Home 2014 NFL Draft Predicting the Steelers Big Board

Predicting the Steelers Big Board

by Steelbydesign

colbertWith such an unusually deep draft class this year I’ve found a lot of people giving a pretty common response when I talk about a particular prospect for the Steelers.

“Oh, there’s no way that guy will be there when the Steelers pick at 15.”

That’s never a good thing to say in any class really. We heard that plenty when people openly wished that the Steelers could land a guard like David DeCastro. I saw some say Mike Adams wouldn’t be there for the Steelers in the first round!

This year in particular there’s just so much talent, that until you really break it down and look at just the number of guys, it’s easy to think someone is too talented to be there at 15.

So, I took a shot at what I think the Steelers’ “Big Board” might look like. Meaning they would cross guys off the list and select the highest available at their pick…

1. Jadaveon Clowney
2. Sammy Watkins
3. Jake Matthews
4. Greg Robinson
5. Khalil Mack
6. Mike Evans
7. Justin Gilbert
8. Eric Ebron
9. CJ Mosley
10. HaHa Clinton-Dix
11. Kelvin Benjamin
12. Taylor Lewan
13. Darquenze Dennard
14. Kyle Fuller
15. Ra’Shede Hageman

When you look at that list, and realize the Steelers are guaranteed to have the chance to land one of those guys, it makes you realize they’re going to get a good player.

I’m not all that high on a few at the end like Dennard or Fuller (at 15 anyway), but there’s a VERY good chance that Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, and Johnny Manziel go in the top 14 picks.

That means you’re likely looking at one of the top 12 on that list being available at the 15th pick.

Plenty of other prospects could jump into the top 15 as well such as Anthony Barr, Louis Nix, Tommy Jerinigan, Derek Carr, Aaron Donald, Marqise Lee, Kony Ealy, or Zach Martin.

When you look at past drafts, sometimes guys that nobody is talking about before hand jumps into the first round. D.J. Hayden, Bruce Irvin, and Tyson Alualu are a few examples of that happening.

For me, the top 10 on that list are elite prospects, and I’d be extremely happy to come away with any, and one of them being there could very well happen. It should make for an exciting draft.

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3 comments

bob graff March 8, 2014 - 1:55 pm

I think your article’s dead on. The two players who i personally would avoid are Benjamin and Nix. And that’s just my take on this draft i could be dead wrong. With all the needs on this team and the talent level in this draft we should come away with some quality players in the first 4 rounds.

Ron March 8, 2014 - 5:42 pm

would love to see Justin Gilbert be the one to drop this year, but not likely. Mike Evans would be my second choice. I think Dix is the most likely one to drop though. Agree that Benjamin or Nix would be a bad choice in first round. Might be a year to trade down and pick up a couple of extra picks due to the amount of holes we have.

Steelers Big Board 2.0 » Steel City Blitz April 30, 2014 - 4:40 pm

[…] Back at the beginning of March, I tried to take a stab at guessing what the top 15 players on the Steelers big board would look like. Take a look here if you missed it. […]

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