We are officially in Mock Draft month. No this is no April Fool’s Day prank, we are officially 24 days away from the 2024 NFL Draft. Unlike the last few mock drafts I’ve been posting, this will be the first time I have done a Steelers Mock.
You guys are gonna get some great content as I will be posting a mock draft every Monday until the draft. If you can count properly (I know it’s hard) you will know that’s four mock drafts. Here will be the schedule of releases.
April 1st – Steelers Mock Draft
April 8th – Mock Draft 4.0 (Two Rounds)
April 15th Steelers Mock Draft 2.0 (With Trades)
April 22nd (Final NFL Mock Draft for 2024)
With all information now poured into your brains, let us get started with my first ever Steelers Mock Draft.
Round 1 – Pick 20
Jackson Powers-Johnson (IOL/Oregon)
Starting off, the Steelers should prioritize the fact that we haven’t had a good starting center since Maurkice Pouncey. JPJ is the best center in this class, and yes I am prioritizing this over offensive tackle. This is a very deep tackle class. The Steelers can easily take one in the later rounds. The questionable medicals might be pushing him down the boards so some coaches are becoming less enthralled with JPJ, but we as Steelers fans have seen enough of the “Mason Coles” of the world. We need a starting center for the next ten years. That is JPJ.
Round 2 – Pick 51
Edgerrin Cooper (LB/Texas A&M)
Pittsburgh has been attempting to find the answer to the linebacker question ever since Ryan Shazier went down with an injury. They made progress by signing one of the best young linebackers in football with the former Baltimore Raven Patrick Queen. However, Cole Holcomb’s timetable for return is still uncertain, and Elandon Roberts is good, but not great. Edgerrin Cooper has the physical traits coupled with elite speed to get the job done. Putting my Texas A&M bias aside, the Steelers will have the best young linebacker duo of Queen and Cooper if they select him with this pick.
Round 3 – Pick 84
Ricky Pearsall (WR/Florida)
When the Steelers traded Diontae Johnson for Donte Jackson and a bag of peanuts, the plan now also called for Pittsburgh to get a wide receiver. So far some moves for this position have raised some eyebrows with acquiring the likes of Van Jefferson and Quez Watkins. Some small part of me believes the Steelers might trade for Brandon Aiyuk on draft night. However, if that doesn’t happen, the Steelers are experts are drafting wide receivers. At this point, the best one available was Florida’s Ricky Pearsall. He is exactly the type of receiver we will be looking for. He has great route running ability with some speedy upside. He also has similar measurements to Johnson which could put him in a very similar role for this team.
Round 3 – Pick 98
Kiran Amegadjie (OT/Yale)
The Kenny Pickett trade lands us our solution to move Broderick Jones back to left tackle and replace the god awful Dan Moore Jr. Kiran Amegadjie is regarded as a top tackle of the third round and is high on my personal tackle rankings as a prospect. I believe he has the unique skill set to play left or right tackle. He played right guard in 2021 and played left tackle in 2022. He can either learn the skills of right tackle (which I believe he can do) and move Broderick to left tackle or he can just simply replace Moore Jr. I think he’ll be a good right tackle though.
Round 4 – Pick 119
Khyree Jackson (CB/Oregon)
With our 4th round pick, the Steelers find the number two corner to play opposite of Joey Porter Jr. Khyree Jackson’s size and jump ability are a key factor to give the Steelers that big outside presence. He’s a great tackler and he can learn quite a deal from this Pittsburgh system. As for Donte Jackson, he can apply his ability as the slot corner. This is just a great match for Khyree and the Steelers.
Round 6 – Pick 178
Joe Milton (QB/Tennessee)
Some people might be thinking that we have two picks for the starting quarterback already. Why would we draft one? To be honest, Wilson and Fields are the only two quarterbacks we have on the roster. So excuse me for wanting to have a backup plan in case neither work out. Milton’s main trait is his arm talent. Dude has got a cannon, but he completed just 38.6% of his throws beyond ten yards in 2023. If you want him to learn how to throw an accurate deep ball why wouldn’t you have him learn from the best deep ball thrower in the NFL with Russell Wilson. His touchdown to interception ratio is good too with 32 touchdowns against five interceptions in his three seasons with Tennessee. I would love this selection.
Round 6 – Pick 195
Sione Vaki (S/Utah)
The last pick for this Steelers mock draft is the Utah safety Sione Vaki. The safety position seems covered at the moment with both Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliot set to start the season. Right now, depth at this position is mostly what I am looking for because we still have Thompson and hopefully Kazee as well. Sione Vaki has his ups and downs, but I think he could learn quite a few things from this safety group. Time will tell.
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