasserman wrote via PFF. “Pittsburgh’s receivers ranked just 24th in yards after catch per reception last season, and adding a player like Luther Burden III would provide a much-needed spark.
“Burden ranked among the top four FBS wideouts in both yards after catch and missed tackles forced over the past two seasons.”
Here is a chart of air yards per target versus yards after the catch per reception per TruMedia. As Wasserman mentioned, the Steelers have two very similar receivers who are good deep threats with limited yards after the catch. Pickens and Metcalf are shown together in the top left quadrant below.
Burden had 7.3 yards after the catch per reception over the last three years in college and his average depth of target was 9.1. I highlighted the closest NFL receiver to where he would have fallen given his college stats, which is Jayden Reed in the bottom right quadrant.
He would definitely introduce some variety to the Steelers’ passing game, but it remains to be seen if Roman Wilson can provide that type of impact. Wilson was a Steelers third-round pick last year and shouldn’t be counted out as a significant part of their 2025 WR room.
Burden has received virtually zero interest from the Steelers throughout the pre-draft process. It would be a heck of a surprise if he was selected, and I don’t think he will be. But it’s still an interesting idea from Wasserman to think outside of the box aside from the traditional four or five names in every Steelers mock draft.
