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First off, I'm very grateful to all of you that voted. BTSC wouldn't be the best Pittsburgh Steelers site around without the support of our incredible community (both active commenters and passive readers), so when it came time to pick for our favorite team in our community mock draft, it only made sense to trust your vote.
With the 15th pick, the Pittsburgh Steelers select Darqueze Dennard, CB, Michigan State.
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
There are perfectly reasonable arguments for why each of the top vote-getters should be the pick here. There are also perfectly reasonable criticisms for why each one of them should not be. What matters most here is that Dennard won in an absolute runaway - with more than 2.5 times as many votes as the second place finisher.
I'm not going to talk at length about Dennard, as anything I might say would just be rehashing much more interesting work that's elsewhere on the site - like Steel34D's illustrated breakdown of Dennard or Tony Defeo's musings on the Steelers' 17-year disinterest in drafting 1st round corners and how there's a time for every trend to end. Dennard may not be the sexiest height/weight/speed prospect (5'11, 200 lbs, 4.51 40-time at the Combine), but he must have consistently been able to do a lot of things right to be named the best defensive back in college football this past year.
Aside from Cortez Allen, there are no young, drafted corners currently being developed in the Steelers' system. Couple that bare cupboard with Ike Taylor almost certainly set to play his final season in the black and gold, and Dennard could well be the first of what will almost certainly be multiple picks for young blood to shore up the secondary.
2014 NFL Draft Prospects
Team | Player | Pos | School | BTSC rep/link to pick | |
1 | ![]() |
Blake Bortles | QB | UCF | SteelerWolf |
2 |
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Johnny Manziel | QB | Texas A&M | Jack Finn |
3 | ![]() |
Teddy Bridgewater | QB | Louisville | twault |
4 | ![]() |
Jadeveon Clowney | DE | South Carolina | Double-Eagle |
5 | ![]() |
Jake Matthews | OT | Texas A&M | diehardsteelerfan625 |
6 | ![]() |
Khalil Mack | LB | Buffalo | Erik Stone |
7 | ![]() |
Sammy Watkins | WR | Clemson | TheCommish |
8 | ![]() |
C.J. Mosley | LB | Alabama | VinnySteel |
9 | ![]() |
Greg Robinson | OT | Auburn | Sean Geddes |
10 | ![]() |
Anthony Barr | OLB | UCLA | JDSpartan |
11 | ![]() |
Justin Gilbert | CB | Oklahoma St | slatts17 |
12 | ![]() |
Mike Evans | WR | Texas A&M | omara891 |
13 | ![]() |
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix | S | Alabama | Panther pride 76 |
14 | ![]() |
Aaron Donald | DT | Pittsburgh | Michael Uhlhorn |
15 | ![]() |
Darqueze Dennard | CB | Michigan St | (community vote) |
16 | ![]() |
steeler fever | |||
17 | ![]() |
Steelers_Fan_to_the_Core | |||
18 | ![]() |
DropTheHammer | |||
19 | ![]() |
steeler_chris_5 | |||
20 | ![]() |
Wichita SunSteeler | |||
21 | ![]() |
(?)barnerburner(?) | |||
22 | ![]() |
c63tho | |||
23 | ![]() |
WelcomeToReality | |||
24 | ![]() |
Steel Spike | |||
25 | ![]() |
L-Ray | |||
26 |
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AMKrup | |||
27 | ![]() |
Ike Evans | |||
28 | ![]() |
asmith87 | |||
29 | ![]() |
furthur56 | |||
30 | ![]() |
Collision Course | |||
31 | ![]() |
alexryan | |||
32 | ![]() |
Thoroughbred of Sin |