Mar 3, 2023 5 min read

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Mock draft after mock draft that have come out since the end of the 2022 season ended have the Steelers selecting an offensive lineman in the first round.

Here’s betting that’s not going to be the case.

The Steelers gave out contracts worth $70 million last offseason to re-sign right tackle Chuks Okorafor and sign guard James Daniels and center Mason Cole in free agency.

All three players signed three-year contracts. And that threesome solidified the offensive line from the center over on the right side.

Left guard Kevin Dotson and left tackle Dan Moore are both still playing on their rookie contracts.

And given the offensive line got better as the 2022 season wore on, the team is pretty confident that group will continue to improve in 2023.

In fact, when it was suggested the offensive line started slowly before getting better, general manager Omar Khan didn’t feel that was the case.

“I would disagree that the line started slow,” Khan said last week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

That seems to suggest Khan believes part of the Steelers’ issues last season at the start of the season lie more on new starters at quarterback and the injury issues with Najee Harris.

But the fact of the matter is, the Steelers averaged 147 rushing yards per game over their final nine games of the 2022 season. They converted third downs at a 54 percent rate, the best in the league during that period as well.

It seems the Steelers feel pretty confident that wasn’t an aberration.

With essentially all of their backups, with the exception of Kendrick Green, slated to become free agents March 15, the Steelers could add to their offensive line room in the draft. But looking for a first-round starter? Don’t bet on it.

The guess here is the Steelers will lean heavily toward their defense with their premium picks in this year’s draft.

And this draft sets up well for that. The strength of this draft is in the secondary and along the defensive front.

The Steelers had the highest-priced defense in the NFL last season, largely because of big contracts given to T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Cam Heyward. The offense was one of the cheapest in the league.

But that’s not going to continue being the case. Those things have a tendency to even out. And given the age of the defense, the team needs to start getting younger there.

• One thing that is certain, the 32nd pick in the draft, which the Steelers got in return from the Chicago Bears for wide receiver Chase Claypool, figures to be very valuable.

And given that teams will have all day after the first round wraps up, Khan will get a number of offers for that pick.

“This is a really good draft,” Khan said. “There are a lot of good players. I’d say, overall, it’s good everywhere. If you need a player, regardless of position, I think you’ll be able to get one.”

But some additional picks, which the 32nd pick could bring, might be tempting.

The Steelers have seven draft picks, but two are in the seventh round. And once compensatory selections are handed out, those two picks will be way down the line.

The Steelers currently have the 17th, 32nd, 49th, 80th, 120th, 236th and 243rd picks. But the compensatory selections will push those final three picks down.

If the team can trade the 32nd pick to move back a few slots and pick up a selection between 120 and 236, that would be attractive.

• There doesn’t seem to be a lot of support within league circles for roughing the passer penalties to become reviewable, something the NFL Competition Committee talked about this week.

The general idea is that the league needs to do a better job of conveying what it wants officials to call as roughing rather than making it reviewable and slowing the game down even more.

• On the subject of speeding things up, the moves Major League Baseball has made with its pitch clock are a nice addition.

It’s refreshing to see a pitcher get the ball back from the catcher and step on the rubber and throw another pitch quickly. And to not see the batters step out of the box, adjusting batting gloves seven times, is a revelation.

• It will be interesting to see how Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter’s legal issues for reckless driving and racing affect his draft status, if at all.

Carter was set to speak Wednesday at the Combine about an hour after news broke that an arrest warrant had been issued for him in Athens, Ga., surrounding an accident in which one of his teammates and a Georgia recruiting coordinator died.

Obviously, Carter didn’t talk.

But you can bet every team that met with him this week asked about it.

Carter is considered one of the top players available in this draft. We’ll see if he still goes with one of the top three or four picks.