Conventional wisdom, in the endless weeks leading up to the NFL Draft, was that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ biggest need was inside linebacker. After Ryan Shazier’s injury, there was a gaping void in a defense that struggled to stop the run even when Shazier was healthy.
With three highly-rated inside linebackers on the board, perhaps the Steelers would trade up to get one, right? Failing that, surely they would bolster their defense in some form or fashion, the better to compete with the New England Patriots, and evidently the Jacksonville Jaguars, who strolled into Heinz Field and treated the Steelers’ defense like it was a junior varsity outfit.
What Steelers GM Kevin Colbert and coach Mike Tomlin did with their picks suggests that if conventional wisdom took bodily form inside the Steelers’ war room, it would have been shouted down repeatedly, before being given the boot altogether.
Offense on three of the first four picks. Multiple safeties. A first-round pick that had, depending on who you spoke with, possibly as low as a third-round grade.
Oh, and they drafted their next starting quarterback, apparently. For a team that clearly has a chance to win now, it was a curious strategy, one that screamed “contingency plan” in the present, while keeping a foot in the future.
If you squint a little bit, the picks make at least some sense. If you believe that the team tried and failed to trade up to draft Alabama’s Rashaan Evans to plug the hole at inside linebacker, then loading up on big safeties who can play at the line of scrimmage in “sub package football” — get ready to hear that phrase uttered approximately 10,000 times between now and the start of the season — makes sense, even if it’s still a big risk.
The charitable view of things would go something like this. Terrell Edmunds was sneaking up many draft boards and would not have been available to the Steelers at pick 60. He played last year with an injured shoulder, explaining his below average tape.
James Washington became a necessity once the Steelers traded away Martavis Bryant. The team had a first-round grade on Mason Rudolph and couldn’t pass him up once he fell into the third round. Penn State’s Marcus Allen is a big safety and a hitter who could be a fifth-round steal. Mike Munchak will make Chukwuma Okorafor into a solid offensive lineman in the pros. And that’s about it.
If we aren’t being charitable, however, the team’s decision-making and messaging was curious at best, especially where Rudolph is concerned. Quarterback is the most important position on the field, so they skew most first-round mock drafts. Quarterbacks who should be picked in the second or third round end up going higher because so many teams have a need. Teams routinely reach to try and fill the position.
If the Steelers had a first-round grade on Rudolph, why didn’t they pick him at 28? Or at 60? Why continue to wait on a position of that importance? Something just seems off about their explanation. Either way, he likely won’t have an impact on the team for multiple seasons, at least.
Of course, it’s impossible to accurately grade a team’s draft before the season plays out. Everything said from late April until late August is nothing more than an educated guess.
The Steelers’ choice to not reach for an inside linebacker, and instead fortify their defense with hybrid players, might end up being brilliant. And if Rudolph ends up actually succeeding Ben Roethlisberger and is great in the process, this draft is a home run.
Tangible answers to those hypotheticals are months, if not years, away. All we are left with are names on paper, and they represent a curious gamble, to say the least.