Steelers mock draft: 5 first-round targets for Pittsburgh

Steelers could target IOL Darian Kinnard

Here’s a player I could really see the Steelers falling in love with. There was speculation that Pittsburgh was going to take an offensive lineman with their first pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, but they elected to go with running back Najee Harris.

Darrian Kinnard is a mammoth right tackle who compares favorably to Teven Jenkins from this past year. However, Kinnard might be best suited to kick inside to guard next year. At 6’5” and 345 pounds, Kinnard is a behemoth who has no problem moving and controlling smaller defensive linemen in the run game.

Kinnard isn’t the most technically sound player, and as you can imagine, he’s not the smoothest mover. However, he can play right tackle or guard for the Steelers and is currently ranked as one of the best offensive line prospects entering the 2022 NFL Draft.

With the Steelers needing to upgrade the offensive line in a bad way and with Dan Moore Jr. already showing promise at left tackle, Kinnard could prove to be a very wise pick by Pittsburgh.

There will no doubt be changes to this list as NFL Draft prospects rise and fall on big boards. However, these five players seem like candidates the Pittsburgh Steelers could be eying with their first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.