Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Draft patterns and what they mean this year

The 2019 NFL Draft is here, almost, and despite all the drama, headlines and rumors, the Pittsburgh Steelers can still get excited about the future.

The NFL draft is around the corner so it is time to get excited about the rookie additions. This team will look much different when the 2019 season begins regardless of how offseason events play out. This free agency period and rookie class will make a huge impact on whether the team can regain AFC North dominance.

I wanted to learn how the team drafts and researching the last ten years seemed to be the best way. I paid attention to any consistencies or trends that the Steelers demonstrate. I looked at what players they drafted, the side of the ball (offense vs defense) and what positions were drafted to name a few. I learned some interesting facts from these drafts.

The Steelers had around 83 draft picks which average to about 8.3 per year. The struggles on defense have made it a priority to get good young players the team can develop so as you would expect, they have drafted more defensive players than offensive players (Offense, 38 Defense, 45). In this ten-year time span, except for last year,  there has been more defensive players taken than offensive players for five straight drafts (2013-2017) and in 2 years the majority of the players were defensive selections (2015, 6-2 and 2016, 5-2).

The emphasis on Defense extends to the first round as the last six drafts a defender was taken first overall. As a matter of fact, in ten drafts the team has drafted an offensive player only twice (David DeCastro in 2012 and Maurkice Pouncy in 2010). If a trade for Antonio Brown nets another first rounder this may change but if a good playmaking LB and a ball-hawking DB were available, that should be the direction that they go.

The defense has been the main trend in the Steelers drafts and the two most needed positions have been defensive back and linebacker. So as you would expect, these positions had more players selected than any other. There were 18 DB’s drafted and 14 LB’s that had their name called for Pittsburgh in the years I researched.

The unfortunate outcome has been that this emphasis has not produced great results. There should be more drafted this year or addressed in free agency. One of the biggest needs is a solid, playmaking ILB that can cover. The Steelers LB’s were exploited all year in 2018 (the game vs LAC illustrates my point, week 13, Dec 2). The loss of Ryan Shazier has really put this team years behind trying to replace him at the position.