The term "war room" is meant to be used to describe a collective.
When it comes to the NFL Draft, the members of a team's war room are the who's who among the top of that respective organization. Depending on the organization, that can come for better or for worse.
For the Steelers, and considering the rave reviews drawn from last week's class, consider that for the better.
The Steelers' war room was on the same, collective page. Assistant general manager Andy Weidl was one of the select members to take part in deciding the fates of seven to-be Steelers, and with high-level football minds present around him in Art Rooney II, Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin, among others, the decisions made within their war room a week ago on the South Side came as a collective.
"It was awesome. Working with those guys, and not only them, but our entire scouting staff and everybody in the building," Weidl said Friday during a press conference at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "It takes a village to do a draft. It really does. There's a lot of people that put a lot of time and effort to this. It's a big, collaborative effort. We come together and find Steelers. We bring guys in, we find guys that are our kind of people, our kind of players, players that are going to add to the culture, and it was just awesome to see everyone come together, pull together. When you work together and put ego aside and you're working towards a common goal, you know you can achieve greatness. We're really excited about the process, how it went this weekend, and look forward to seeing these guys next weekend on the field."
As of the midpoint between the conclusion of the draft and the beginning of rookie minicamp next Friday on the South Side, the general consensus of the Steelers' incoming class has been that physicality, size and going back to the team's foundational roots of playing that style of football were emphasized.
Being a calculated form of aggressive in trading up three slots for Broderick Jones -- a player who the Steelers put a plethora of time and resources into during the pre-draft process -- was based on the fact that "we liked him a lot" and "we really valued," and the obvious component is that Jones will be a direct line of support for last year's first rounder and franchise quarterback Kenny Pickett.
"Broderick is an interesting guy," Weidl said. "He's a big, explosive athlete. I had a chance to see him play twice this year. Went to the South Carolina game, and then I saw him later in the season at the SEC Championship, he and Darnell (Washington), and to watch him grow, he's a one-year starter, but to watch his arc, his performance, his trajectory, and how he just kept getting better as the year went on. He's a guy that has tremendous feet, balance, ability to pass protect in space, and he's also got the explosive power to displace people off the line of scrimmage. He can get up on the second level, can execute blocks in space. I think you've seen the highlights of it. He's a guy that can get out there, and with his range he can do different things to your offense. He can open up your offense more."
Along with the trading up for Jones came a loss of a fourth-round pick, which was later regained via trading back in the third round with Carolina. The Steelers wound up with two prospects high on their board, anyway, in Washington and Nick Herbig, as results of the trades.
Washington was the lone player of an offensive skill position drafted by the Steelers. The position breakdown of this class will be read as two offensive linemen, a tight end, two defensive linemen and two cornerbacks. Weidl pointed out the speed and length brought by Joey Porter Jr. and seventh-rounder Cory Trice Jr. at the cornerback position, which adds more into the motif that the Steelers intended on adding physicality within the draft.
In other words, as Weidl mentioned, the Steelers' kind of guys.
"We want to be big, we want to be physical, we want to be tough," Weidl said. "We want to be able to impose our will on teams. That's the Pittsburgh Steelers, right? You go break the other team's sword in the second half of a game. Go be able to win on the road. That's what we're building. That's what we have here. That's what they've been in the past, and we want to continue that identity. So, that works in this business. Physical, tough, smart players, strategic thinkers that you can take on the road. You feel good about when they're on your bus going to the stadium. That's what we are going to continue to add to this team."
Not only was physicality addressed, the perception of upside within the class spans across the board. Jones and Washington played for a two-time national champion. Herbig and Keeanu Benton came from a Wisconsin system that Tomlin described after the draft as a "systemic match" to what the Steelers do defensively. Maryland offensive lineman Spencer Anderson, while he wasn't picked until the final round, has value as someone who played across all five positions on the offensive line at a Big Ten program.
So, there is the expectation for each of these picks to contribute on some level, but Weidl noted how the Steelers valued upside within the criteria of evaluation.
"I think the way we stacked it and how we vetted these players, we went through the process when we looked at them in the meetings that we had starting in December and then in February and then with the coaches coming in in April," Weidl said. "We went through it. We noticed that. I mean, that was something, but it was the talent first, then the player, their makeup, their football character. That was a nice thing that happened. I think most of our players are under the age of 22. Broderick is going to be 22 in 11 days. But, it's a young class, and it's a class that you take, you grow with, you watch them develop and get them in the program. Where they are now as opposed to where they're going to be at 24 or 25 is exciting, the projection of it when you are forecasting with where they're going to be down the road."
Once the draft gets to a certain point, upside can become some players' best traits as far as appeal is concerned. The Steelers realistically added Day 1 starters to go along with upside pieces, though every prospect at some level still brings upside.
Take Benton as an example.
"We saw him through the season, saw him perform at nose tackle and the ability to win an edge," Weidl said. "The ability to make negative plays, the ability to strike, unlock his hips. He is a powerful guy. He could be a 318, 320-pound guy. He has good length. He has the wrestling background. He is a guy that's comfortable being uncomfortable due to the conditioning that's instilled in him. Then we saw him at the Senior Bowl, and we saw the pass rush ability. Him being able to go from the B gap to the A gap and win an edge and get across the face. We think that he has upside as a rusher. I think what they asked him to do in that defense, he did it. He controlled the nose. He played the point. And if you need him to win as a rusher, he would. You saw snapshots of it, and we saw it at the Senior Bowl."
Weidl helped build a Super Bowl roster in Philadelphia before being hired to the Steelers' front office nearly one year ago. In the 2022 draft, the Eagles selected a defensive tackle in the first round (Georgia's Jordan Davis), followed by a center, two linebackers and a tight end.
That class came to fruition after some similar aggression in maneuvering around the first round, as the Eagles had the luxury of picking twice, at No. 15 and No. 18 overall. Two picks, included the 18th pick, were traded to the Titans for No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown. Four picks, including the No. 15 pick, were sent to Houston in order to move up to No. 13 to select Davis.
"I think it starts up front," Weidl said. "It's football. I was an offensive lineman, and I know when you are strong up front, you can control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, you've got a chance to win games. If you are strong on the offensive line, you are strong on your defensive line, you are strong in your front seven, they travel well in this business. I've seen it. You have to go win a game late in the season or you have to go on the road and win a playoff game, they usually show up. I believe in that, and we believe in that. You build through the lines. You invest in that. That's football. That's always going to be football in our mind, the line of scrimmage."
