Thoughts on Khan's first draft?

[MTC]

So championship?

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

I have never seen a draft fall so perfectly into place. Not only in terms of guys who fit the needs but were also great values or best available.

If you did this as a mock, you would have been laughed at for assuming all these guys would fall.

Obviously they did their homework but a lot of luck was involved with so many guys falling into place.

They did a great job of trading and NOT trading. They had to trade up for Jones in Rd 1. Then they were smart to stay put and take Porter rather than trade back and miss out on him. When you look at the big WRs in division, Porter was a huge need.

Jones could be the missing piece to make this OL into a top unit. The odd man out between Moore and Chukes can also be used as a TE in short yardage like they used to use Starks years ago.

Benton fills another huge need. They needed somebody who can play NT and also rush the passer. I wonder if they will now have Leal drop some weight to play OLB which may be a better use of his talents.

Washington makes 2 TE sets dangerous. Now they can use Freiermuth as a big slot WR.

Herbig is small for an edge rusher. They can try him out there and if he doesn't work then he can play ILB. He has good instincts in coverage and would be a great blitzer.

Trice could be a steal in Rd 7. He's another tall CB with experience. If not for injury concerns he may have been a 4th rounder or higher.

 

[Litos]

could we see a sort of hybrid front with 4 big guys upfront and then 2 middle linebacker when we want to rest 1 of the OLBs? Basically Leal is an OLB backup in rotation but actually makes the system change when he is in there
______Larry O - Benton/Fehoko/Adams - Heyward - Leal
Watt - Holcomb - Roberts

 

[bermudasteel]

Overall grade: A, top 3 drafts of 2023

Main players
Broderick Jones: A - immediate starter
Joey Porter Jr.: B - starter by year 2, should see time in year one
Keeanu Benton: A - should be starting or see significant time in year 1
Darnell Washington: B - risk/reward pick. If his cleaned-out knee works out then he will be seeing significant time by year 2

Camp bodies
Nick Herbig: C - special teamer
Cory Trice Jr. - D - unless we are going to a mostly press coverage system or we move him back to safety

Things I would have done differently: I would have traded a pick to get Israel Abanikanda when he fell to the 5th.

Fully agree here. I welcome them all but, personally, I would have taken Brian Branch instead of JPJ.

Here's to seeing them all be the best they can be...

 

[FordFairLane]

The funny part of the draft is you really can't judge it until 3 years have passed and even then that is not a full assessment. I liked what he did. He seemed to get value with all his picks and the first three were huge needs. It will be fun to see in 2026 how this draft ends up looking like.

 

[slashsteel]

could we see a sort of hybrid front with 4 big guys upfront and then 2 middle linebacker when we want to rest 1 of the OLBs? Basically Leal is an OLB backup in rotation but actually makes the system change when he is in there
______Larry O - Benton/Fehoko/Adams - Heyward - Leal
Watt - Holcomb - Roberts

I dunno they did a good job with depth on both sides of the trenches. Gives the team more options. If I had to guess Benton and Fehoko will compete for the nose. Leal will rotate in at OLber. Herbig will start out on STs. I suppose Leal could still rotate in at DE. I love the extra scenarios. And love the FO finally attacked both sides through free agency and the draft. Love love love it.

Little surprised they didn't deal Big Dot during the draft. Maybe they move him prior to the season. My preference would be to move him for a slot corner ..my perfect scenerio.

 

[slashsteel]

Fully agree here. I welcome them all but, personally, I would have taken Brian Branch instead of JPJ.

Here's to seeing them all be the best they can be...

I liked Branch a lot. But I think Peezy Jr. was the highest rated on their board. I also think about the games the Bills, etc. torched the secondary. Just think with Sutton leaving and an aging Peterson they had to try to strengthen the outside.

 

[Stryker]

My favorite part of the draft? Instead of sitting on your thumbs for 2 rounds when you didn't have picks in the 5th or 6th rounds, they signed a FA NCB. FA Signings don't happen during the draft. This was a bold move to make sure they had an NFL caliber NCB in TC this year.

 

[Drink IRON City]

My favorite part of the draft? Instead of sitting on your thumbs for 2 rounds when you didn't have picks in the 5th or 6th rounds, they signed a FA NCB. FA Signings don't happen during the draft. This was a bold move to make sure they had an NFL caliber NCB in TC this year.

I liked that action as well, the ticker tape is announcing who teams have picked and

WhoAla

The tape says STEELERS sign FA …….yadda…… yadda,…… yaDDa

At first I thought…… WTF……. Then realized it was a signing…
Loved it



Salute the nation

 

[topseed]

My favorite part of the draft? Instead of sitting on your thumbs for 2 rounds when you didn't have picks in the 5th or 6th rounds, they signed a FA NCB. FA Signings don't happen during the draft. This was a bold move to make sure they had an NFL caliber NCB in TC this year.

Unfortunately, that "NFL caliber NCB" allowed a completion percentage of 71% and a QB rating of 102.7 in pass coverage last year, to go along with zero interceptions in 72 targets. While playing for the second-worst pass defense in the NFL.

I think there might be a few other parts of the draft that I liked better, like picking up Washington late in the third round.

 

[topseed]

Jones could be the missing piece to make this OL into a top unit. The odd man out between Moore and Chukes can also be used as a TE in short yardage like they used to use Starks years ago.

If they're going to use anybody as a tight end in short yardage, it's going to Washington, not either of those guys.

Benton fills another huge need. They needed somebody who can play NT and also rush the passer. I wonder if they will now have Leal drop some weight to play OLB which may be a better use of his talents.

Moving Leal to OLB is actually an interesting idea, and something I hope they consider -- I think he could be successful on the edge.

 

[madinsomniac]

My favorite part of the draft? Instead of sitting on your thumbs for 2 rounds when you didn't have picks in the 5th or 6th rounds, they signed a FA NCB. FA Signings don't happen during the draft. This was a bold move to make sure they had an NFL caliber NCB in TC this year.

I thought it felt like they had some guys targeted in the draft, and when it didn’t fall that way, they called up a backup plan while everyone was preoccupied with draft things

 

[steelreeling]

1R14

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