Steelers First Round Outlook

sportsmockery.com

The NFL draft is tonight. The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a transition year after going 8-8 last season, following that up with a off-season in which they've lost tons of depth and production.

 Mike Wallace, James Harrison, Keenan Lewis, Ryan Mundy, Rashard Mendenhall, Max Starks, Casey Hampton, Willie Colon, and Will Allen are all gone.


This draft has to result in players making an impact this upcoming season. With Ben Roethlisberger in the prime of his career, the Steelers still have a small window of opportunity to compete for a championship. Depth is a serious concern, and the offense which lost it's biggest playmaker (Wallace) ranked 21st in the league last year.

This draft should focus on offense. I wrote yesterday that the Steelers do not need to worry about an outside linebacker early in the draft because former second round pick Jason Worilds looks ready to take over for Harrison.

Biggest needs:

1. Running back: The Steelers need a primary running back. They need a running back that can play all three downs and produce in a quality manner. Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer are decent backups but they are not good enough to be your primary starting back.

2. Safety: Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark are both over 30 and Polamalu is one of the most injury-prone players in the NFL. The Steelers also lost both of their backup safeties. They honestly should draft two safeties in this draft.

3. Wide Receiver: The Steelers lost Wallace and will probably lose Emmanuel Sanders after this year to free agency. They failed to sign anyone to help ease the loss of Wallace.

4. Tight end: Heath Miller is over 30 years old and just had knee surgery. He will most likely be out for at least the first six weeks of the season.

5. Cornerback: Ike Taylor is getting older, the Steelers lost their most promising corner in Keenan Lewis and decided to replace him with William Gay of all people. Cortez Allen is decent but they are lacking quality depth.

6. Inside linebacker: This is a tricky one. If Sean Spence can play they might not need to take one this year. If Spence can't play then they have almost have to draft an inside backer.

Other needs: Offensive guard depth, nose tackle depth, OLB depth.

First round: 

At 17 the Steelers should try and get a player that can help this year that fits one of their biggest needs. If Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert is there you take him. It's a no-brainer. Roethlisberger would be able to have what Brady has in two amazing tight ends. Eifert can help this team from day one and the red-zone offense would be hard to stop.

Imagine the Steelers drafting Eifert and then having he and Miller when Miller comes back. It would take a ton of pressure off of Antonio Brown, who will see the opposing team's number one corner and some double coverage now that Wallace is gone.

If Eifert isn't there I would like either  safety Kenny Vacarro from Texas or Eric Reid from LSU. Reid would be a reach at 17 if Vacarro and Eifert are both gone but those are really the only players available that are good enough to be chosen at 17 that fill an immediate need.