May 1, 2016 5 min read

I know they get clicks and hits and everything else, but anyone who does a draft grade for any team at this point is out of their mind.

In fact, now is the time we really should be breaking down the 2013 draft, three years after the fact.

But I’m not going to do that today.

I’m just going to say that I really liked what the Steelers accomplished over the past three days.

That said, I wasn’t a huge proponent of the first-round pick, cornerback Artie Burns. Burns, like Bud Dupree a year ago, is a better athlete than hs is a football player right now.

But looking at Burns’ measureables, you’re just not going to get a 6-0 corner who is an oustanding athlete and no character issues where the Steelers were picking in Round 2.

In fact, the hot rumor was that if the Steelers had moved back, swapping picks with Denver, they wouldn’t have gotten Burns at 31. Kansas City was prepared to take him. That’s why, when he wasn’t there, the Chiefs moved their pick.

So Burns went where he was supposed to go, even if I don’t like taking a project – two years in a row – in the first round.

The Steelers more than made up for that over the next two days.

In second-round pick Sean Davis, the Steelers got a guy with safety and corner skills. And after seeing him in person Saturday, I can tell you, the Steelers haven’t had a safety with his physical attributes since Carnell Lake roamed the secondary. This kid almost has Mel Blount size.

And while he wasn’t real productive as an interceptor – five career picks – he hits hard enough to have forced five fumbles last season.

I know some would have preferred Vonn Bell of Ohio State, but the Steelers didn’t.

After all, who would you rather have covering Tyler Eifert next season, the 5-10 Bell or the 6-1 (and more) Davis?

And, as my colleague Mike Prisuta said Saturday, it was much more difficult for Davis to play safety against Ohio State than it was for Bell to play it against Maryland. Bell had a lot more around him to make up for any mistakes he might make while also allowing him to take more chances.

Davis is a player.

Third-round pick Javon Hargrave was a straight-up steal in the third round. The defensive tackles in this draft slipped somewhat – there were so many good ones, teams kept passing them by – but in another year, Hargrave might have gotten first-round consideration. He’s that good, and with his outstanding first step, he was one of the few nose tackles in this draft that can also play in the nickel.

The biggest thing all those players do is add speed to Pittsburgh’s defense. Burns and Davis are both guys who run in the 4.45 range. Hargrave ran a sub-5.0 40 at nearly 310 pounds.

His athleticism is a direct contract to Daniel McCullers, Pittsburgh’s other nose tackle.

Later into the draft, the Steelers added speedy linebacker Travis Feeney, another player who runs a sub-4.5 40 at 230 pounds. While the Steelers appear prepared to start him out as an outside linebacker, with his speed, he has many of the same skills as Terence Garvin, a player who carved out a nice career as a special teams ace.

The Steelers used Garvis as a backup at both inside and outside linebacker, though he was a college safety.

And the team’s final pick, Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich had to give inside linebacker coach Jerry Olsavsky goosebumps. They’re the same guy, undersized inside linebackers who just always seem to be around the football.

Olsavsky, a 10th-round draft pick in 1989, carved out a nice career for himself, appearing in 117 career games. Physically, Matakevich is limited. But he’s a football player, the kind of guy you’re always wondering how he stays on the roster and 10 years later, you look up and notice he’s been your special teams captain for 10 straight years, also filling in as a spot starter.

Offensive tackle Jerald Hawkins is a project at tackle, but he was a three-year starter at LSU. He’s somewhat limited athletically, but as a fourth-round tackle, that’s OK.

The one pick that was a real head-scratcher was return specialist Demarcus Ayers. He’s not real fast (4.7 speed) or big (5-10, 182 pounds) but as a seventh-round pick, it’s not the end of the world. If he can return punts capably, that’s fine.

We won’t know for sure about this class for a few years. Heck, other than Dupree, I loved what the Steelers did last year in the draft as well. And outside of fifth-round pick Jesse James, the Steelers didn’t get a lot out of it.

The bet here is that this class makes a bigger contribution than last year’s – providing it stays healthy.

• The Steelers added 10 undrafted rookies after the draft and, curiously, none of them was a quarterback.

They were:

Johnny Maxey, DL, Mars Hill; Tyriq McCord, LB, Miami (Fla.); Will Monday, P, Duke; Gioggio Newberry, DL, Florida State; Christian Powell, RB, Colorado; David Reeves, TE, Duke; Jay Rome, TE, Georgia; Quinton Schooley, OL, North Carolina State; Canaan Severin, WR, Virginia; and Devaunte Sigler, DL, Jacksonville State.

None of those guys really jump out at me, but there are surprises each year.

The Steelers also will bring in some players for tryouts during their rookie camp, though those players don’t need to be rookies. In fact, Kevin Colbert was asked if Bruce Gradkowski could be one of those players and Colbert said that he could.

So it will be interesting to see who the Steelers bring in.