If Day Two of the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh were a movie for the Steelers, it would have started with a bunch of superb action shots from Steven Spielberg and would have finished with the action and explosions of a Michael Bay film. Unfortunately the middle of the movie would have had viewers scratching their heads and throwing their hands up in the air as if to say, “What in the Hell is going on?”
The second round selection of Alabama Wide Receiver Germie Bernard is easily my favorite pick of this draft. I absolutely love that Omar Khan moved up to get him too. Bernard has great hands, is super quick and is not your typical “diva” wideout. I don’t know who the QB of this team is yet but whoever it is they will love this kid. At the end of the third round, the Steelers drafted a potential cult hero in Iowa offensive lineman Gennings Dunker.
While he played tackle for the Hawkeyes, he will slide down and play guard for the Steelers. I’ll go so far as to say he’ll be the opening day starter at left guard as long as he picks up everything in good time. He’s an aggressive mauler with more athleticism than one would think. The flowing red mullet is already endearing him to the Black and Gold faithful.
Daylen Everette will be the guy that few want to discuss from this draft but he could end up being one of the more important players. At just under 6’2″ the cornerback from Georgia has the opportunity to provide important depth on the boundary. With over 40 games of experience for the Bulldogs under his belt, Everette has seen just about everything and against the best talent in the country. His biggest negative is that he lacks that “catch up” speed if he gets beat but there is a lot to like about his overall game.
Here is the part in the movie where we get up for popcorn, come back to sit down and say, “What in the world just happened?”
With their first selection of the third round the Steelers took Penn State QB Drew Allar. I do not like this pick for a couple of reasons yet I “understand it.” What I get about it is that the Steelers need a quarterback and you won’t find one if you don’t draft one. It’s kind of like those carnival games where if you throw enough balls eventually one will find the target.
Where I lose the plot is the ‘where’ and the ‘who.’ With Carson Beck already gone, the Steelers were becoming limited with their options. Mike McCarthy made it clear that he wants a big QB with long arms and big hands. There weren’t many to choose from in this draft to start so clearly he and Khan felt like they needed to pull the trigger. I firmly believe they could have taken Dunker here and Allar later in the third. I can’t prove that of course, but I’m confident enough to say it.
Allar has many of the intangibles but he’s also lacked the consistency to be a better QB. There is no doubting the arm talent is significant but QB Coach Tom Arth will have his hands full with the fundamentals. Allar never seemed to be the type of ‘clutch’ player you need at the position either. I honestly thought this was a perfect spot to grab a defensive lineman, safety or linebacker but clearly the Steelers felt differently.
What Allar’s selection means for the quarterback situation is unclear. I do not believe it affects the Aaron Rodgers situation but I do think it will have an effect on either Mason Rudolph or Will Howard. The Steelers just spent a third round pick on Allar. There’s no way they put him on the Practice Squad and risk losing him and I don’t see McCarthy carrying four QBs so someone is likely on the way out.
As strange as Round One was on Thursday night, Day Two said, “hold my beer.” As a sequel, it lived up to the billing but now we have that dreaded third movie today and those rarely go well. Here’s hoping this is more Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and less Godfather III.
