Apr 7, 2023 5 min read

Each year, I put together a list of players the Steelers could take with their first-round selection.

If the Steelers are picking 20th, as they were a year ago, that list includes 20 players. If they’re picking 17th, as they are this year, it includes 17 players.

On this year’s list, we can exclude quarterbacks and running backs. The Steelers aren’t taking one of those in the first round. And probably not with any of their picks in the first two days of the draft, which would take them through three rounds.

We also can exclude punters, kickers, tight ends or an edge rusher, though there are some edge rushers they just couldn’t pass on if they became available, such as Alabama’s Will Anderson.

So, with that in mind, my list for the Steelers at 17 this season would include:

1. DT Jaylen Carter, Georgia; 2. Edge Will Anderson, Alabama; 3. DE Tyree Wilson, Texas Tech; 4. CB Christian Gonzalez, Oregon; 5. CB Devon Witherspoon, Illinois; 6. DE Myles Murphy, Clemson; 7. WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ohio State; 8. OT Paris Johnson, Ohio State; 9. OT Broderick Jones, Georgia; 10. OL Peter Skoronski, Northwestern

11. DT Bryan Bresee, Clemson; 12. CB Joey Porter Jr. Penn State; 13. CB Deontae Banks, Maryland; 14. DE Lukas Van Ness, Iowa; 15. S Brian Branch, Alabama; 16. WR Zay Flowers, Boston College; 17. OT Darnell Wright, Tennessee

I also see Georgia linebacker Nolan Smith fitting in there somewhere. He’s undersized as a pass rusher, but athletic enough to play off the ball, much the same way Lawrence Timmons once did.

There’s the list, excluding players at positions from which the Steelers won’t be picking. And there are some players on that list, such as Wilson, Murphy and Van Ness, who would either need to bulk up to play defensive end in the Steelers defense or lose a little weight to play outside linebacker. But they would be too good to pass up.

The interesting thing is that if four quarterbacks go ahead of the Steelers’ selection, as expected, the Steelers won’t be forced to take the 17th player on this list. Same thing if running back Bijon Robinson, a top-five player in this draft but at a position that doesn’t demand using a high pick, goes before they select.

And if there are, say, several of those players available, the Steelers could be in position to trade back in the first round of this draft and acquire more picks. But they would only do that if several of the players on their list of 17 are still available and they think they can get one at the spot to which they move back.

• Last year, the Steelers were pretty locked in on the quarterback class. And everyone knew it.

This year, they seem intent on throwing up some smoke screens.

For example, after signing interior offensive linemen Isaac Seumalo and Nate Herbig, is there really an “interest” in some of the top interior offensive linemen in this draft, such as Florida’s O’Cyrus Torrence, who was one of their pre-draft visitors last week?

• In an ideal world, the Steelers would get not just one of the players on their list of 17 players they would select at pick 17, they would get two since they also have the 32nd pick in the draft.

It’s possible. But if they take a cornerback at 17, say Porter, they obviously wouldn’t be interested in a second cornerback at 32 – unless he happened to play the slot.

• The Pirates swept the Red Sox in Boston last week.

While that itself is noteworthy because of where the two teams have been over the past couple of decades and the fact Boston’s roster has a salary of $176 million, more than $100 million more than the $60.7 million the Pirates are spending this season according to Spotrac.com, this sweep was even sweeter.

Remember, it was only last August that Red Sox color analyst Dennis Eckersley said of the Pirates, “You talk about a no-name lineup. There’s no team like this. This is a hodgepodge of nothingness. It’s ridiculous. It really is pathetic.”

That team that Eckersley ripped included many of the same players who swept the Red Sox.

And remember, the Pirates’ “hodgepodge of nothingness” team of a year ago finished 62-100 and tied for last place in the NFL Central.

The 2022 Red Sox? They finished 78-84 and in last place in the AL East.

The 2022 Pirates had a $56 million payroll. The 2022 Red Sox had a payroll of $211.8 million.

Which lineup exactly was more pathetic?

• General manager Ron Hextall is going to take a lot of the blame for what’s happened to the Penguins this season. Fans are certainly blaming Hextall.

What we don’t know, however, is whether Hextall was just doing what he was told to do by ownership in terms of largely keeping the same team together.

That ownership, by the way, is the same Fenway Sports Group that paid $211.8 million a year ago for the Red Sox to finish in last place.