Sure, it's taking a bit of a victory lap, but when you're right, you're right.
No, not about the Steelers taking Najee Harris with their first-round pick in last weekend's draft (though that happened).
Instead, what we're referencing are the people who felt the Steelers could simply trade back and get one of the top three running backs in this class. Or, worse yet, they could pass on a running back in the first round and still get one of them with their second-round pick, which was all the way down at 55.
As we saw, not only did Harris go at pick 24 to the Steelers, the Jaguars jumped on Clemson's Travis Etienne with the 25th pick. The Broncos then traded up in the second round to make North Carolina's Javonte Williams with the third pick of the second round.
There's no guarantee if the Steelers had traded back even a little that the Broncos or some other team wouldn't have jumped them to take a running back. And the Steelers could have been shut out in their quest to "fix the running game."
See, thing was, the Steelers didn't have a starting running back on their roster. Now, they do in Harris. Sorry Trey Sermon fans, he wasn't going to fill that need. It should be clear what the league thought of him when he went more than 50 picks after Williams at 88 to the 49ers.
It's what draft analysts both here and elsewhere were saying all along. There was a pretty big gap in talent between the top three running backs and the next group.
The NFL apparently felt that way, as well.
That's why the Steelers did the correct thing in selecting Harris, who was nearly a consensus pick as the top back in this draft. The drop off from the top three running backs to the next group was bigger than that at center or offensive tackle, two of the Steelers' other needs. There wasn't a lot of difference between the fifth-rated offensive tackle and the 15th. And there were a good six centers in this draft, including Steelers' third-round pick Kendrick Green, who project as starters sooner rather than later.
Now, we can argue about the selection of tight end Pat Freiermuth in the second round -- passing on centers and tackles available there -- but that position was thin, as well, especially for a combo tight end such as Freiermuth.
And the Steelers got two very good prospects to add to their line, anyway.
In retrospect, would you rather have, say Teven Jenkins, Creed Humphrey, Sermon and Brevin Jordan -- filling the same needs the Steelers did -- rather than Harris, Freiermuth, Green and Dan Moore Jr.?
Most would take the latter since the Steelers got the No. 1 prospect at running back, the No. 2 tight end behind Kyle Pitts, a center prospect who was easily in the top five at that position and a promising young tackle.
In retrospect, it appears the Steelers worked the board in the right order to fill their needs, getting a pair of top prospects instead of settling for the lesser prospects at every position save center.
YOUR TURN: Did the Steelers work the draft the right way?