NFL Draft: Help still wanted (needed?) on offensive line

By Dale Lolley

Apr 21, 2021 • 12:04 am

1.6K

For the better part of the past decade, the Steelers could count on their offensive line being pretty settled heading into a season.

Maurkice Pouncey was going to be at center. David DeCastro and Ramon Foster were the guards. Alejandro Villanueva was at offensive tackle.

But Foster retired after the 2019 season, and Pouncey did the same after the 2020 season, while Villanueva remains a free agent this year. Only DeCastro remains from that core group. Add in that Matt Feiler, who replaced Foster in 2020 after starting at right tackle in 2018 and 2019, left as a free agent for the Chargers.

The Steelers have some potential replacements. Chuks Okorafor started 15 games at right tackle after Zach Banner suffered a season-ending knee injury in the regular season opener. Banner was re-signed and is expected to be one of the starting tackles. Veteran Joe Haeg, who has made 38 career starts with the Colts and Buccaneers, also was signed to compete at tackle.

Kevin Dotson, a fourth-round pick last year, is expected to slide into the left guard spot opposite DeCastro, while veteran B.J. Finney was re-signed to help ease the loss of Pouncey and Rashaad Coward, who started 15 games the past two seasons, was signed to provide depth at guard.

There are options. But the Steelers could obviously use more, especially if they hope to improve their running game, which ranked dead last in the NFL in 2020. And that's what they could be looking for in the NFL Draft, which will be held next Thursday through Saturday.

And it's an unusually good year to be in the market for offensive line help in the draft, as the position ranks as one of the deepest this year.

There could be as many as seven or even eight offensive linemen taken in the first round this year, meaning they would account for a quarter of all of the players selected next Thursday.

Penei Sewell of Oregon, Rashawn Slater of Northwestern, Christian Darrisaw and Teven Jenkins of Oklahoma State are all expected to be first-round picks at the tackle position, while Samuel Cosmi of Texas and perhaps another surprise could wind up in the first round, as well. Tackles tend to go early.

At the guard position, USC's Alijah Vera-Tucker ranks ahead of the rest and is a sure first-round pick, while it wouldn't be surprising to see him joined in the first round by a player such as Alabama's Alex Leatherwood, a tackle who projects to guard, or even one of the top centers, Landon Dickerson of Alabama or Creed Humphrey of Oklahoma.

Need often causes teams to take linemen earlier than they normally would, and there is plenty of need around the NFL for players at the position.

Dickerson will be one of the wild cards in this draft. His tape shows a dominant player. But the Florida State transfer finished each of his collegiate seasons injured, including suffering an ACL tear in last year's semifinal game.

He reportedly checked out fine at the NFL's recent medical re-check for players, but whether that gets him back into first-round consideration remains to be seen.

"If you wanted to take a little bit of a risk, Landon Dickerson from Alabama, if he didn't tear his ACL towards the end of the year and didn't have some other injuries during his time at Florida State, I think he'd be -- he almost is just a perfect Steeler," said Daniel Jeremiah, draft analyst for the NFL Network. "He is physical and nasty. He's fun to watch. He's quick. He's a taller guy. He's 6-6, 326 pounds, but we've seen the Steelers coming off a pretty good run here with a tall center, so he'd be a great fit provided he could be okay with the medical stuff."

The injuries could push Dickerson to the second round, but it also wouldn't be surprising if he's a first-round pick.

And the value on the offensive line doesn't stop in the first round. There are a number of Day 2 picks who could be potential immediate or long-term starters.

At tackle, North Dakota State's Dillon Radunz, Notre Dame's Liam Eichenberg, Walker Little of Stanford, James Hudson of Cincinnati, Brady Christensen of BYU, Stone Forsythe of Florida, Spencer Brown of Northern Iowa and Jaylon Moore of Western Michigan all provide good depth at the position in this draft. Any of that group could go in Round 2 and most certainly will be picked by the end of third round.

On the interior line, the depth isn't quite as good, but there are an interesting pool of centers from which to pick.

Dickerson and Humphrey figure to be the top two taken, but Wisconsin-Whitewater's Quinn Meinerz is one of the more interesting prospects in this draft.

The former Division III star didn't play in 2020 because his school canceled its season, and he was an overweight guard in 2019. But he spent the pandemic working on his body -- at the same gym as the Watt brothers -- and working on snapping the football.

When another center dropped out of the Senior Bowl, Meinerz accepted a later invitation and was the star of the practices before suffering a broken hand during the week that kept him from playing in the game. He then tested extremely well at his pro day -- including running a sub-5-second 40-yard dash -- and is now expected to go somewhere in the second round.

"This kid probably was a fringe like fifth, sixth-round type pick," Jeremiah said. "He gets the invitation to go to the Senior Bowl, completely dominates the whole week of practice. He is going to go on Day 2 now. I wouldn't be shocked if he went in the second round because he took advantage of that All-Star opportunity after missing the whole season."

Meinerz is hardly the only center prospect who has risen of late. Illinois lineman Kendrick Green saw most of his collegiate playing time at guard, but he did start four games at center in 2019 and that has scouts intrigued with what he could be at the NFL level. So did his 4.88-second 40-yard dash at 6-2, 315 pounds at his pro day.

"When you go interior offensive line, just outside the top 50 kind of in that range, you look at somebody like Kendrick Green from Illinois is fascinating to me," Jeremiah said. "He's played left guard. He's played center. He can bend. He's explosive. I thought he's somebody that had his best football ahead of him. ... He can really move. That would be one as an interior lineman I would keep an eye on just outside the top 50."

Even if the Steelers miss on one of those center prospects, there are other potential starters in later rounds, including Ohio State's Josh Myers, Drew Dalman of Stanford, Penn State's Michael Menet or Notre Dame's Robert Hainsey, a Pittsburgh native who played tackle for the Fighting Irish that many analysts think would make a great center if he can handle the switch.

Lolley's Offensive Tackle Rankings

1. Penei Sewell, Oregon

2. Rashawn Slater, Northwestern

3. Christian Darrisaw, Virginia Tech

4. Teven Jenkins, Oklahoma State

5. Samuel Cosmi, Texas

6. Dillon Radunz, North Dakota State

7. Liam Eichenberg, Notre Dame

8. Walker Little, Stanford

9. James Hudson, Cincinnati

10. Brady Christensen, BYU

Lolley's Interior Offensive Line Rankings