I'd hoped to see the Steelers reset themselves in several ways in this NFL Draft that wrapped up here this weekend at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, and I couldn't conceivably have come away disappointed when considering:
• The class was richest in interior defensive linemen, and the top pick was a terrific one in Oregon's Derrick Harmon. It was a position of need, which was convenient, but nothing was forced. Took what was there. And, tidily enough, right where I'd hoped at No. 21 overall without trading up or down.
• The class was nearly as rich in running backs, and their next pick was another terrific one in Iowa's Kaleb Johnson. Here, maybe more than in any other round, nothing was forced. Even amid an antsy room with collective heart set on Johnson, Omar Khan waited and waited until their third-round turn at No. 83 finally saw him fall that far, with Khan coolly explaining afterward, "We fielded some calls, just like we do every round, but it just felt like it was coming to us the right way. There hadn't been that run on the running backs, and it was a deep position, and we were excited that we were able to get him." That, too, wound up right in the range where I'd reported for weeks they'd be seeking a back, although I didn't fathom it'd be Johnson.
• The class wasn't strong at all, in stark contrast, at quarterback, counter to all kinds of concocted narratives by one of the networks broadcasting the event. And the Steelers reacted accordingly, beginning with their next pick, in the fourth round, when they wouldn't have raised a single eyebrow if they'd taken Ohio State's Will Howard, the one they'd preferred all along. (He'd been my choice, too.) But they didn't. They instead saw one of Howard's college teammates, edge rusher Jack Sawyer, still on the board and opted for a pure best-player-available approach at their position of the least possible need.
• Howard, in turn, remained available all the way to the sixth round, this after the Steelers invested the fifth round into more of a true nose-tackle type in Iowa's 6-foot-6, 336-pound Yahya Black to further bolster the beef in an even bigger way than the 6-4 1/2, 313-pound Harmon. The floors will soon be reinforced at the team's headquarters to prevent a collapse for when all these dudes eventually share the same classroom.
The entire process came across as planned, patient and precise.
Full credit to Khan, Andy Weidl and, of course, Mike Tomlin. This isn't how it's been done in too many recent drafts, but it's how this one was done. It was long-view pragmatism above plugging a hole for the coming fall. And above all, it was patience above panic.
Try four or five of these in a row, and the raves will follow.
• So, all that paperwork's been filed, DK Metcalf's here, Darius Slay, a couple other free agents ... what am I missing?
Oh, right. That.
"Look, we're still getting the same signals we've been getting recently," Art Rooney would say of Aaron Rodgers here over the weekend, "that he does want to come here. I do think we may get word soon. Obviously, with things starting to crank up here with the offseason program, etc., if he's coming, we'd like to get him here soon for some of that."
Those 'signals' Rooney described have never been stronger, I can share. He'll be here. And then, it'll all be about him for the foreseeable future.
• Reason number eleventy billion Mason Rudolph could/should still be this team's starter: In his first two starts working with George Pickens in 2023, the latter had 11 catches for 326 yards and two touchdowns, all of that highlighted by this sensational hookup in Seattle:
And don't even get me started on how those two vibed, in general.
• Final point on that front: There's a good thing going here. They don't need to do this.
• Wait, just one more, I swear: Khan became almost emotional on this day when asked to elaborate what he meant throughout this draft in referring to players as having 'Steelers DNA,' replying, "I remember when I got this job, I talked about what it means to be a Steeler, and I could be up here for three days talking about it. I think when you're in this for as long as we are, you just sort of know. That's why the process of getting out there and getting to know the guys is so important to us. We spend a lot of time on the road. We spend a lot of time meeting with guys at the Combine. It's more than just about who they are as a player. It's who they are as a person, too. You just sort of know when you're in this. You get a feel for those guys."
One can only imagine how they'd have sensed any of that from Rodgers, who, at 42, has already achieved everything in the NFL. And yet, they're throwing themselves on the figurative train tracks to toss him the keys to all of this.
• Howard's potential to become an NFL starter can easily be questioned, but what had me preferring him over all other Day 3 quarterbacks -- including future Cleveland legend Shedeur Sanders -- was the trajectory. Not just that he'd end up leading Ohio State to the NCAA championship but more all that went into it: In the Buckeyes' four playoff games, he averaged 287 passing yards and completed 75.2% of his passes, with eight touchdowns against two interceptions. He's 23 years old, and he just kept getting better.
And by the way, when I say leading ...
... yeah, that.
There's shouting and motivating and celebrating ... and then there's going 14 of 15 for two touchdowns in the first half of a championship game. He's got work to do, as the tape shows, but I'll take that in the sixth round of any class.
