All eyes are on centers ahead of Steelers' second-round selection

The Steelers are officially on center watch heading into day two of the NFL Draft. They bypassed taking a center at pick 20 -- instead choosing to draft tackle Troy Fautanu. While many have speculated that Fautanu will have to move to the inside and could even potentially play center, Pittsburgh seems content with playing him at tackle to start.

In terms of center options, the draft didn’t see the huge run at center that every Steelers fan seemed to fret over in the first round. The only center that went in the first round was Graham Barton, who was drafted by the Buccaneers at pick 26.

If you have followed my writing this pre-draft process, you know that I fully expected the centers to fall in this class. I figured Barton would go in round one, but I also predicted that he would be the only first-round center.

This was contrary to many who expected at least two centers to go in the first, and even a few others that were predicting that three centers would go in the first.

Center talent lines up well for the Steelers in Round 2

Heading into the second round, this team now has two logical starting centers still on the board. You also have a lot of cornerbacks on the board and some more receivers that could continue to push the interior linemen further down the board.

Will both make it to pick 51? Probably not, but I’m assuming at least one of Zach Frazier or Jackson Powers-Johnson will fall that far. At a minimum, a small trade-up could be in the works assuming they continue to fall.

All of this is to say that center has to be squarely on the Steelers roster in round two. The historical trends said that this would be the case, and it should benefit the Steelers as they look to fill one of their biggest holes on the roster. In the meantime, I’ll take my victory lap with two of the top three centers falling out of the first round.