A Letter From the Editor: Who to trust in the Steelers NFL Draft process?
I always say I try to be as honest as possible in these commentary articles, and I stand by that. With that being said, let it be known I am not a college football fan.
I know this may sound like blasphemy to some, but I find the product too watered down. Too many teams, NIL money has complicated matters, and the transfer portal makes it difficult to follow players as they bounce from one program to the next with ease.
So, I focus on the NFL.
During the regular season I’m fine. I don’t just keep tabs on the Steelers, but also the rest of the league as I do many NFL based podcasts and I have to have a certain level of knowledge to be able to credibly speak on the entire league. But when the NFL Draft season rolls around, I feel like a fish out of water.
When people like Andrew Wilbar and Jeremy Betz treat this time of the offseason like their Super Bowl, I am just starting to get to know these top prospects in the upcoming selection process. By the time the draft rolls around I will have a good grasp on Day 1 and 2 prospects, but for Day 3 you might as well be speaking a foreign language talking about those late round prospects.
As I stated, this is the time of the calendar year when I start to do my homework and get to know the players who will be those Day 1 and 2 players to have their name called in Green Bay this year. But that’s where the problem starts. What you find out quickly is how the breakdowns, scouting report, and mock drafts are done by people who have vastly different perspectives on players, prospects and where they will be drafted.
For example, someone like Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN writes down his own team needs lists for all 32 teams, and when he does a mock draft he sees which player is available at that team need, and voila! He makes the pick. I’m not bashing Kiper, even though most do, but realize how difficult it would be to try and have a grasp on what all 32 teams are looking for throughout the draft process.
If you can’t trust those national media outlets, who can you trust?
Dave Schofield and I talked about this on the Steelers Preview podcast, and when I asked how Dave was feeling about the draft, he stated how we don’t know what the organization is truly thinking about players and prospects. He’s right, obviously so, to the fact we don’t truly know how the Steelers scouting department views specific positions and prospects ahead of the draft.
So, what’s the resolution to this conundrum?
For some they will target specific rankings and try to piece together their own Big Board of sorts, but those rankings can be shot down by any number of fans who feel those “experts” are anything but “experts”.
A simple google search for top quarterback rankings would perfectly illustrate just how crazy evaluating these players can be. Here are the CBS QB Rankings for the Top 5 signal callers in the upcoming crop of players:
- 8 – Cam Ward – Miami (Fla.)
- 24 – Shedeur Sanders – Colorado
- 48 – Jaxson Dart – Ole Miss
- 107 – Quinn Ewers – Texas
- 109 – Kyle McCord – Syracuse
For those who don’t know, the first number before the player’s name is their overall ranking among all players entering the draft.
But if I were to take these rankings and put them on social media, suggesting these are MY rankings, I’d be met with a series of comments suggesting I “don’t know ball” or I have “lost my mind”. After all, most pundits would suggest not having Jalen Milroe, or even Will Howard, above Ewers and McCord is a type of blasphemy.
The NFL Draft space is a very polarizing place, and a pool I don’t dip my toe into too often. Instead, I just stay in my lane, get a general knowledge of these players before the selections start, and then just react to the moves which are being made.
It’s a safe space for me.
As for who I trust for draft content? I’ll lean on my pal Jeremy Betz, and might tag in Andrew Wilbar one in a while, but ultimately I don’t try to be some know-it-all when it comes to something I don’t know much about. Let’s see how these next few weeks unfold, and let the picks start flying!
Be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the rest of free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft.
What do you want to know sir?
Do you like any of the QB’s the Steelers could pick?
I like something in all of them but each have their own individual flaws. Having a strong arm, ability to read pre and post snap and how do you play when play design breaks down.
No particular order
Milroe has a great arm and athletic ability but has absolutely no touch and his reads are inconsistent at best.
Dart has been blessed by a great system and does not go through progressions very well, often a step late. Has a decent enough arm and is decently accurate and can throw guys open.
Howard great size and does a solid job of moving up and around the pocket. Does a decent job of reading and going through progressions. Has great touch on the ball. Decent athlete and decent arm, lacks that zip on the ball. Not horrible throwing on the run but can get in trouble at the next level with bad placement. Not a ton of work from under center
Shough good size and has a some zip on his ball. Not the athlete that they seem to prefer but does have work in PA/RPO. Bevy of arm angles and can throw in tight coverage. On the move, he can throw with accuracy to both sides of the field. Not the best at reading what the defense is doing can get erratic when blitzed.
Rourke from Indiana who played in 2024 on a tore ACL. Mechanically sound as anyone in this class. Has most of the above the neck traits you want in a guy. True Pocket QB but can run the RPO game with precision. Doesn’t possess very good pocket awareness but if given time to run through his progressions, he will make the correct read and throw.
Wish I could take Milroe’s arm and athletic ability and put it with Rourke’s above the neck traits and blend in with Shough’s ability with the RPO and Howards size and you may have a shot at a franchise QB. If given the option I take Howard I guess over the guys I have listed. He showed up big time in the playoff run to the eventual championship and had some big games and moments against the better competition
Thanks! Great stuff.
Welcome and thanks
It’s not that I necessarily want to know anything. It’s the fact you can do some research on a prospect like Milroe, and then read the complete opposite in the next five minutes.
It’s the main reason I just sit out the draft season from true opinion. I will assess who the Steelers draft after they make their picks.
I was just messing around but I agree. That’s why you have to trust your own eyes.
