4 players the Steelers may regret passing on in 2021 Draft

While the Steelers got some fine players in the 2021 NFL Draft, they regretfully passed on these four players which may prove to be a mistake.

The Steelers rounded out their draft with nine new rookies and quite a few holes filled. While the team hopes to see an early impact from the players they got, there are a few cases where the team passed on a player who may have been the better fit. In no way is this about the team’s class being bad, I certainly think this group of rookies will be fine but looking at the roster as it is and how the draft ultimately played out, picks could have certainly been used differently to build a stronger team. Here are four rookies the Steelers missed out on in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Steelers passed on Elijah Molden

Heading into the draft, the Steelers had a huge need in the secondary, as two of their top cornerbacks from 2020 were now off the team. Instead of prioritizing finding a slot cornerback, the team waited until the seventh round to draft Tre Norwood and now are banking on James Pierre being good enough to hold his own as an outside corner so Cameron Sutton can play inside. All of this could have been avoided had the team drafted Elijah Molden in the third round of the draft.

One of the best pure slot-types in this class, Molden is undersized and a marginal athlete, but he can cover well out of the slot and was a physical presence in the run game. No, he isn’t Mike Hilton, but he could have been a starter inside as early as this year. Even if Pierre showed enough to play on the outside and kick Sutton on the inside, Molden could have been the fourth defensive back like how Sutton has played over the past few seasons.

Granted, the Steelers took Kendrick Green in this spot, but as will be discussed later, that may have not been a necessary pick had the team gone elsewhere in the second round. Molden could have been a plug-and-play starter this season, and at worst, the secondary would have at least had more flexibility.