By Jonathan Clark
SteelerNation.com
Thursday April 23rd, day one of the 2020 NFL Draft will take place in an unusual fashion. This year, each teams' "draft room" will consist of each front office staff member participating through video, and each 1st round selection will be shown walking up to the podium after being drafted in some sort of virtual capacity. As we have heard Pittsburgh Steelers General Manager, Kevin Colbert say on multiple occasions, our first round pick's name this year goes by the name of Minkah Fitzpatrick. Head coach Mike Tomlin said it best on Monday by stating that he is just fine "observing" night one this year.
While the Steelers do not actually have a first round pick in this year's draft (traded to Miami for Fitzpatrick), they do have the 49th, 102nd, 124th, 135th, 198th and the 232nd overall picks. Broken down as one pick in both the 2nd and 3rd rounds, two picks in the 4th, and one pick in both the 6th in 7th rounds. There are many question marks as to what positions Pittsburgh is looking to address, and unlike last season, I don't think this is a football team with many position battles being wide open. With a top ranked defense last season, offense seems to be the clear cut answer here, but the question is, which player and at what position?
First is a position that quite honestly have A LOT of depth to it in this year's draft class. Running back was a struggling position for us last year. All three of our backs were down with pretty lengthy injuries last season to the point where we were down to the 4th or 5th guy deep in that position. Adding another talented young RB to that mix is something I can't see the Steelers passing up. We don't know who is going to get drafted at this point obviously, but with running back being a position with decreasing 1st round pick numbers, 1st round talent guys are falling into the second round each year. This could give us an opportunity to go after guys like Jonathan Taylor from Wisconsin, J.K. Dobbins from Ohio State, or D'Andre Swift from Georgia. There are many other RB prospects the Steelers have been attached to, but these guys could fill in the gaps and do it just fine. Taylor and Dobbins are both power backs who just scream Steeler football. Rough and tough, hard nose, run it down your throat, football. These are the types of guys who you can count on always fighting for extra yards, and backs who you can count on running the ball 20-25 times a game. Both prospects proving so in 2019 where each ran the ball for over 2,000 yards, and doing so while competing in arguably one of the top conferences in college football, the Big Ten. Swift on the other hand is sort of this generation's type of running back. He's quick, hes elusive, he's small, and he has speed. This has been what the NFL and its coaches have fallen in love with for the past few years. With running backs pretty much now being used as receivers as well, this type of back makes perfect sense. Swift would be a great paring with James Conner and Benny Snell Jr. Both those guys could be considered the "power back" on the field for the power run formations in situations where few yards are needed where these guys thrive. Swift would fit right in as the "elusive" back, who is able/trusted to burst past any linebacker after the first line of contact and not lose a step once they hit the second tier of defenders. I think RB is the best possible scenario for this team's success next season.
Wide receiver is a spot where the Steelers just can not ever seem to pass up. I know what you're thinking, we have James Washington who just came off his best season yet, Diontae Johnson who just came off a break out rookie year, and JuJu Smith-Schuster who is bound for a breakout season in year three. But it seems like if they really love a guy at this position, no matter the need, they will make him a Steeler. With that being said, I think receiver is a spot where Pittsburgh could go with at the 49th pick. This draft class is clearly deep at WR this year. There are at least three to four players just in the first round being compared to top tier NFL talent. While we do have an extremely young, inexperienced receiving core anyway, why not add a best player available type guy to include to the mix. At 49, we could more realistically see ourselves looking at prospects like Micheal Pittman Jr. out of USC, Chase Claypool out of Notre Dame, and Lynn Bowden out of Kentucky, while still holding out hope there might be a guy like Tee Higgins of Clemson or Jalen Reagor of TCU available for us to take. Higgins, Claypool and Pittman are more of the prototypical WR's coming in at 6 foot 5 inches (Claypool), 6 foot 3 inches (Higgins) and 6 foot 5 (Pittman Jr.). All three guys last year put up over 1,000 yards and each scored over 10 touchdowns respectively. These guys are ball-hawks. They can be considered red zone targets just simply because of their heights. These are guys who you can trust on those 50/50 balls, on those quick fades in the back corner of the end zone, and they are your typical "catch the ball at its highest point" type of receivers. With Reagor and Lowden, these guys are smaller, more agile and elusive, and are trusted more with what they do with the ball when they catch it in space. These are receivers that can be used at other positions in the offense. I think the term for it now is "offense weapon"; which honestly is the perfect way to categorize these players. Elusive prospects with blazing speed, guys who can catch the quick screen/slant for five yards and then do the rest of the dirty work on their own. Their quickness allows them to be sharp on their routes and allows them to change directions quickly, always keeping defenders on their heels. These are guys with good hands, but even better speed.
Both of these situations are too good to pass up on if you are the Steelers to me. You have an opportunity to make your offense just that much better by adding any of these mentioned guys to the roster. You have a Hall of Fame QB in Ben Roethlisberger who is in win now mode now more than ever. This team is poised for a playoff run next year, it seems to have all the main pieces lined up in order to win a championship this coming season, and maybe this draft will be the perfect one in adding just the right pieces to an already successful organization.
What do you think the Steelers best options at pick #49 are? Comment below!
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