Regardless of what I write below, fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers will still be thrilled, enraged or somewhere in between when the team makes its first selection Thursday night. All of us, myself included, will have strong opinions. What we must all keep in mind however is that the Steelers know far more about the player they will have selected than we ever will and that matters.
For most of us, we watch film. We watch highlights and game tape for any number of potential Steelers’ draft picks. Some will scour social media in search of the accounts of these young men in order to look for red flags or maybe how involved they are within their community.
The point I’m getting at is this; we might have watched hours of film and read the draft reports from numerous evaluators but… We don’t really know the player the way the Steelers do.
Assuming the Steelers sit at 21, we will all have strong takes on who they should select. It doesn’t matter what position they play or what school they are from, the Steelers truly know these guys and we don’t. They met with them as a group where Omar Khan, Mike Tomlin and company evaluated the individual. I’m certain that there were one-on-one meetings with said player and Tomlin and Khan. There were likely whiteboard sessions to test a player’s knowledge and overall football I.Q.
But there are also medical checks and again, this is where folks like us are less than knowledgeable. Take Will Johnson, the highly touted cornerback from Michigan. Yesterday we learned that one team has flagged a knee issue for him. This may not be a problem in the short term but has the potential to be a major issue during his career.
How many other players are out there with similar issues? This is again what separates the team from the rest of us. As former General Manager Kevin Colbert once said, “You aren’t just drafting the player. You’re drafting their family and friends as well.” That statement could not be more accurate and is yet another example of the things the team knows and we don’t.
To further this point, there is much speculation about Shedeur Sanders falling to the Steelers. Most of us understand that you aren’t just drafting him, but you’re drafting his father Deion as well. Many of us feel like we know what that means but it’s the Steelers’ brass that matters.
So when the Steelers make their selections this weekend, keep in mind that they know far more than we do. And that matters.
