Today we’re going to take a look at the good, bad and ugly things in a new four-round draft by Chad Reuter of NFL.com. The Pittsburgh Steelers has a long list of NFL recruiting needs, and, ultimately, it will boil down to how the front office ranks those needs in a very deep draft.
In the first round, Reuter made the Steelers face the former USC Alijah Vera-Tucker offensive. Vera-Tucker’s experience in both guard and tackle would be attractive to Pittsburgh. There may be technically better tackles on the board, but as a versatile guy with a high roof, Vera-Tucker makes sense here.
Moving on to the second round, the Steelers go a little out of the way with Florida State cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. If the second round is like that, it’s safe to assume that things went wrong for the Steelers in the free agency with Cam Suttin and Mike Hilton. Pittsburgh was not very lucky in setting cornerbacks, but this may be a right choice.
Stanford center Drew Dalman is the Steelers’ choice in the third round. This is where things change for me. I don’t see Dalman as an NFL starter with his lack of strength and technique. There are much better options for the Steelers in this round.
Finally, in the fourth round, the Steelers select Oregon running back Jermar Jefferson. Much like Dalman in the third round, this choice does not seem to be a good use of choice in such a deep project. There is no denying that the Steelers want to recruit a running back, but Jefferson is almost completely normal in any aspect of his game.