• Surprised by Sawyer?
Come on, consider who's doing the picking. If this team ever had five starter-capable players at that position -- even more than T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig -- they'd keep looking for a sixth.
• Anything to do with T.J.'s contract?
Please. He'll be here forever.
• Gee, think Jimmy Haslam instructed the Cleveland draft room to take Sanders?
Kevin Stefanski looks like he'd prefer an enema, Andrew Berry appears to be at gunpoint, and whoever's wearing those white T-shirts in the background all got grossly underpaid.
One would think the Browns would've been whooping it up like their baseball counterparts once did upon being bad enough to luck out on the Paul Skenes lottery:
The 2024 Pittsburgh Pirates are now 62-72, 5th in the NL Central, and have the 7th worst record in baseball. pic.twitter.com/LshAs6qDhF
• All these D-linemen would appear to put the squeeze not only on fringe guys like Isaiahh Loudermilk but also on Keeanu Benton sticking at whatever the Steelers happen to see as the nose tackle position. Not so fast, Karl Dunbar, the team's respected defensive line coach, was saying on this day: "I really like Keeanu, where he is right now."
And yeah, he included a scenario in which Black would start. They're determined to make this happen, the reason being that they're more set on having all of their defensive linemen rotate more and spell Cam Heyward more.
As for the competition, Dunbar remarked as only he can, "If you want to eat, go take your food."
• Stung by those 299 yards in Baltimore. Stung hard. All of them.
• Stung to the extreme that Tomlin, who almost always dismisses questions about broader trends or themes, seemed to embrace one here about all the tonnage added to that line: "It goes beyond the defensive front. We wanted to retool physicality in all areas, including in that discussion is the use of the second-round pick to acquire Metcalf. Although he's a receiver, I think he fits the bill in terms of physicality and size. That definitely was an agenda of ours this weekend."
• So far, so good. Go through both sides of the ball with everyone already in the fold, and it's easy to line 'em all up, pretty much everyone but the slot corner. Not too late to keep from gumming it all up.
• Thanks so much for reading my football coverage and, in general, to the work Chris Halicke, Matt Williamson, Ramon Foster and I did toward this NFL Draft. We're proud of what we've assembled on this beat.
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THE ASYLUM
Dejan Kovacevic
11:24 pm - 04.26.2025South SideDK: Nice draft and all ... now don't mess this up
I mean, what's not to like?
I'd hoped to see the Steelers reset themselves in several ways in this NFL Draft that wrapped up here this weekend at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, and I couldn't conceivably have come away disappointed when considering:
• The class was richest in interior defensive linemen, and the top pick was a terrific one in Oregon's Derrick Harmon. It was a position of need, which was convenient, but nothing was forced. Took what was there. And, tidily enough, right where I'd hoped at No. 21 overall without trading up or down.
• The class was nearly as rich in running backs, and their next pick was another terrific one in Iowa's Kaleb Johnson. Here, maybe more than in any other round, nothing was forced. Even amid an antsy room with collective heart set on Johnson, Omar Khan waited and waited until their third-round turn at No. 83 finally saw him fall that far, with Khan coolly explaining afterward, "We fielded some calls, just like we do every round, but it just felt like it was coming to us the right way. There hadn't been that run on the running backs, and it was a deep position, and we were excited that we were able to get him." That, too, wound up right in the range where I'd reported for weeks they'd be seeking a back, although I didn't fathom it'd be Johnson.
• The class wasn't strong at all, in stark contrast, at quarterback, counter to all kinds of concocted narratives by one of the networks broadcasting the event. And the Steelers reacted accordingly, beginning with their next pick, in the fourth round, when they wouldn't have raised a single eyebrow if they'd taken Ohio State's Will Howard, the one they'd preferred all along. (He'd been my choice, too.) But they didn't. They instead saw one of Howard's college teammates, edge rusher Jack Sawyer, still on the board and opted for a pure best-player-available approach at their position of the least possible need.
• Howard, in turn, remained available all the way to the sixth round, this after the Steelers invested the fifth round into more of a true nose-tackle type in Iowa's 6-foot-6, 336-pound Yahya Black to further bolster the beef in an even bigger way than the 6-4 1/2, 313-pound Harmon. The floors will soon be reinforced at the team's headquarters to prevent a collapse for when all these dudes eventually share the same classroom.
The entire process came across as planned, patient and precise.
