He signs for a hair over minimum and solidifies our depth at LT and guard. I figured we’d have a signing or two like this somewhere before the draft.

This solidifies Steelers depth on OL like Frazier and Harrison did at LB and Bryant does at CB. The Steelers are now in position to take the BPA on draft day and not have to reach in round 1 for a T, G or CB.
Only real position of need now is for a #3 WR if Sweed busts.

…we all love to speculate on who they should take in the draft but one thing it seems the steelers have learned is that you never know what the draft will bring you. i’m sure the FO did its homework on, but didn’t anticipate getting, mendenhall last year, or santonio a few years back, or big ben in 04. i read somewhere that kevin colbert was thrilled that woodley was still there in round 2 two years back, and even though they’d taken timmons in the first round they grabbed woodley anyway. that’s how they operate. other teams might have said, “we already took the linebacker we needed, now we need a center,” but not them. i’m sure everyone has a guy they would absolutely love us to take (alex mack for me), but the essex signing tells me the FO knows better than to go into the draft with a definitive plan. i expect them to roll with it on draft day and to trust that they can draft well enough to add the depth they need no matter what order they do it in. given the track record, we should trust they’ll get it right.