The most glaring takeaway from Steelers pre-draft visits

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a clear and obvious need they are going to address in the 2022 NFL Draft, and their pre-draft visits are further confirmation of this.

Most of the time, I hate puzzles. They’re so tedious, redundant, and time-consuming. However, when it comes to trying to solve the puzzle as to who the Pittsburgh Steelers are targeting in the NFL Draft, I do my best Sherlock Holmes impersonation.

Based on the interest Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert express in the offseason during the pre-draft process, we get a very clear idea of who they will be targeting early each April. Last year, all signs pointed to RB Najee Harris, and nobody should have been surprised when he was ultimately the selection for Pittsburgh with the 24th overall pick.

Historic trends give us a baseline to go from, and Pittsburgh’s brass hasn’t strayed far from their formula. Over the past month or so, the Steelers have sent their head honchos all around the eastern united states to visit players at their Pro Days. They also brought many of these players back in for an additional in-house 30-visit.

There has been one underlying theme throughout this process that has been glaringly obvious: The Pittsburgh Steelers are targeting a quarterback early in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Steelers targeting QB is biggest takeaway

For those who have been following along at Still Curtain, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. We predicted long before the 2021 season ended that this would be the year the Steelers would finally look to find Ben Roethlisberger’s successor. Post-season press conferences from Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert, and Art Rooney II all confirmed this.

Now we are counting down the days until the NFL Draft — knowing full well what the Steelers have in mind. Throughout the whole offseason process, Pittsburgh has met with each of the top five QB prospects on numerous occasions including Pro Day visits, dinner meetings, and in-house visits as well as visits at both the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine.

The interest is clearly there. Most assume that the Steelers top candidate the April is Liberty QB Malik Willis… and it’s not hard to see why. Though Willis comes with a mixed bag of opinions, there’s no denying his tools and upside. Mike Tomlin has made it very clear that he values mobility at the QB position, and Willis has lots of it.

Sadly, Willis is starting to look like a pipe dream at this point, and landing him would almost certainly require a lofty trade-up. If this isn’t something the Steelers are willing to do, it seems possible that both Willis and Kenny Pickett are gone before they are on the clock.

Between Matt Corral, Sam Howell, and Desmond Ridder, it’s hard to tell which QB the Steelers like the most as they have expressed equal interest in all of them this offseason from what we’ve seen.

The top QB prospects have dominated all of the time and energy from Pittsburgh’s brass this offseason, so it’s hard to even envision them going in a different direction. If the Steelers did decide to surprise us, it seems like it could be for a defensive back, as they were at the Pro Days of some of the top cornerback and safety prospects this year as well.

At the end of the day, I do think that the Steelers have made it glaringly obvious that they are fixating on a quarterback early in the 2022 NFL Draft. If this proves to be the case, let’s just hope they draft the right one.