Steelers mock draft: Pittsburgh puts the focus back on the trenches

Steelers mock draft round 6 (via Chiefs): Thayer Munford

Offensive tackle, Ohio State, 6’6”, 315 lbs.

This is the final piece in the O-Line rebuild. In pass protection Munford shows very good hand use, mirroring, and kick slide. He can be a road grader in run blocking and shows plenty of athleticism for pulling and trapping. He looks for work once he’s dealt with his primary assignment and gets to the second level. His technique greatly improved from sophomore to junior year. Munford had back surgery in 2018 and has looked much better ever since.

Munford is a very underrated player who posted a 91.8 Pro Football Focus grade at OT in 2020. He had zero sacks allowed and only 3 pressures in 510 snaps. He moved to LG for 2021 so one of his teammates could get playing time. That move really hurt his draft stock. At guard, he only allowed one sack but had sixteen pressures.

He had a 73.7 PFF grade in 2021. He also saw emergency duty at RG and RT. All these moves show that Munford is a good teammate and has some position flexibility. However, no matter what Mike Tomlin thinks guards and tackles are not interchangeable.

I’ve watched more video on Munford than any other prospect in this draft. My evaluation of him is he’s a starting quality NFL left tackle. He should easily beat out the abysmal and ridiculously overrated Dan Moore.