Last thoughts on the Steelers 2018 draft

It’s been a few weeks since the NFL draft and I’ve finally decided to chime in on how the Steelers did. It took me some time to do so for a couple of reasons:

  • First, I was distracted by what I thought maybe another Penguins Stanley Cup run.
  • Second, I thought I may change my mind about how I feel the Steelers did after giving it some time to settle in.

Well, the Penguins run is over and my mind on how the Steelers drafted hasn’t changed.

They straight up botched it. They botched it badly.

We all saw how this team faltered on defense down the stretch after the one and only Ryan Shazier suffered his back injury. Specifically, we saw how the defense was torched by the Jaguars for the second time in the 2017-18 season in the playoffs when they gave up 45 points. After that loss, everyone with a pulse knew this team needed to revamp their defense this offseason through both free agency but more importantly via the draft. They kind of, sort of, addressed the inside linebacker position and safety position in free agency, to a degree, but they needed to do so even more in the draft.

First and foremost, they needed to, at some point, any point, draft another inside linebacker, or two. They drafted exactly zero of them. They completely ignored the most glaring need. Flat out ignored it.

Unacceptable.

They did address safety in both rounds one and five, which is fine, though I think they may have over drafted Terrell Edmunds and I suspect they blew the pick with Marcus Allen completely.

They chose to trade a very talented Martavis Bryant for a third-round pick and replace him by drafting James Washington with their second-round pick. Do you see an upgrade here? I sure don’t.

For a team trying to win now, I’m pretty confused thus far.

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They received a third-round pick for Bryant and drafted Mason Rudolph, who is now deemed the quarterback of the future. So, essentially, Josh Dobbs no longer has a place here.

This pick makes no sense to me. I like Dobbs and I think he had a real shot at being a starter for this team in a few years: now it looks like he’s gone because of this odd pick of Rudolph.

You have three quarterbacks: one drafted in the fourth round last year and you draft another with a third round pick this year?

Ben Roethlisberger is right. It’s absurd.

Roethlisberger said he’s playing for three more years (now three-to-five). Therefore his successor didn’t need to be drafted right now… not to mention, Dobbs could have been that guy!

So what the Steelers essentially did was trade Bryant and Dobbs for a kid who may or may not see the field in three to five years. How does that make any sense at all?

For a team whose Super Bowl window is open now, it doesn’t make any sense. They needed to use that pick on defense. An area of need they had to fill to win now!

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I’m actually okay with drafting Chukwuma Okorafor at offensive tackle to provide depth but the drafting of Jaylen Samuels, a running back/fullback/tight end, makes no sense to me. (Wasted pick!) He’s not taking Le’Veon Bell’s place when he walks after this season and quite frankly, assuming James Conner comes back healthy, he won’t take his place either!

Lastly, they drafted defensive tackle Joshua Frazier: hello practice squad.

This draft was an utter bust. They did very little to help this team win now, during the window of Super Bowl opportunity. You may not like the way Roethlisberger came out and said what he said, but do you disagree with what he said? They messed it up and they may pay for it next January, as they have for the past several years.


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