The 25 most likely Steelers defensive targets in 2022 draft

Steelers defensive prospect #9

Moving into the fours now, these players hit half of the criteria on this list. The least likely of this group seems to be Nakobe Dean out of Georgia. While an insanely productive linebacker from a good defense, Dean does lack some traits that will make him sought after by this team. Mainly, he lacks the size and instincts to be a great fit for what this team needs.

Dean is a good athlete who plays with a lot of physicality. He can attack gaps well and wraps up when tackling. Despite being a good athlete, he isn’t always the best in coverage. He will need to sharpen up his man coverage skills if he ever wants to excel as a three-down linebacker. His size is on the smaller end, but we have seen smaller linebackers work in a modern defense.

The issue I have with him is twofold. For starters, he would likely have to be taken with pick 20, as it is doubtful that he falls to the second round. His play suffers from a lot of the issues Harris’s play from Alabama has. He is a reactive linebacker, and he struggles with predicting what an offense will do. I see it as unlikely that he is the pick, but there are reasons to trace him back to the team.