Worst-case scenarios for every Steelers pick in 2021 draft

The Steelers have made some questionable draft-day decisions in the past, but these are the worst ones they could make by round.

After covering what would be the best-case scenario by round for the Steelers, it seemed right to look at the flip side of that as we inch closer to the draft. What if everything goes south for the team, just how bad could their haul realistically look? I seek to answer that here, as this is the worst possible scenario for every Steelers pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Round 1:

For those Najee Harris fans reading this, it was so close to being him. Drafting a running back in the first with this many needs is silly, but that said there is one scenario at the position that would be worse (more on that in the fourth round). Instead, the Steelers worst-case scenario in the first round is that they draft Nick Bolton. He is undersized, a below-average athlete, and struggles in coverage on tape, making his justification as a first-round pick a hard one.

While inside linebacker isn’t a top need, the Steelers have shown interest in Bolton. His stock has fallen into the early second round due to his marginal testing, but the team has shown in the past that rankings rarely change who they draft (Burns, Artie). While Bolton will likely carve out a decent career in the NFL, it will be as a two-down run stuffer. The team already has that in Vince Williams, and that type of player is frankly a dying breed. The team couldn’t do much worse than Bolton in the first round.