The Steelers seemingly found a few gems in this draft class, but these three prospects were not as good of values as some of the other selections in the 2021 draft.
While the Steelers draft class as a whole seems solid, there were some picks that stood out as not being great values. To be clear upfront, just because a player is a bad value does not mean they are not a bad prospect. While that can certainly be the case, other times a good prospect is taken from a position that doesn’t have as much value as others or should have been taken later in the draft. Take Terrell Edmunds as an example; he was a fine prospect coming out of college but was not a value pick given his draft rating. That hasn’t stopped him from being a fine starter though. With all of that said, here are the Steelers’ three worst value picks from the 2021 NFL draft.
Najee Harris
The reason I emphasized the point above is because it rings true (in my opinion at least) for Najee Harris. Without a doubt, he is a good-looking running back prospect, but the position has been so devalued in recent years and the team had so many other holes to fill that taking Harris represented bad value. While I fully expect him to have a good rookie season (he better given his draft status), that doesn’t change the fact that Harris wasn’t a great value.
The only way Harris can end up being considered a good value pick is if he becomes a Derrick Henry type of running back. That means no matter what line he is running behind and no matter what scheme is drawn up to stop him, he still finds a way to look like the best back in the league. If Harris does that, then he would be worth the value in the first round. If he doesn’t, then taking a running back was not good value for the Steelers here. Once again, he looks like a fine prospect, just not a good value.
Tre Norwood
Now, to call a seventh-round pick overvalued is a bit of a stretch, but at the end of the day, I was choosing between him and Kendrick Green for this spot. While I do believe Green went a tad earlier than he should have in a deep offensive line class, his value is still far better than Tre Norwood. While Norwood did produce while he was in college, he also played on one of the worst overall defenses.
Being picked so late makes this pick low risk, but there were some safer options that made more sense to the Steelers. Paris Ford is another free safety style of player. While his athletic testing was worse than Norwood, his film is leaps and bounds more impressive. Even the team’s undrafted rookie that they brought in, Donovan Stiner, made more sense given his better size, testing, and film.
At the end of the day, throwing a dart at a seventh-round pick wouldn’t likely amount to much anyway. That said, there were a handful of options that represented better value than Norwood in the final round of the draft. While he will have every opportunity to make the roster, Norwood seems to have the farthest climb out of all of the rookies to make.
Isaiahh Loudermilk
This was easily the worst pick of the draft. Isaiahh Loudermilk was projected to go undrafted by most, and if anyone had him going anywhere, it was late day three. The Steelers decided to trade a fourth-round pick from next year to get this prospect. Now, to be fair, Loudermilk has the height of a traditional defensive end, but that is about all he has. He was a decent run stopper in college, but that was really it for the former Badger.
Had the team stayed pat and selected Loudermilk in the sixth or seventh round, while still a reach, the pick wouldn’t have been as frowned upon. Instead, giving up future resources for a player that isn’t in a position of need is mind-boggling bad value. On the roster as of now, the Steelers have Chris Wormley and Tyson Alualu that would likely see snaps at defensive end for the team before Loudermilk. That is already great depth, so it makes even less sense why the Steelers felt like they had to trade up for him.
While his roster spot seems virtually guaranteed given the investment in him, Loudermilk’s value wasn’t equivalent to a fifth and a next year’s fourth. Had the team had a desperate need at defensive end this pick would be slightly more tolerable, but they didn’t. Hopefully, the team can develop him, but until he is the top rotational defensive end, the value won’t be here for this pick.
The Steelers draft as a whole was a solid one with some decent finds in all rounds. That said, these three players above represented the worst value when being drafted. Being a bad value doesn’t mean you will be a bad player, but it will keep the pick in question. For a team that beats the drum of “best player available”, these picks seem to disprove that notion.