If you came up with a list of words to describe the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offseason in advance of the draft, I don’t think these would have made the cut:
Clinical. Crisp. Clean. Coordinated. Procedural. Organized. Well orchestrated.
The fact that it’s almost May and the club’s three rostered quarterbacks are Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson and Will Howard is indicative of that.
So is the mounting possibility that we might know who the Kentucky Derby winner is before we know if Aaron Rodgers is a Steeler.
Also, George Pickens unfollowed the team on Instagram, and T.J. Watt is using that platform to send out cryptic messages that have everyone speculating about his contract negotiations.
Nope. January through Easter weren’t great for the Black and Gold in terms of public perception. But, aside from the QB situation, we do have to give the Steelers credit for their marriage of draft preparation and free agent/trade acquisitions.
Even recent critics of the franchise — myself included — applauded most of the picks the Steelers made in the draft over the weekend.
Well, except ESPN’s Mel Kiper. His designated ombudsman routine for Shedeur Sanders is a story for another day.
Much like in free agency and the trade market, during this weekend’s draft, the Steelers did a laudable job of identifying good players, in the proper rounds of the draft, at positions of need.
I can’t think of one of their picks that could be deemed as a luxury or reach. Even Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer makes sense when you factor in that the team had to trade for Preston Smith last year and the hopes that the coaching staff had for hybrid DL/OLB DeMarvin Leal appear to have faded.
On average, based on ESPN’s draft rankings, the Steelers’ first five picks were taken 15.8 slots later than their projections. Largely, that’s good value.
That happened because the Steelers did admirable work when it came to attacking free agency and trades in March with an educated eye in advance of a draft pool that had some noticeable holes in it.
Specifically in areas of need on their current roster.
• This was a rare down year for wide receivers. So the franchise traded its second-round pick (that may have been used on a receiver anyway if they retained it) to Seattle for DK Metcalf. The organization has also made the decision to — for better or worse — hold on to Pickens through his looming contract drama.
Good luck with that second part. But if they couldn’t get a good return for him, so be it. Let’s see if Metcalf and Pickens turn into the lethal combination general manager Omar Khan keeps claiming they will be.
Once he figures out who will be throwing them the ball of course.
• The front office knew it was a deep year for running backs, with a projected 35 draftable players available at the position. Twenty-five of them were eventually selected.
So Pittsburgh let Najee Harris walk in free agency and got Kaleb Johnson in Round 3, the No. 5 RB available on ESPN’s board at Pick No. 83.
• As our “Breakfast With Benz” Draft analyst Matt Williamson said, this was a sparse year for help in the secondary. The Steelers needed some.
So Khan signed Darius Slay, Brandin Echols and Juan Thornhill in advance of the draft.
Not exactly a reconstruction of Rod Woodson, Carnell Lake and Darren Perry in the ’90s. But it prevented the team from having to reach for a defensive back in the fourth or fifth round, and allowed it to get useful front seven components in Sawyer and Yahya Black.
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• Defensive line was a glaring need. It was also a strength of this draft. Mike Tomlin and Khan wisely avoided the temptation of throwing around available free-agent dollars with an eye toward using draft assets instead.
They walked away with Derrick Harmon in the first round and Black in the fifth. Harmon was the 21st pick. He was ESPN’s 15th-rated player.
At this point, you might be asking, “Tim, aren’t you just using ESPN’s rankings as a way to prove your point about the Steelers finding good draft value because you want to take veiled shots at Kiper for his criticism of the Steelers draft?”
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Yes. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing. Good instinct by you. Although, I’d argue with the phrase “veiled shots.” I prefer to think those shots are pretty direct.
After the draft, I asked Khan and Tomlin if the moves in March intentionally dovetailed with homework they had done for the draft in April.
“When free agency hit, we had had enough time to analyze the draft pool, and we recognized that maybe those were probably good locations to invest in terms of veteran NFL guys. So that’s why we did it,” Tomlin said.
Khan agreed with Tomlin’s sentiments.
“When you start the process, you hope that it’s going to work out perfectly for you the way you want it. It just doesn’t happen. There are a lot of variables that cause you to have to adjust, and you have to be flexible. You have to be light on your feet,” Khan said. “You’d love to get X, Y and Z. Sometimes you do. Sometimes you don’t. The way it worked out this year, it really worked (well) for us.”
All except quarterback — at least for now. Let’s check back in around Memorial Day and see if Rodgers is on board by then.
I’m kidding … I think.
Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter recap the Steelers 2025 draft choices