3 reasons Steelers could neglect offense in the first round of the NFL Draft

The value could be on the defensive side of the ball at pick 24

If you know me, I’m not a fan of drafting based on need alone. The Steelers have done this several times in the past decade – the most memorable being the Jarvis Jones selection in 2013 and the Artie Burns selection in 2016. Though the best players at their respective positions were already off the board, Pittsburgh reached for need despite some glaring issues with these players to draft a position they wanted to fill. This is a bad philosophy to have.

Though every once and a while this strategy will pay off (like it did in 2017 when they hit on T.J. Watt), you are much more likely to bust on players if you abide by draft strategy. I understand how important it is for Steelers to revamp their offense, but if there are significantly better defensive players on the board when picking 24 rolls around, they may be tempted to take the bate – and for good reason.

Some of the players in Pittsburgh’s range could include stand-out Notre Dame linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, athletic edge defender Gregory Rousseau, linebacker Nick Bolton, and lockdown cornerback Jaycee Horn. Meanwhile, there are a lot of questions surrounding the group of offensive lineman if the top three guys are gone, and we could argue the history of drafting running backs in the first round. It’s possible the Steelers could go defense at pick 24 because the value could be too enticing to pass up.