What We Learned From Steelers First Draft of Omar Khan Era
The 2023 NFL Draft cycle has officially come to a close, but before moving on to minicamp, it's important to recap the most electrifying weekend in sports, and the Pittsburgh Steelers' action under a new general manager.
Omar Khan has been in draft rooms for quite a while but this year was different, as he was the captain of the ship. It's pretty clear that he's a skilled sailor after the Steelers knocked this draft out of the park on paper.
What can we learn about his first rodeo that could give us a better understanding of things to come?
Moving Up and Down the Board
Khan made a couple of notable trades this past weekend. First, he moved up three spots to secure Broderick Jones, who the team hopes is Kenny Pickett's long-term blind side protector. In order to recoup the fourth-round pick needed to move up in the first round, the Steelers traded back in the third round to gain more day three draft capital.
Under previous general manager Kevin Colbert, Pittsburgh was consistently one of the most stagnant teams with him preferring to stay put in the order more often than not. With Khan in charge, that seems to be changing.
Not Afraid to Take Chances
Year in and year out, the NFL Draft is one of the more difficult spectacles to predict. Mainly because the media isn't privy to private medical information that could lead to players potentially falling or being removed from team's boards altogether. It seems like that was the case with tight end Darnell Washington and cornerback Cory Trice, both of whom reportedly fell further than everyone expected for similar injury-related concerns. Obviously, the Steelers medical staff had to sign off on these players previously and only they know the risk associated with these two picks but the value could pay massive dividends in the long run.
Prioritizing Elite Athletes
The NFL is generally drawn towards great athletes every year but this year’s Steelers class is particularly athletic, with only one of their seven draft picks falling short of the elite threshold set by the Relative Athletic Score (RAS) metric.
Every team values testing metrics and measurable thresholds differently but they're important to keep an eye on if you're trying to gain a better understanding of what they could be looking at for each position. Being athletic doesn't guarantee that all of these guys will be great players but history says that it certainly helps and that's worth getting at least somewhat excited over.
Pro Days and Top-30 Visits Still Key
Pittsburgh's brass was heavily represented by their head minds in charge (both Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin) at the Georgia Pro Day, continuing their trend of first-round draft pick selections. Teams use top-30 visits for various different reasons but all with the main goal of continuing to gather information in one way or another.
The Steelers first five selections in the 2023 NFL Draft all had a top-30 visit with the organization in the weeks leading up to the event. Just based on some very brief research, that strong of a correlation is pretty rare and while these visits have always mattered in years past, this trend could be growing stronger.
Investments At Cornerback
Joey Porter Jr. is the Steelers' highest draft player at the cornerback position since 2016, and the team opted to stay put at 32 to select him instead of trading back for a significant haul of draft capital. Prior to this weekend, the team hasn't even selected a cornerback since 2019 with them choosing to place band-aid's on the position with cost-controlled veterans instead.
2023 was much different, as we saw them even double dip at the position by adding Cory Trice Jr. late in the seventh round. Having not taken a cornerback in the past several years, the cupboard was pretty dry so this could be a move based more on need than anything else. However, it's certainly possible that they'll follow suit with the rest of the league and start prioritizing this premium position.
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