Let’s go back to Thursday afternoon, hours before the Steelers stepped to the podium on what was until then a historically glorious night for the city.
If I would have asked you for a worst-case scenario in Round 1, what would you have said?
Maybe something like this?
Worst case, the Steelers just sit there while the best picks fly off the board, then get on the phone with the player they want at 21 — say, USC’s Makai Lemon — and tell him they’re about to pick him, only to see the Ravens, Browns or Bengals swoop in to steal him. … No, wait, maybe the Eagles dunking on them would be worse since we’re already getting our faces shoved in it by the Flyers. I mean, if the Eagles stole him and the whole world learned of it while the Steelers war room celebrated their Plan B choice like they’d won a playoff game or something? Can you imagine?
Well, yes. We can. Because that is precisely what happened. The only thing I didn’t add was that the Eagles’ social media team then went full Owen Tippett and hammered the Steelers by posting the Ian Rapoport clip on how this all went down under the caption: “lol, go @NHLFlyers.”
And for the record, as millions around the world watched, the Rapoport clip went like this:
“Let me set the scene for you: The Dallas Cowboys were on the clock at 20 with everyone knowing they were going defense. Pittsburgh Steelers get on the phone with Makai Lemon, planning to select him next at 21. Except what they didn’t know is that the Eagles had actually traded up over them, were trying to get in touch with Lemon, but he wasn’t answering because he was already on the phone with the Steelers. In the end, the Eagles do the trade. They get Makai Lemon, and the Steelers grab a tackle right after.”
Nobody is calling Steelers general manager Omar Khan the “Khan Artist” this morning, because it would appear that he got played like a fiddle by Eagles GM Howie Roseman.
This might have been the worst Steelers fumble since Rashard Mendenhall, and it played out even as Aaron Rodgers continues to make them look bad.
To compound matters, Khan took yet another offensive tackle to add to his collection. I realize the Steelers have a Broderick Jones problem — he was underachieving and now is injured — but does Khan think the team with the most first-round tackles gets a playoff bye?
Indeed, as a search across profootballreference.com reveals, the Steelers became the first AFC team of the Super Bowl era to take three first-round tackles in a four-year span (the Lions and Saints have done it in the NFC).
I suppose it’s possible somebody moves to guard. And to be fair, nobody would deny that Arizona State tackle Max Iheanachor is an enticing prospect at 6-foot-6, 321 pounds with amazing athletic ability. Anybody who goes from never having played a down of football to becoming a star player in the Big 12 in five years has to grab your attention.
Iheanachor obviously catches on pretty fast. If that continues in the NFL, the Steelers will look right. On the other hand, how does a project tackle help a 42-year-old quarterback?
Anyway, this isn’t really about Iheanachor. It’s about Khan’s fumble — and although reporters did not know of the ill-fated phone call when Khan and coach Mike McCarthy met with them, they were plenty curious about the pick and wondering if Khan had designs on moving up in the first round.
“We didn’t want to trade away from this player,” he said, while the rest of the planet was learning that “this player” wasn’t the player the Steelers really wanted.
Khan also spoke of how the Steelers now have “options” up front on offense.
“Position flexibility is huge,” McCarthy added.
I guess I’d have rather heard something like, “We just got our left tackle for the next decade.” But that’s just me.
Meanwhile …
• The city itself never looked so gorgeous. ESPN did a fabulous job of showcasing it. There is no bad view of the skyline. I could imagine people around the country and the world marveling at the shots of Pittsburgh at night.
• What a sight it was watching Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger walk onto the podium together at the beginning of the draft, not to mention Hines Ward and Lynn Swann (I’m assuming Antonio Brown was not available). All of it catnip for Steelers fans, who obviously made for a good part of the estimated 320,000 in attendance.
Can you imagine if Jack Lambert had walked onto the stage? People would have passed out.
• ESPN hit all the right notes leading up to the Steelers pick: a clip of Myron Cope talking Terrible Towel; Styx introducing “Renegade”; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell taking the stage with Jerome Bettis. Fabulous stuff.
• Man, we’re all going to watch the Ty Simpson story unfold over these next few years, aren’t we? And we’re all going to be thinking the same thing: If Sean McVay was willing to invest the 13th pick in that guy, should the Steelers have done everything they could to trade up and get him? Did they miss an opportunity, for the second straight year (Jaxson Dart) to get their guy?
• We might also wonder if they could have traded up in front of the Ravens to get Penn State guard Vega Ioane, who seemed as close to sure thing as the draft had to offer.
Another guy who fits in that category is Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, who went 11th to the Cowboys. It would have taken a lot to move and get him, but I’m thinking he turns out to be the best player in this class.
• The big question now, with 11 more picks: Will the Steelers take a quarterback? I’m thinking, although not recommending, Drew Allar in Round 3.
That wouldn’t be ideal, but as the saying goes, when life gives you lemons …