7 players Steelers fans should focus on at the Senior Bowl

With Senior Bowl practices underway, here are seven names Steelers fans should familiarize themselves with. 

I don’t know if there are a lot of football junkies who get as excited for the Senior Bowl as I do. Without the NFL Combine this year, there’s even more reason to tune in. Though there are many highly-touted underclassmen who don’t get the opportunity to participate in this event, you can really tell which players are going to be studs in the NFL based on their performances at the Senior Bowl.

The Steelers clearly have a number of needs to address this April, and their nine draft selections are as many as they’ve had in a draft since 2010. There are a handful of players at the Senior Bowl this year who could very well wind up in Pittsburgh in a few short months. Here are seven players Steelers fans should be focused on during practices this week:

Alex Leatherwood, OT, Alabama

Here’s a name that most Steelers fans have already become very familiar with. When I watch Alex Leatherwood’s tape, I see a player who really needs to clean up his mechanics, as he gets off balance far too often in his pass sets. However, there are so many tools to work with here.

Leatherwood was a winner of the Senior Bowl weigh-ins as he measured in at 6’5” and 312 pounds with 34 3/8” arms and a massive 85 3/8” wingspan. These are prototype numbers for an offensive tackle and his length will have evaluators projecting him as a left tackle in the NFL. Leatherwood needs some fine-tuning, but with a good Senior Bowl, he could end up being a very realistic option for Pittsburgh in the first round.