The 2022 NFL Draft class is strong on the offensive line, but here’s why the Pittsburgh Steelers might not go with the player you are hoping for at pick 20.
Many Pittsburgh Steelers fans are upset with some of the choices that the front office has made in recent years. I get it. After ignoring the offensive line in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft for nearly a decade, Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert shouldn’t have expected anything but the performance they got out of their patchwork OL in 2021.
With the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback moves to the forefront of their needs and I hope the team is wise enough to realize they can’t be contenders without a quality option. However, the offensive line has been neglected for far too long, and this could be the year the Steelers do something about it in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Unfortunately for those who have been studying this year’s OL prospects closely, the option the Steelers could ultimately go with at the position may not be the one you are hoping for.
Let’s start with what we know. The Steelers are not a team that likes to venture outside their comfort zone when it comes to NFL Draft trends. Outside of taking a small school quarterback all the back in 2004, one thing this team never does in the first round is takes players from non-Power Five football programs.
For those hoping the team goes with a high-upside offensive tackle like Trevor Penning, this is a problem. At nearly 6’7” and 330 pounds with 34 3/4” arms, Penning has all the size, tools, and traits to develop into one of the better offensive tackles in the league. However, his small-school status coming from Northern Iowa makes him a player the team could almost cross off their board completely.
Another player who is frequently mocked to the Steelers is interior offensive lineman, Kenyon Green. At 20 years old, Green is a former five-star recruit who can play most positions across the line and could be the best offensive lineman on the team instantly. Sadly, the Steelers rarely scout players west of Missouri, and they typically stick with the programs they are comfortable with (which could have been the reason why they only sent their assistant OL coach to see Creed Humphry in Oklahoma last offseason).
Because of this, Green might not be as likely of an option as the NFL Draft media assumes. So who could be the top offensive lineman on their radar in the 2022 NFL Draft?
Steelers could target Zion Johnson
I’m not saying that I agree with all of their tactics, but we can’t just assume that the Steelers would be willing to break their draft trends for some of the prospects this year. Knowing this, and considering the players that should be off the board ahead of them, I think a guy like Zion Johnson could be the target.
Johnson is from Boston College of the ACC — a conference the Steelers have a lot of familiarity drafting from. While he doesn’t check the underclassman box the team often looks for, this is not a dealbreaker by their standards.
Johnson was impressive at the Senior Bowl and Pittsburgh’s brass was able to meet with him. He has the size and athletic traits the team would typically look for in a first-round guard and he checks nearly every other box — including the ones that Penning and Green do not check due to their size or competition size.
The Steelers may even view Johnson as a better fit for this team than Tyler Linderbaum, as the Iowa standout is viewed by many as a center-only prospect. If Pittsburgh views him the same way, they could pass on Linderbaum if they aren’t willing to give up on Kendrick Green just yet.
It will be interesting to track the Steelers visits throughout the offseason, but it’s important to consider their draft trends. If they continue to hold true to them, Zion Johnson could be the most likely option with the 20th overall pick if they decide to go with an offensive lineman.