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I’ve been having a lot of fun the past 24 hours doing the draft simulator which was shared on Behind The Steel Curtain on Sunday. I’ve gone through several different runs all the way to the end, but I have had more drafts which I gave up on partway through. The biggest reason was because I made it to round six only to realize I had two picks remaining and three or four positions I felt the Steelers needed to address. The more I thought about it, the harder it was to narrow down the choices of exactly which positions to take.
With most of the draft, I was going strictly by best player available after ruling out a couple positions. I didn’t have the Steelers taking a quarterback, except for maybe one draft just to see how it played out. For that particular simulation, grabbing a QB made it extremely difficult to address other needs I felt the Steelers should address. But no matter what I did, I always felt I was leaving at least one position out of the draft which I felt the Steelers should try to do something this season.
As those of you all who have read several of my articles could guess, I didn’t draft a running back almost every time. I was willing to do it if the right player was there for the Steelers first pick, but they rarely were. So even though I was having difficulty filling out my draft with the positions I thought the Steelers should address, I still wasn’t including every position which others felt necessary.
So which position is going to be left out?
For me, I see the Steelers still drafting a decent amount of defensive players in 2020. Although the question was brought up about the defense being the stronger unit of the two at this point, I still feel the depth is lacking on defense much more than on offense. My bottom line conclusion is this: Offense needs upgrades, defense needs depth. Of course, players drafted this year do not necessarily have to be large contributors in 2020. It does not make it impossible for them to be such, but they could work in minor roles this year in order to have more of an impact in 2021.
With all of this in mind, there were several positions I felt the Steelers would/should address in the 2020 draft. In no particular order, those positions are: offensive tackle, offensive guard/center, wide receiver, defensive tackle (nose tackle), edge rusher, inside linebacker, and safety. Right away, there are more positions that are listed than the Steelers have draft picks. The list doesn’t even include running back, tight end, cornerback, and quarterback which some people feel need to be addressed. In several of my mock drafts I had taken a couple of those positions and found myself struggling to fulfill all the team needs. It goes to show how much of a challenge it is to address everything in the draft.
So now it is up to you all. What positions are you okay if the Steelers do not address them in the 2020 NFL draft? They have six draft picks, so if you’re looking at a list of 10 positions then you need to say four you would be content with leaving out. Obviously, things such as place kicker or long snapper are not something that must be included.
Since it is a question which requires multiple responses, a poll will not work in this case. Please leave which positions you think would be acceptable if the Steelers did not draft a player in that role in 2020. Remember, this is not about players but only positions.
I’ll go first: QB, RB, TE, OT (or OG), CB and NT. I don’t see it necessary to have to add a quarterback, and I’ve made my case in the past about the Steelers have a lot of depth at running back so they don’t have to take one. With the addition of Eric Ebron, tight end is less of a need for this season unless the right one is there at the right time. As long as the Steelers address one position of the offensive line, they wouldn’t have to do both. And, unless the Steelers find the right player to help at the nose tackle/defensive tackle position, it also is not worth it. Even with the loss of Artie Burns, I feel the Steelers still have better depth at corner especially since Burns wasn’t even active at the end of last season.