Full credit to Khan, Andy Weidl and, of course, Mike Tomlin. This isn't how it's been done in too many recent drafts, but it's how this one was done. It was long-view pragmatism above plugging a hole for the coming fall. And above all, it was patience above panic.
Try four or five of these in a row, and the raves will follow.
• So, all that paperwork's been filed, DK Metcalf's here, Darius Slay, a couple other free agents ... what am I missing?
Oh, right. That.
"Look, we're still getting the same signals we've been getting recently," Art Rooney would say of Aaron Rodgers here over the weekend, "that he does want to come here. I do think we may get word soon. Obviously, with things starting to crank up here with the offseason program, etc., if he's coming, we'd like to get him here soon for some of that."
Those 'signals' Rooney described have never been stronger, I can share. He'll be here. And then, it'll all be about him for the foreseeable future.
• Reason number eleventy billion Mason Rudolph could/should still be this team's starter: In his first two starts working with George Pickens in 2023, the latter had 11 catches for 326 yards and two touchdowns, all of that highlighted by this sensational hookup in Seattle:
And don't even get me started on how those two vibed, in general.
• Final point on that front: There's a good thing going here. They don't need to do this.
• Wait, just one more, I swear: Khan became almost emotional on this day when asked to elaborate what he meant throughout this draft in referring to players as having 'Steelers DNA,' replying, "I remember when I got this job, I talked about what it means to be a Steeler, and I could be up here for three days talking about it. I think when you're in this for as long as we are, you just sort of know. That's why the process of getting out there and getting to know the guys is so important to us. We spend a lot of time on the road. We spend a lot of time meeting with guys at the Combine. It's more than just about who they are as a player. It's who they are as a person, too. You just sort of know when you're in this. You get a feel for those guys."
One can only imagine how they'd have sensed any of that from Rodgers, who, at 42, has already achieved everything in the NFL. And yet, they're throwing themselves on the figurative train tracks to toss him the keys to all of this.
• Howard's potential to become an NFL starter can easily be questioned, but what had me preferring him over all other Day 3 quarterbacks -- including future Cleveland legend Shedeur Sanders -- was the trajectory. Not just that he'd end up leading Ohio State to the NCAA championship but more all that went into it: In the Buckeyes' four playoff games, he averaged 287 passing yards and completed 75.2% of his passes, with eight touchdowns against two interceptions. He's 23 years old, and he just kept getting better.
And by the way, when I say leading ...
... yeah, that.
There's shouting and motivating and celebrating ... and then there's going 14 of 15 for two touchdowns in the first half of a championship game. He's got work to do, as the tape shows, but I'll take that in the sixth round of any class.
• Surprised by Sawyer?
Come on, consider who's doing the picking. If this team ever had five starter-capable players at that position -- even more than T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig -- they'd keep looking for a sixth.
• Anything to do with T.J.'s contract?
Please. He'll be here forever.
• Gee, think Jimmy Haslam instructed the Cleveland draft room to take Sanders?
Kevin Stefanski looks like he'd prefer an enema, Andrew Berry appears to be at gunpoint, and whoever's wearing those white T-shirts in the background all got grossly underpaid.
One would think the Browns would've been whooping it up like their baseball counterparts once did upon being bad enough to luck out on the Paul Skenes lottery:
• All these D-linemen would appear to put the squeeze not only on fringe guys like Isaiahh Loudermilk but also on Keeanu Benton sticking at whatever the Steelers happen to see as the nose tackle position. Not so fast, Karl Dunbar, the team's respected defensive line coach, was saying on this day: "I really like Keeanu, where he is right now."
And yeah, he included a scenario in which Black would start. They're determined to make this happen, the reason being that they're more set on having all of their defensive linemen rotate more and spell Cam Heyward more.
As for the competition, Dunbar remarked as only he can, "If you want to eat, go take your food."
• Stung by those 299 yards in Baltimore. Stung hard. All of them.
• Stung to the extreme that Tomlin, who almost always dismisses questions about broader trends or themes, seemed to embrace one here about all the tonnage added to that line: "It goes beyond the defensive front. We wanted to retool physicality in all areas, including in that discussion is the use of the second-round pick to acquire Metcalf. Although he's a receiver, I think he fits the bill in terms of physicality and size. That definitely was an agenda of ours this weekend."
• So far, so good. Go through both sides of the ball with everyone already in the fold, and it's easy to line 'em all up, pretty much everyone but the slot corner. Not too late to keep from gumming it all up.
• Thanks so much for reading my football coverage and, in general, to the work Chris Halicke, Matt Williamson, Ramon Foster and I did toward this NFL Draft. We're proud of what we've assembled on this beat.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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