SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The ‘Draft Rewind’ Edition

Good Monday  to you Steelers fans.

And just like that… It’s over.

The 2024 NFL Draft is now in the review mirror and its time to focus on the aftermath. In case you were under a rock this past weekend – and who could blame you these days – here are the Pittsburgh Steelers Draft selections.

1. Troy Fautanu – OT, Washington
2. Zach Frazier – C, West Virginia
3. Roman Wilson – WR, Michigan
4. Payton Wilson – LB, NC State
5. Mason McCormick – G, South Dakota State
6. Logan Lee – DL, Iowa
7. Ryan Watts – CB/DB Texas

The Steelers have also added the following UDFAs or Undrafted Free Agents.

Beanie Bishop, CB, West Virginia
Daijun Edwards, RB, Georgia
John Rhys Plumlee, QB, Central Florida
Julius Welschof, LB, Charlotte
Jacoby Windmon, LB, Michigan State

Plumlee is an interesting guy in that there are some who believe he could play tight end. For now I believe he’ll simply be a Training Camp ‘Arm’ if you will.

Dual Podcasts

Believe it or not we recorded over six hours of the SCB Steelers Podcast presented by DEK Roofing Inc between Thursday night and Friday night. I’m very proud of these shows for the simple reason that we had some great engagement from viewers and some terrific Draft talk. We also wandered into other things during some of the down time between Steelers’ picks. Here are episodes 366 and 367 if you want to catch up.

My Annual Statement Regarding “Grades”

I will never understand grades for Drafts that just happened. My rule of thumb has always been that you can’t truly grade draft until three seasons have passed. Did anyone know for example that the 1974 Draft would produce four Hall of Fame players two days after it ended? The answer to that is “no.”Here’s what I will say about this Draft however… The Steelers addressed their most pressing needs especially in the first two rounds. While I don’t view Roman Wilson as a number two WR, I believe he will still have an impact. Payton Wilson is all ‘boom or bust’ because of his injury history. Mason McCormick has a legitimate chance to be a starter down the road while Logan Lee and Ryan Watts are nothing more than depth pieces right now, if that.

Starters??

I believe it is more than fair to pencil in both Fautanu and Frazier as opening day starters at tackle and center respectively. Because Arthur Smith likes two-tight end sets, I wouldn’t put Wilson in as a starter but he’ll see significant playing time. Outside that, I believe McCormick and P. Wilson are backups.

Test Case?

The city of Detroit packed in over 700,000 people over three days this past weekend which was a record crowd for a Draft. Next year, the Draft moves to Lambeau Field and Green Bay. If you’ve never been before, Lambeau sits in the middle of a working class neighborhood and while they’ve built ‘TitleTown’ around it, there will still be major concerns about lodging, travel etc. Both Detroit and Green Bay will serve as test cases for the city of Pittsburgh. The Steelers have put in to host a Draft and have a couple of options of where to set things up but do they have the lodging? Pittsburgh is within driving distance of several NFL cities like Cleveland, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Buffalo. Those teams would likely have big contingents of fans there. We shall see.