Steelers news: New Pre-draft visits, offensive assistant coach hiring, and more

After today, every NFL Pro Day will be in the books. Based on the scouting trail from Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan, we have a very clear picture of which players and positions the Pittsburgh Steelers could target early in the draft. Now we wait for the calm before the storm that is the 2023 NFL Draft.

As we press on toward the first round of the draft on April 27th, Steelers news continues to roll in. The latest includes a coaching hire that could potentially help out offensive coordinator, Matt Canada, as well as a handful of early-round prospects who were in Pittsburgh to meet the brain-trust yesterday.

Steelers news:

On April 5th, four notable NFL Draft prospects were in Pittsburgh for an in-house 30-visit with the Steelers' brass, Brooke Pryor of ESPN confirms. These included Florida OG O'Cyrus Torrecence, Oklahoma OT Anton Harrison, Miami CB Tyrique Stevenson, and Baylor DT Siaki Ika.

The Steelers expressed interest in Torrence at both the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine. This visit is interesting, however, after Pittsburgh signed two guards in free agency (it's worth noting that the visit with Torrence was scheduled before the Nate Herbig and Isaac Seumalo signings.

Meanwhile, the Steelers are clearly targeting a cornerback on day two if they miss out on the top prospects as Stevenson joins a crowded list of visits that already includes cornerbacks Emmanuel Forbes, Kelee Ringo, Deonte Banks, and Julius Brents. Offensive tackle is also a priority and Harrison could be an option, while Ika is considered one of the best pure run-defending nose tackles in the 2023 draft.

More Steelers news:

In addition to hosting draft prospects, the Steelers front office was busy making personnel decisions. Yesterday, they hired Glenn Thomas to be their offensive assistant coach. Thomas has a coaching history that dates back to the Atlanta Falcons in 2008. From there, he spent time with Temple, Baylor, UNLV, and Arizona State as either a quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator.

We don't know the exact reason for this hire, but perhaps Mike Tomlin wanted to bring in someone he thought could help Matt Canada's stagnant offense and who could also help Kenny Pickett develop. It will be interesting to see what his role is with the offense in 2023.

NFL news:

In NFL news, the most recent mock draft from Will Brinson of CBS Sports has the Pittsburgh Steelers trading back from pick 17 in the NFL Draft to grab the 20th pick. After picking up some extra draft capital in the process, Brinson has Pittsburgh going with Iowa edge defender and defensive lineman, Lukas Van Ness.

The trade-back in this particular mock likely had to do with the way the board fell, as Broderick Jones, Paris Johnson Jr., and Joey Porter Jr. were each off the board by the time the Steelers were on the clock.