The NFL Draft is mercifully over.
But the hype preceding wasn’t the low point. The post-draft is even worse.
The draft itself was pretty cockeyed, too. More than three-quarters of a million people gathered in downtown Detroit. This wasn’t Woodstock. It was young people being assigned a workplace with no ability to have input. That’s not a spectator sport.
It was a celebration, one supposes. Feting the NFL’s unmitigated hubris and saturation.
In the immediate aftermath, each franchise’s fan base concluded that their team had a good draft.
Except Atlanta. Picking QB Michael Penix Jr. when you just signed Kirk Cousins was first-degree murder of optimism via stupidity.
The first two rounds are the marquee picks. After that, hope is generated via the mistaken belief that your team saw something in each selection that the other 31 didn’t. That hope is burnished via call-in radio shows like mine.
“Hey, I think this Roman Wilson is the new Hines Ward!” You think that because you heard or read somebody call the receiver from Michigan the new Hines Ward. You didn’t break down tape of Wilson.
What Wilson is, probably, is a typical third-round pick who will do typical third-round things.
You can cite exceptions to that rule, and they are plentiful.
But be reminded that quarterback Mason Rudolph was a third-round pick, and the Steelers said they had him ranked as a first-rounder. They either lied or were gratuitously wrong.
Then again, the Steelers actually took Kenny Pickett in the first round. Maybe they’re just stupid.
Wilson isn’t a No. 2 receiver, which is what the Steelers still badly need.
Draft picks are graded by the media as soon as they are made. A team’s entire draft is graded the minute it’s over.
The most effective method of grading a draft pick is to see him play in the NFL. That hasn’t happened yet.
Grading a draft or draft pick now is a meaningless exercise. It’s designed to fill time/space and generate discussion.
Mel Kiper Jr. got seven first-round picks right in his final mock draft. Out of 32. What grade does Kiper get? (He did better than usual.)
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I give the Steelers draft an A.
If the Steelers don’t cling to their moronic philosophy of not starting rookies, tackle Troy Fautanu and center Zach Frazier should immediately be first-stringers. That might give the Steelers a formidable offensive line. It’s a chance for that unit to make a big leap.
Where/how the other picks fit, you don’t know.
But the Steelers have made their offensive line a likely strength. That’s good enough for me.
Now bring back cornerback Cam Sutton. That would fix that position. What’s a misdemeanor between friends?
I don’t speak lightly regarding accusations made toward Sutton. But aren’t all NFL teams, including the Steelers, past the point of moralizing? Mike Vick did time and the Steelers signed him.
The Steelers have had a decent offseason. Give credit to THE KHAN ARTIST!
But constructing a much better offensive line has assistant GM Andy Weidl’s fingerprints all over it. That’s the method practiced when he worked for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Whatever upgrades the Steelers have made this offseason won’t necessarily jack up their win total.
That’s because the Steelers aren’t good enough at quarterback. Unless Russell Wilson, 35, has a spectacular Indian summer of a season.
You can improve considerably in areas besides QB, and the Steelers have. (They’re better at QB, too. But still not good enough.)
Drafting Fautanu and Frazier on top of adding linebacker Patrick Queen isn’t enough to beat Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen or Joe Burrow in a playoff game.
Given a schedule ranked toughest in the NFL, it’s likely not enough to get more than nine or 10 wins.
The Steelers didn’t draft in a vacuum. Other teams draft, too, and sign free agents. Everybody improved. Except Atlanta.
That’s not the popular evaluation. The popular evaluation is YAY, STEELERS!
Everybody the Steelers drafted says he always dreamed of playing for them. It’s every little kid’s ambition to play for a team that hasn’t won a playoff game in seven years. It would be refreshing if a pick said, “Oh, no, not Pittsburgh. Any place but Pittsburgh.”
One mark said we’ll be talking about this year’s Steelers draft for decades. That absolutely won’t happen.
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Meantime, I’ve already seen mock drafts for next year.
One has the Steelers taking a tackle in the first round. Presumably so Fautanu can move to guard, where many project him, after guard James Daniels’ contract expires and he leaves. But Fautanu hasn’t yet played a down at tackle.
I give next year’s Steelers draft an A. YAY, STEELERS!