Steelers News: With the 2020 NFL Draft class, a clear message was sent to specific players

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2020 NFL Draft is officially over. After finishing last year 8-8, the Steelers, and their vast fan base, have another long offseason awaiting them. Just because the games are done doesn’t mean we stop providing you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over throughout the offseason!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at how how a very clear message was sent to many Steelers with the 2020 NFL Draft class.

Let’s get to the news:

• Message sent, and hopefully received, for many current members of the 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers roster.

Tim Benz: Steelers front office, coaches send messages to offensive players

By: Tim Benz, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Who says we’ll never return to normalcy, Steelers fans? We’re there right now.

For weeks my Twitter timeline, email inbox and column comments have been littered with vitriol from both sides of the coronavirus debate. For every 50 people that want us to storm the state capital building with machine guns, there are 50 people who get offended if you suggest it’s wise to lift stay-at-home restrictions at any time before Christmas.

As of Saturday evening, though, all I saw were Steelers fans telling me that the organization had a perfect draft, Minkah Fitzpatrick counts as the first-round pick, and the team was going to go 16-0.

Or Steelers fans telling me the whole draft stinks and that both general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin should’ve been fired while they were still on their Zoom press conference at the end of the draft.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• For some, the addition of Chase Claypool equals the end of the road for JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Mark Madden says JuJu Smith-Schuster won’t be with Steelers in 2021, ‘no matter what’

By: Tim Benz, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden and I recap the NFL Draft. We do so from a Steelers standpoint to start.

Mark and I are of the same opinion that the franchise didn’t have much to play with, and they didn’t exactly make a lot happen.

They got the 11th wide receiver off the board. They took a backup outside linebacker from a mid-tier conference. They failed to get one of the top four running backs in the draft. They didn’t find a potential replacement for Javon Hargrave until the seventh round. And nothing was done to offset Mark Barron’s snaps.

So how much did the 2020 Steelers really improve from 2019? Mark and I try to determine that.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• A recap of the Steelers Day 2 of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Labriola on Day 2 of the NFL Draft

By: Bob Labriola, Steelers.com

They are two of the critical elements of winning football at the professional level, and coming off the 2019 season the Steelers knew they had to take steps to improve one element and maintain the other. After sitting out Thursday’s first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, they used their two picks on Friday’s second day to address those things.

Last season, the Steelers got close to making the playoffs but ultimately fell short, and if one particular failure was to be assigned culpability for that it would be finishing tied-for-last in the NFL in scoring offensive touchdowns. While there were 15 teams that scored 40-or-more offensive touchdowns over the course of the 2019 regular season, the Steelers and the New York Jets were at the bottom of the pile with 25 each. That had to change, and change significantly.

On the other side, the Steelers either had led the league or tied for the league lead in sacks in each of the previous three seasons, but when the team had to cut Anthony Chickillo earlier this offseason to get into compliance with the salary cap, the defense found itself precariously thin at the key pass-rushing position of outside linebacker. And while Bud Dupree’s services had been secured for 2020 through the application of the franchise tag, there is a real danger of being unable to keep him beyond the 2020 season.

To help their offense, they used their first pick in this draft, the 49th overall, on Notre Dame wide receiver Chase Claypool. There are two things about Claypool that indicate he could be someone to help increase the number of offensive touchdowns in 2020, and those are his size/speed ratio, and the fact he averaged a touchdown per game in 2019.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• BTSC articles you may have missed...

Mel Kiper Jr. is not a fan of the Steelers’ 2020 draft class

Anthony McFarland is an exciting running back

Chase Claypool = a big-time playmaker and gives the Steelers options on offense

A scouting report on Chase Claypool coming out of Notre Dame

Does the Madden game realistically represent the Steelers?

• Social Media Madness