Oh I get it. That’s where you college football fans have an advantage on me in that regard.
I just look at someone like Shadeur Sanders. Some have him going late Round 1, others in the Top 5.
How can so many people be so split on the same player and his capabilities?
Those split evals can be tricky but some of those evals can be bias. I’m sure some of that with Sanders is dad related?
I personally like to watch the highlights to form my own opinion, but if its someone I have never heard of or from a school I’m not familiar with, I’ll lean on Andrew and Jeremy.
I refuse to listen to Kiper. He’s like the PFF of the draft lol
I’ve done the highlight thing before, but you are only seeing the good plays. I know Andrew and Jeremy watch condensed games, but I just don’t have the time to do that.
Same here. The combine is my first look at the players, and then I check out a multitude of mocks to get a feel for the top 20 players, then see if I can wrap my head around maybe the top 50 before the draft. I never do mocks, I don’t see the point. I just try to get familiar with the top players, and the best options the Steelers could land – I dig into them after they’re Steelers.
All this being said, I am not blind to college football. I am familiar with players like Hunter, and Sanders, though both for very different reasons.
I’m the same way. Doing the Mock Draft Monday article allows me to learn more about who the Steelers could be looking at in Round 1. Also, I look at Roy Countryman’s stuff as well as Jeremy & Andrew. As the draft gets closer I run some of my own mock simulators just to get an idea of players who could be around later (especially since we do one on the Scho Bro Show every year). But names I see the Steelers maybe getting in Round 6 or 7 on the simulator I often see going on Day 2.
By the time the draft comes I’m usually up on players going Round 1 and part of Round 2, and have an idea of who could be on the Steelers radar the rest of Day 2. On Day 3, I’m usually looking at “who’s left” before they start which typically helps for Round 4. After that I’m trying to learn everything I can as soon as the pick is made in order to do the breaking news podcast. Usually I don’t have a clue who they are.
I am 100% the same Jeff. I do not follow college football. This past college season I probably saw a total of maybe 60 minutes of games — and that would be a total cumulative watch time including approximately 10-15 different games. I’m JUST a Steelers guy.
That said, for the past six years (minus 2021 when there was no combine) my wife and I go to 2-3 days of the combine. That allows me to put some eyeballs on some of the guys I’ve begun to check out. And I don’t begin to start checking them out until the day after the Steelers season concludes. Although, to be honest, this season ended so disgustingly that I didn’t even look at a draft profile for 2-3 weeks. And then after the combine, I’ll start doing some mock drafts for the sole purpose of reading a wide plethora of draft profiles. I’ll read profiles from this site and from Steel City Insider (the aforementioned Roy Countryman) and then one sight I have come to like and trust that is devoted to draft profiles (https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/). By the time the draft roles around, I have a decent idea — at least in the areas I believe the Steelers are looking — of enough players to get me through day 2. After that, it’s all downhill in my “knowledge”. 🙂
Do you think the Combine is a good event to attend as a fan? I know for media it makes sense, but from a perspective of a fan, what are your thoughts?
Probably not for the “average fan”. It is exactly what people say it is — underwear Olympics. However, that said, I thoroughly enjoy it because typically by the time it rolls around, I’ve read 100+ draft profiles so I sort of know who and what I’m looking at. I have zero skill in evaluating talent, but even so, it is SUPER easy to pick out guys and certain drills that stand out. What I mean is after seeing 50-60 WR and 40-50 RB going through the gauntlet drill, it’s really easy to see who’s acing it. Same thing with all the CoD drills and of course the 40s speak for themselves. Even with the 40s, the first time through, the times are listed nowhere inside the stadium (although Daniel Jeremiah and Rich Eisen are announcing them on the NFL Network that we can listen to in headphones in the stadium). But it doesn’t matter. After a couple runs, it’s easy to see the dudes that are just flying. I’ve also found it interesting how quickly your mind/eye can adjust the “what’s fast” dial between watching the WRs run and then the OL or the DL.
All that to say, it’s not great spectator sport, but it’s very enjoyable for me. The crowds are typically HUGE for the QB/WR day (10,000-15,000 or so). The other days, much smaller crowds (5,000-8,000 maybe). This year we were there on Friday (DB/TE), Saturday (QB/WR/RB) and Sunday (OL). As I said, I enjoy it.
I’d be into it. I want to see how the guys interact with each other, are there guys that others are gravitating to, who’s standoffish, who’s genuinely cheering on his group, etc. You can learn a lot about a guy by what he’s doing when he thinks no one’s watching.
And there is a lot of that to see in the on-field stuff Joe. Some guys just play to the crowd really well and you can see them getting genuinely excited for the other guys in their group.
I forgot to add Matt Williamson to my list of trusted draft guys.
Wilbar and Betz are great. I do think the general narrative is normally correct. Last year was said to be a big qb class and it was. Pickett’s class was said to be a weaker class and it was. This years class seems to be weaker, with Cam Ward being the 3-5 qb in last years draft. Obviously there’s still so much that you can’t predict in terms of whether or not a player can make it in the nfl, but in general, I feel that the overall sentiment of a class can be a good gauge on what you’re dealing with. A guy like Anthony Richardson sky rocketed up boards and I think we’re seeing why he was initially ranked where he was.
I agree. The expert consensus on a macro level is generally on the mark. They’ll miss on individual players, but when they all generally agree on the class it’s pretty real.