Ramblin Jim’s Mock Draft 2.0
This one was kind of for fun and I went looking for some obscure players in the later rounds. I think it hits some of our needs but not all, I think the Steelers need to (to use a baseball term) hit at least a triple in the draft and un-cover some young men that can contribute early and find a couple of UDFA’s that can play backup.
Round 1.) Tyler Eifert ND – Excellent pass catcher, best tight end in the draft. I think a great pass catching tight end to play along with Heath Miller could be a really dangerous weapon for Big Ben especially now that he’s getting a little older and we would like him to not take so many hits.
Round 2.) Matt Elam, FL Strong Safety or Jonathan Cyprien, FL International SS. – Either one of these guys is a good addition to our secondary. There’s a good chance neither of them are still on the board but I think either would both contribute early on defense.
Round 3.) John Simon DE Ohio State – Shawn knows OSU guys and has really been touting this kid as a future star. Next year he plays behind Worilds at OLB, the year after that, who knows? I also like Sio Moore for this role but we’d have to get him in Round 2.
Round 4.) Stedman Bailey, WR West VA – I just can’t see taking Tavon Austin with pick number 17. He just looks to puny and I’d hate to see him run into Lawrence Timmons in the middle of the field. How about his friend and team mate though? Baily looks like a good player, another weapon for Ben.
Round 5.) Montori Hughes, DT Tennessee Martin – So when this pick comes up, I think this is the “do we keep Ta’Amu”? pick. If we pick up a guy like Hughes we know that one of the guys currently on the roster is not long for the team (and for all I know it could be McClendon, see there's a reason the Steelers don't pay me).
Round 6.) Earl Watford, OG James Madison – Good backup OG to sit behind Foster and DeCastro. Could spell the end for Legursky.
Round 6a) Steve Beauharnais, ILB Rutgers – Good college production from a team that played the run well, let him learn behind Foote, has the potential to be the “diamond in the rough” but is a liability against the pass.
Round 7.) Tyrone Gourd, WR Eastern Kentucky – I decided that either Round 6 or Round 7 would simply be the biggest WR with speed that I could find on the list, there was a kid from Elon that had good measurable too but I went with this kid. He’s a project but he’s 6’4 with 4.5 speed, so probably all we’d have to do is teach the kid how to catch right?
So in all, I see rounds 1-4 as guys that can come in and will play their rookie years and contribute, Rounds 5-7 are guys that you’d have to a.) know a heck of a lot more about them than I do and b.) have to have some pretty serious luck. I also realize that there’s no running back in this draft so maybe me fooling around with obscure wide receivers should change too. Sorry for another Eifert mention.
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