Steelers mock draft: Factoring positions of need and offseason visits

The Steelers may be able to trade down a little and still grab him, but James Hudson is their guy.

The Steelers have shown as much interest in Hudson as any other prospect since the Senior Bowl. This is the only offensive lineman that I know of which new OC Matt Canada met with on top of their offensive line coach. He will be there for their second pick, but I don’t know if he will be there for the 3rd.

He has some technique concerns taking on more nimble edge defenders. Yet, the Steelers are in love with this guy, and after a tremendous showing in the Senior Bowl, it is hard to argue. He is a redshirt junior which fits right in with Pittsburgh’s tendencies to draft underclassman and he can develop into a very good tackle in the future. There may be some bumps in the road, but I am convinced that the Steelers are planning on taking Hudson.

This 3rd pick isn’t a glaring need with the resigning of Tyson Alualu

If this was 3 weeks ago, when Tyson Alualu was going back to Jacksonville I’d be enthralled with this pick. Osa’s biggest problem at the NFL level will be his size at 280 pounds. Don’t be mistaken he is a tremendous athlete that is uncharacteristically explosive for the position. If he were to have another 10-15 pounds of muscle on his frame, scouts would be jumping for him in the first round.

Tyson Alualu has shown that you don’t have to have the traditional size in this scheme to play the DT position and Osa could be the Steeler’s most productive draft pick from 2021 as early as this season. In just 7 games in 2020, he put up a stat line of 4 sacks, 6 tackles for loss, and 30 tackles. With a little more size and strength to take on NFL-sized interior linemen, he will be a dominant force for years to come. I’m not going to say he will be as good as Aaron Donald, but he could very well turn into a Deforest Buckner type player early in his career.