The Pittsburgh Steelers are just a few short weeks away from training camp, and a lot of people are eager to see how their highly touted 2023 draft class will perform. For a lot of Steeler Nation, seeing the rookies perform in Latrobe is the first in-person glimpse of their future.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Darnell Washington (#80) catches a pass at the team's OTA's in Pittsburgh, PA.
A lot of Steeler Nation can quickly become attached to some of the rookie class and have high expectations. Part of that is because some of us have had our eyes on them for some time. It is clear the Steelers don't pull any punches, and almost always show their hand throughout the draft season. This makes it easy for fans and media members to see who the most likely players to end up in the Black and Gold will be.
One person who caught onto this is a former candidate to become the team's next general manager before the Steelers elected to hire Omar Khan. That would be none other than former NFL running back and ESPN announcer Louis Riddick.
The Pittsburgh Steelers Make It Clear Who They Want Through The Draft Process
While a phone guest on The Rich Eisen Show, Riddick went into detail on a few different topics as it pertained to the Steelers, including the team's likelihood to win the AFC North and return to the playoffs.
In addition to the playoff talk, Riddick went on to talk about how he remembers watching Steelers' Head Coach Mike Tomlin at the Senior Bowl. While he wasn't formally a coach there, Riddick details about him giving one player in particular a little extra attention.
"Pittsburgh is there. I mean defensively, they're going to play good ball, they just are. Keeanu Benton, who they drafted out of Wisconsin, I remember seeing Mike standing down at the Senior Bowl watching this dude. Sitting there, coaching him individually and Mike wasn't even a coach in the Senior Bowl! But he was coaching the guy up, I was like Pittsburgh is going to draft this dude. There's no question about that."
Like many of us, Riddick was able to see early on that the team was interested in defensive lineman Keeanu Benton from the University of Wisconsin. That interest turned into Benton becoming the team's selection at 49th overall in this past April's draft.
This obvious interest and lack of a poker face from Tomlin also resulted in our very own Spencer Schultz predicting Benton to the Steelers in his final mock draft.
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Steelers second round pick Keeanu Benton celebrates while playing at the University of Wisconsin.
The trend of the Steelers showing their cards throughout the draft season is something we should all be used to by now. Whether it was in the 2023 NFL Draft, 2022, 2021, etc. all of Steeler Nation should've known who the team was taking.
In 2021, whether or not we were all a fan of it or not, it was clear the team had an eye on selecting a running back. In particularly, former Alabama running back Najee Harris. Come April 2021, he was wearing the Black and Gold.
In 2022, the Steelers went around to every college who had a quarterback in the draft and visited with them. Took some out to dinner, had long meetings with all of them, and paid very close attention to every move they made. Voila, Kenny Pickett becomes the Steelers' quarterback of the future.
USA Today
Kenny Pickett is the future of the Pittsburgh Steelers at the quarterback position.
Just this past draft, the team had a clear objective to grab one of the top offensive tackles in the draft. Boom. The Steelers ended up trading up to the 14th overall selection in order to select Broderick Jones. Oh, and a bonus selection, Joey Porter Jr. was their pick with their 32nd overall selection that they received from the Chicago Bears in exchange for Chase Claypool. Porter Jr. should have been on all of Steeler Nation's bingo cards for the 2023 NFL Draft, just most assumed it would have needed to be in the first round.
One has to wonder, with how clear the Steelers make it that most people can easily see who they're targeting in the draft, is that a disadvantage for them, or is it an advantage because they don't waste their time with smokescreens? Regardless, if they keep pulling off what should be elite draft classes like they did in 2023, they can hand the rest of the NFL their entire board rankings and we would all be happy.
Let us know below what you think about Riddick speaking on how he knew Benton would be in the Black and Gold one day!
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