Apr 22, 2016 4 min read

In each of the previous three NFL drafts, when the time came for the Steelers to deliver their card to the podium for their first-round pick, the name on that card has been a linebacker.

Chances are, the Steelers won’t make it four in a row when the three-day draft kicks off with the first round Thursday, unless, of course, that is where the value is.

Given the state of the Pittsburgh’s linebackers – despite the attention paid to the position and its importance in the defense – it would be foolish to think the Steelers won’t select at least one linebacker with their seven picks.

The last three first-round selections have netted outside linebackers Jarvis Jones and Bud Dupree and inside linebacker Ryan Shazier. They are part of a unit that includes outside linebackers James Harrison, Arthur Moats and Anthony Chickillo, and inside linebackers Lawrence Timmons, Vince Williams, Steven Johnson, Jordan Zumwalt and L.J. Fort.

Harrison, 37, will likely be playing in his final season in 2016 – if he decides to play – and Jones, who has only five sacks in three seasons, has been a disappointment and is heading into the final year of his contract.

The Steelers lost inside linebackers Sean Spence and Terence Garvin in free agency, though Johnson was added to help offset those departures.

Continuing to stock the position is a necessity for the Steelers’ 3-4 defense, which typically has at least four linebackers on the field.

One player who could intrigue the Steelers as an edge pass rusher in the first round – much the same way Dupree did last year – is Clemson defensive end Shaq Lawson.

Lawson (6-3, 269) is almost exactly the same size as Dupree. Though he wasn’t the workout wonder Dupree was at last year’s combine, Lawson was a more productive player once he burst into the starting lineup last year. Lawson led the nation with 25 ½ tackles for loss and had 12½ sacks after playing behind 2014 first-round pick Vic Beasley for two seasons.

The shift to linebacker, or being a rush end in the nickel defense, would make Lawson a nice fit for Pittsburgh.

“I can play both. I played a lot standing up for Clemson and playing with hand in the dirt,” Lawson said.

“I would like to be the best player to ever play the game – hopefully, be a Hall of Famer one day when I leave the league. Just be the best I can be, that’s all I can ask for, and get better and better every day.”

Another prospect who could intrigue the Steelers in the first round is Eastern Kentucky’s Noah Spence, though he comes with some red flags. Spence began his college career at Ohio State but was banned by the Big Ten Conference for testing positive for Ecstacy multiple times. Spence (6-2, 251), who played at Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt High School, had 11 1/2 sacks and 22 1/2 tackles for losses in his one season at Eastern Kentucky. Spence might be off the Steelers’ draft board, especially given the team’s problems with receiver Martavis Bryant.

Spence says he’s been clean since his transfer.

“(I have) been drug-tested frequently,” he said.

In later rounds, the Steelers could look at Southern Utah’s James Cowser, who broke Jared Allen’s Big Sky Conference record with 43 career sacks, Wisconsin’s Joe Schobert, Nevada’s Ian Seau, the nephew of former NFL star Junior Seau, or Virginia Tech’s Dadi Nicholls as outside linebackers.

Akron’s undersized Jatavis Brown, the MAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2015, could be intriguing as an inside linebacker. Brown (5-11, 227) ran a 4.44 40-yard dash in his on-campus workout after making 116 tackles and 12 sacks last season. With his speed, Brown, who played at as low as 212 pounds at Akron, could also shift to safety, another position of need for the Steelers.