PITTSBURGH — The 2021 NFL Draft is set for Thursday night.
Currently, the Pittsburgh Steelers hold the 24th overall pick in the draft and will be looking to add a starter in the bottom part of the first round.
Pittsburgh is a team looking to compete for a title next season, and there is a number of different routes they could take in the first round.
To preview what may go down on Thursday, we spoke with DKPittsburgh Sports' Chris Carter, who is the host of Locked On Steelers, to get his insight on the team's outlook.
You can read an excerpt of the interview below:
ALEX CAWLEY: We're hearing offensive line being thrown out, but we're also hearing a lot of projections for running back. Where are you leaning right now?
CHRIS CARTER: Well, it depends who falls to them, as always, Alex. One thing -- the center position I know people are antsy about. But, when you evaluate the center talent in this NFL Draft, all the top guys are Round 2 graded type of guys.
Now, Landon Dickerson out of Alabama, he'd be the one guy that you'd say, if other things were aligned, he might be a first round pick.
But, this is a guy with several serious injuries that impacted his collegiate career, and that's a red flag.
If it was one injury, maybe two, you could be like, okay we can live with that. But, he's gone through about four different major injuries that he's had to work around in his collegiate career.
So, that pushes center back out of the first round.
Offensive tackle is an interesting situation -- we're all expecting Penei Sewell, the top offensive tackle in the draft, to go Top 5, Top 10 at the latest.
But then, Rashawn Slater, Christian Darrisaw -- those guys could go long before the Steelers even sniff the board.
Now, if there's a Teven Jenkins from Oklahoma State, and he's on the board -- that's one thing. But the problem is, when you compare him to the talent that Travis Etienne or Najee Harris offer at the 24th pick -- it's tough to say that just getting that guy is going to be that much better than getting a running back.
It's something I've pointed out in my film analysis -- back when Le'Veon Bell was running for the Steelers, the last time they won a playoff game, they were able to get the ground game going because of his ability to make people miss on top of a decent offensive line.
And that's where I think they are seeing the biggest problem -- they haven't gone out and paid a running back to replace James Conner.
All signs point to -- if they don't get a guy at 24 in Harris or Etienne, they are probably going to trade up early in the second round to go get Jevonte Williams or just get Williams with the 24th overall pick.
But the bottom line is, they are not going into another year with a question mark at the running back position.
AC: What's the name that keeps coming up in the first round for you?
CC: Najee Harris, Najee Harris, Najee Harris!
You can watch the full interview above.
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