Let’s mock the 2020 NFL draft: Steelers are on the clock

The Steelers may look to bolster the secondary in the third round

How I see the Steelers selection ‘shaking out’ in the third round stems from the fact which will be laid out shortly. In 2019, the Steelers defense finished 5th best in average yards per game, according to NFL.com, but one position, in particular, was a weak spot.  According to Pro-Football-Reference, our former first-round pick gave up 36 pass completions on 50 targets and allowed 4 TDs.

Terrell Edmunds, the aforementioned former first-round pick, gave up completions at a 72% clip.  Every DB has to be able to cover, that’s obvious, but how we utilize our safeties, particularly the strong safety, dictates that the strong safety be able to cover.  If we are in ‘Cover 1’, for example, the single, high safety is usually the free safety (FS); therefore the SS has a coverage assignment.

I am not ‘bashing’ Edmunds, please don’t take it that way, but a fact is a fact.  A 72% completion percentage is great if you’re a QB, but it’s dreadful if you’re a DB.  The fact is that Edmunds gave up completions on 72% of the passes thrown his way.  For that reason alone, I think we opt to take a safety with above-average cover skills in the third round.

Now, will there be such a player available when the Steelers pick in the third round?  Who knows?  Will there be a safety available in the third round who is athletic, quick and can be ‘coached up’?  Who knows, but isn’t that really the idea of the draft, to begin with?

In any event, I see the Steelers taking a safety to either provide quality depth to the safety positions or to provide competition for Edmunds, which, quite frankly, would be a good thing. One can only imagine how much better the defense would have been in 2019 with better play at strong safety.

Let’s move on to the fourth round.