Under the leadership of Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin, the Steelers aren’t one to try to hide in their draft preparations. They aren’t ones for smoke and mirrors, either.
In fact, we’ve seen consistently over the last several years that the Steelers rarely take someone in the first round of the NFL Draft if they haven’t first shown up at their Pro Day workout. If one of these men are there, it means that the Steelers really are interested, and if they get the chance, they might just draft whoever it is they are there to see.
So, where have Colbert and Tomlin been over the past week or so? Pitt. Liberty. Ole Miss. Cincinnati. Colbert was at North Carolina on Monday while Tomlin made it clear that we was upset he couldn’t go because he was instead attending the league meetings.
They deemed it themselves as “QB week.”
On one hand, I’m glad they aren’t settling for Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins as their tried and true future, but on the other hand all of this scares the daylights out of me.
To me, the only surefire 1st round picks in this year’s QB class are Kenny Pickett and Malik Willis. If I had make a guess right now, I’d say Pickett is gone by #6 overall to Carolina and Willis goes #9 overall to Seattle or maybe even #11 overall to Washington because who can really trust Carson Wentz at this point?
Which leaves…those other guys Colbert and Tomlin visited. Desmond Ritter. Matt Corral. Sam Howell. If we are to believe their interest is real, I really hope they don’t get suckered into taking one of these guys in this uncertain trio. I don’t think any of them are worth 1st round picks, especially when there are still many other holes along the roster (OL, DL, S, CB) that can be filled.
Sam Howell and Matt Corral give me a lot of Baker Mayfield vibes. Smaller, successful college QB’s that might not be athletic enough or savvy enough to overcome the size disadvantage. Admittedly, Ridder is a wild card. He could make it big. But, I’m not certain of that for one second and if I’m not certain, he’s not worth a 20th overall pick.
And going back to the holes still needing to be filled, if my QB isn’t in the first round, I’m not picking him in the 2nd through 5th rounds either, because now he’s just another arm in the mix that I wasted draft capital on.
I like Kevin Colbert, he’s a Hall of Fame GM in my eyes. I generally trust him. I just hope he doesn’t feel the need to draft a QB just for the sake of drafting one to leave the team in what he might feel is a more secure place at the position.
Cooler heads and a more sensible draft pick may ultimately prevail, but for now, the Steelers are making me nervous.