The Steelers came away with nine players from the 2021 NFL Draft. Here are the best value picks Pittsburgh made.
It’s hard to grade a draft immediately upon its conclusion. Obviously, we need to allow time for things to play out, and if we are being honest, we should allow these players at least a few years to showcase their abilities before we critique them. However, on paper, this 2021 Steelers draft class doesn’t have the makings to be one of my favorites.
Pittsburgh kicked things off Thursday night by taking a 23-year-old running back in the first round, and there were some questionable picks throughout. Still, there are a handful of their nine selections that I could really get behind. Here are the Steelers four best value picks of the 2021 NFL Draft:
4. TE Pat Freiermuth
Pat Freiermuth isn’t exactly a transcendent player. Though he’s a big, physical player who comes from a school that has done a good job at producing quality NFL tight ends, Freiermuth leaves some to be desired. On tape, he has very average speed and athletic traits for the position, and drops were an issue throughout his college career at Penn State. On top of that, Freiermuth wasn’t able to participate in any athletic testing this offseason because of a shoulder injury.
Still, there are plenty of reasons why this was one of the better value picks the Steelers made in the 2021 NFL Draft. For starters, the tight end group was razor-thin this year after the top few players, and Pittsburgh was able to secure the second-best player at the position with the 55th overall pick. In addition, tight end was a huge need on this team, and something the Steelers have been missing since Heath Miller retired back in 2015.
Freiermuth is a willing blocker and has the physicality to do all of the dirty work over the middle of the field. He isn’t a finished product yet, but the Steelers got him at solid value in the second round of the NFL Draft.