Apr 27, 2016 6 min read

PITTSBURGH – The updates to draft boards are complete. The medical checks have been made. Interviews with players are finished.

The yearly drama that is the NFL Draft, which plays out over a three-day period on national television, will begin tonight. And sometime around 11 p.m. the Pittsburgh Steelers will add a player to their roster who will be the cause of celebration for some and teeth-gnashing for others.

It’s always the first-round pick who gets the heat and gets people talking.

But was anyone talking about a sixth-round pick the Steelers made in 2010, five rounds after the they selected center Maurkice Pouncey? Heck, that player, receiver Antonio Brown, wasn’t even the Steelers’ first pick in the sixth round that year. That honor went to running back Jonathan Dwyer.

Between Pouncey and Brown, in addition to Dwyer, the Steelers took linebacker Jason Worilds, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, linebacker Thaddeus Gibson, offensive lineman Chris Scott, cornerback Crezdon Butler and linebacker Stevenson Sylvester.

Some of those guys never made it. Some didn’t make it with the Steelers but are still in the NFL. None has been anywhere close to matching the production of Brown, who might be the best wide receiver in the NFL and is considered one of the top 10 to 15 players in the league, regardless of position.

Pouncey, like Brown, has been to multiple Pro Bowls and has been named All-Pro. Sanders also has been to a Pro Bowl, albeit with the Denver Broncos.

In a draft in which the Steelers had 10 picks, they selected three very good players, one pretty good one (Worilds) and some journeymen or flameouts.

And that’s considered a good draft.

Why bring this up?

The draft is a inexact science. As Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert, who will be leading his 17th draft, said earlier this week: “We review every pick we’ve ever made and we talk about it and try to get better every year so we can avoid those mistakes. But, we’ll probably make some more. I don’t know if that’s comforting to everybody. It’s not comforting to me, but it’s the truth.”

Which brings us to this year’s draft.

With quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s career now on the back nine, the Steelers’ window of opportunity to make another run or two at a Super Bowl with him is closing. Pittsburgh can’t afford to swing and miss on too many draft picks.

Truth be told, the Steelers have drafted better than most teams. That’s how you wind up not having a losing record since 2003. Of course, having a franchise quarterback also helps.

That doesn’t mean there haven’t been big misses. One area where the Steelers haven’t had much success finding capable players is in the secondary. That’s why the Steelers enter this draft needing at least two defensive backs to compliment what is otherwise a very solid roster.

Picking at No. 25 in the first round, it will be difficult for the Steelers to get one of the top-rated cornerbacks. You can expect the top three corners – Vernon Hargreaves, William Jackson and Eli Apple – to be gone by the time the Steelers pick. Add hyrbid safety/corner Jalen Ramsey, a likely top-5 pick, into the equation, and Pittsburgh will be in a scenario similar to 1997, the last time it selected a cornerback in the first round.

That cornerback was Chad Scott, taken with the 24th pick. He was the fifth corner selected that year. Scott was a solid, if unspectacular, player for seven seasons before spending his final two years in New England.

The moral of the story?

Would you rather have the fourth- or fifth-best player at a position or the best?

Picking at 25, the Steelers might have a shot at the best safety in this draft not named Jalen Ramsey.

That player is West Virginia’s Karl Joseph.

A 5-10, 205-pound playmaking safety, Joseph was a four-year starter for the Mountaineers before suffering a torn ACL four weeks into the 2015 season during a non-contract practice drill.

At the time of his injury, Joseph led the FBS in interceptions with five.

The knee will be a concern, but ACL injuries aren’t what they used to be. Joseph suffered the injury Oct. 7. There’s a solid chance that he’ll be ready early in the season. And if not for the injury, he likely would be a top-20 pick.

Much like they did when they selected tight end Heath Miller in the first round of the 2005 draft, the Steelers could benefit from a player’s injury. Miller, easily that draft’s best tight end, had surgery following the season for a sports hernia and was unable to work out. The Steelers weren’t even sure he’d be ready to play at the start of that season. But they drafted him anyway, knowing they were getting a bargain.

In this case, Joseph would represent a bargain at a position of need.

While many have focused on cornerback and nose tackle as the Steelers’ position of need, strong safety is one as well. Troy Polamalu retired after the 2014 season and his replacement, veteran Will Allen, turns 34 this summer and remains on the free-agent market. The Steelers have Mike Mitchell, Robert Golden and nobody else with any substantial NFL experience at the safety position.

Yes, Pittsburgh needs help at cornerback, and Clemson’s Mackensie Alexander, who should be available when the Steelers make their pick, will be tempting. But he’s a 5-10 cornerback who in two years as a starter didn’t have a single interception.

And there are second- and third-round cornerbacks who are nearly equal in talent to Alexander. It’s just like in 1997, when Pro Bowl cornerbacks Sam Madison and Ronde Barber were selected in the second round after Scott.

The draft is an inexact science. So when you have a chance to take the best player at a position, especially picking late in the first round, you must to do it.

By the time the Steelers reached the Super Bowl in 2005, Miller was a major contributor. Joseph could be a similar type of draft steal.

F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.