Re-grading the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2018 draft class
The Pittsburgh Steelers took chances in the 2018 NFL Draft, and we look back at home each pick played out in their first campaign.
The season is over and the rookies have their first seasons under their belt. While it is tough to gauge a player until after around year three, we can at least get a start on whether they seem to be heading in the right direction from when they were picked.
The Pittsburgh Steelers draft class had its ups and downs from the end of the draft to the end of the season. Unlike seasons in the past couple years, not many of the rookies had large roles during the season.
Pittsburgh seems to have gotten a few good players that will grow into solid contributors when it is their time in 2018’s draft. The development of them is key to long-term success.
The Steelers drafted four offensive and three defensive players with their seven picks. The big question mark was Terrell Edmunds in the first followed by three straight offensive picks on day two.
Now that the season is over, we can kick off offseason coverage and my favorite part of that is draft coverage. We are going to re-grade every pick the Steelers made in 2018.
Terrell Edmunds
– 2018 stats: 78 total tackles, one sack, one interception, 4 passes defensed
I am not afraid to admit where I am wrong and I seem to have been here. When the Steelers picks Terrell Edmunds I was admittedly furious with the pick. The Steelers just selected a player no one probably would have looked at for the first two rounds at 28th overall.
At the time, guys like Darius Leonard, Jessie Bates, Justin Reid, Mike Hughes and Josh Jackson still remained on the board. I was thrown way off guard by the Edmunds pick and let everyone know it. In my meet the pick piece I released my frustration at the head scratching pick.
My plate has been served a healthy helping of crow cooked up by none other than Edmunds himself. I will gladly eat every bite of it as I hoped he would serve it to me.
Edmunds showed us why Tomlin and Colbert decided to pick the kid when they did. He showed great growth over the course of the season and proved to be a fast learner.
He did display some growing pains but very rarely does a rookie not look like a rookie at least some of his rookie campaign. These guys are young and adapting to the highest level of football so it takes time.
Edmunds can be the starter the Steelers need to help anchor a secondary that is still trying to build up to be a game closing secondary. It will be a while before we truly know the value of this pick but he got off to a great start so far.