ESPN ranks Steelers 18th in talent under 25 years old

ESPN recently ranked the Steelers as the 18th most talented team of players under 25 years old. Here is what they had to say about Pittsburgh’s young talent.

Devin Bush has given Steelers fans a lot to be excited about. The Steelers 10th overall pick was all over the field against the Buccaneers, and he stands to be a key piece of the puzzle moving forward.

In previous years, Pittsburgh has landed some promising young talent. They struck gold in 2017 when they drafted T.J. Watt, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and James Conner in the same year.

However, despite their recent success stories when it comes to drafting, the Steelers did not bode well in a recent ranking of of the most ‘under-25’ talent in the league.

Scott Spratt of ESPN ranked all 32 NFL teams according to the talent of players under 25 years of age. He ranked the Steelers 18th. Here was some of his reasoning for Pittsburgh’s ranking:

"The Steelers lost two of the NFL’s biggest stars in Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell this offseason. But stardom does not always correspond with value, and the Steelers are incredibly well-equipped to replace from within. Smith-Schuster already has 169 receptions, 2,343 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 552 DYAR in his two-year professional career and will only be 22 at the start of this season. James Washington and Diontae Johnson are Day 2 candidates to take over the No. 2 receiver role."

Spratt went on to give praise to some young Pittsburgh players including James Conner, T.J. Watt, and Devin Bush. However, he did little in the way of explaining his reasoning as to why the Steelers were ranked so low.

Though Spratt’s rankings aren’t an exact science, it’s still a bit disheartening to see the Steelers ranked in the bottom half of the league in this area. There are some legitimate reasons for this, however.

Pittsburgh hasn’t hit on all of their draft picks in recent years. Artie Burns is turning out to be a busted pick, and Terrell Edmunds still has a lot to prove. Sean Davis and James Washington are two players who haven’t yet lived up to their second round draft statuses.

In his assessment, Spratt mentioned four ‘blue-chip’ players for Pittsburgh: JuJu Smith-Schuster, T.J. Watt, Terrell Edmunds, and Devin Bush.

Most of these players are on the fast track to stardom, and it’s good to know that the Steelers have players they can build a team around for the future.

Regardless of where the Steelers rank among the most talent teams of players under 25, all that matters right now is that they go out there and compete with the best. Pittsburgh is in ‘win now’ mode with Ben Roethlisberger in his last few seasons. We will worry about their where their young talent ranks later.