4 best decisions the Steelers could make on draft day

3. Draft the best player available (regardless of position)

I cannot stress enough how important it is to take BPA. Just draft the best players available and worry about filling needs later! This is where so many franchises go wrong. The Steelers are guilty of this as well. In 2013, Pittsburgh was dialed in to an outside linebacker throughout the pre-draft process, and when Jarvis Jones fell to them, they pulled the trigger. The problem is that they completely ignored all of the red flags with Jones (terrible athletic testing, age, and spinal stenosis) just to fill a position of need.

Pittsburgh did the same thing in 2016. Desperately needing a cornerback, the Steelers were reportedly going to take William Jackson III who went one pick before them to the Cincinnati Bengals. Instead of taking the best player on the board, Kevin Colbert reached down to grab, in his mind, the next best cornerback in Artie Burns.

The Steelers can’t get so caught up in the ‘we must draft a running back’ mentality that they forget about the best players on the draft board. Though I know they probably aren’t looking at defense this early, they may be able to get a significantly better player at pick 24 by drafting someone like EDGE Azeez Ojulari, CB Caleb Farley, or S Trevon Moehrig. Don’t pass up terrific talent just so satisfy a need. Take the best players on the board.