pick 20

as of the day after Christmas 2025 we sit at the 20th pick in the draft. not unusual to be in this spot. going out on a limb here and asking for queen to be traded money to be saved and sonny styles to be our first pick. ILB yes we will need this position rebuilt. queen gone and holcomb gone. styles and wilson would be the new duo. speed to kill. harrison and bruener as depth. this is the spot i am leaning towards.

 

Not sure Styles will be there at 20. Lemon might be the pick.

 

Is AR comming back next year?

 

So again, as much as I would like Sonny Styles, I will once again remind many people on here. Off Ball Linebackers like Sonny Styles are once in a generation level talents. When it comes to such talents, positional value be damned.


Sonny isnt making it to Pittsburgh barring some extreme circumstances. Hell, even if he does somehow, someway make it into the 20s, a team will no doubt trade up for him. At worst he is a Perennial Pro Bowler. At his peak?! A legit HOF Player.


Sonny Styles isnt happening.

 

I dont think he will. I know he will not either. Sonny is far too rare a talent to fall that far tk begin with. Add the fact he plays for a National Powerhouse in Ohio State?!


He is going to shock some people on where he is selected. For me?! I wont be.

 

as i said before, draft in pittsburgh, a jack lambert type of pick. just sounds right.

 

Again though, Sonny isn't gonna be available.


I do agree with you on Sonny; probably even more so than others. I believe he is the best overall player in the draft. I also believe that other teams, namely the likes of Dallas and Minnesota, will get him before Pittsburgh does. Hell, even if they don't, the Chargers could definitely use him.

 

Lemon.

 

WR or DL. I am leaning to DL then WR.

 

Warming up to the idea of Vega. Specner is good but not NFL Starter Level as an IOL. Veags floor and ceiling is exponentially greater than Spencers.

BPA?! He definitely would be an excellent option.

 

For me, it would be Peter Woods or bust. Technically Kayden McDonald from Ohio State would also be good here as well though Dominique Oragne from Iowa State would be much better value in the later rounds. Not losing too much from a pure run stopping ability and his pass rush potential is a bit better than Kaydens.

 

Bain from Miami is looking pretty good right now.

 

I don't know if he will go top 10 though. There are other players that are rated ahead of him and ILB's have to be incredibly good to get drafted really high. Isaiah Simmons was the last to be drafted in the top 10 (2020) and he was a bust. Before that was Devin White (solid) and Devin Bush (bust) in 2019, then Roquan at 8 in 2018. Most high end ILB's get drafted around 15. If we want him, I think we will have to trade into the top 15, but if we lose on Sunday, that won't be a huge move up for us. I would be shocked if he wasn't in range of a small trade up. He COULD get drafted in the top 12, but there are so many guys that I think he stands little chance at going ahead of.

Moore
Downs
Reese
Woods
Mendoza
Bain
Mauigoa
Love

Most sites have him between 22 and 39 in their overall rankings (though, I think his combine should help him should he run better than a 4.5 at his size). There's a good shot by draft day he's considered a top 25 prospect, and could reach as high as the mid teens. I don't think its a pre-determined outcome that he goes way before our pick though. Only time will tell.

 

I don't think we get enough in return for one year of Queen at his cap hit for it to be worth it. Even if we do, is Styles going to walk onto an NFL field better than Queen? I don't think so. It would be a downgrade at the position until Styles gets up to speed. It took Shazier a full year before he was a stud (he struggled a bit as a rookie before getting injured). There's no need to trade Queen. We just keep him and Styles together and determine what we want to do with him afterwards.

I think for me, its WR in 2026... We could draft a WR in the first AND in the third and I'd be fine with it. Though DL and ILB could be my back up options.

WR
Tate, Tyson, Lemon - these are my favorite options. Someone like Sarratt, Lane, Bell, or Bernard could be good round 2 options.

DL
Woods and McDonald are my favorites. I think Amauri Washington, Corleone, or Jackson could be decent round 2 options

ILB
Styles or bust really in round 1. Anthony Hill Jr. maybe in the first too. He looks pretty awesome as well. I'd go for Arvell Reese too, but I don't think he's available to us (He might be an edge rusher in the NFL anyways).

 

queen trade would net us 13,330,000 in cap savings. reese would i believe be gone before we pick. hill wouldn't be a bad pick either. if styles is there i would pull that trigger. WR is pretty deep in this draft so you could wait.

 

Concepcione would look good in black and gold.

 

Im not sure that 13 million bucks is worth making our ILB corps worse though? The hope is eventually that Styles is better than Queen, but I am not certain he steps into the NFL ahead of him. Queen isn't the issue with our ILB corps... the other position is. Harrison is awful and Wilson is too hit or miss in the run game. Cutting Harrison to save 5 million would make more sense. We would lose a player that isn't worth the field and not our current best ILB.

 

this site agrees with me. queen and his inconsistent play and terrible tackling should be much better for 13 mil. a year. styles would fill this void and wilson going into year 3 has played better than many think. i agree about harrison. maybe holcomb will heal even more by next year and be able to be signed to a team friendly contract as depth. saving over 18 million for those two is a big chunk of change.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nf...S&cvid=6957c3c4278149f2b58b569c54256767&ei=64

 

I didn't say anything about Queen's play vs. his contract. I am saying he is our only starting caliber ILB, and would likely be better than what we would have in Styles as a rookie (not to mention, green dot stuff etc.). Styles could walk into the league as a PB caliber guy, or he could take a year or so to become what he could be like Shazier did. If Wilson was playing better than we think, he wouldn't be taken off the field as much as he is. The past 4 weeks, he has played 44% or less of the defensive snaps in 3 of those games. Not a good sign for a player we would be relying on as a starter in this scenario. I just can't find the justification to cut Queen just for money when we would be making our ILB room effectively worse (when I would agree it is a position of need). I just think it makes more sense (if you're trying to win games at least and not just develop players) to keep Queen on his last year of his deal and have an actual ILB room. We can figure out life after Queen (if we want to move on from him), in 2027.

I would still take Styles or Hill in the first if we want to go that route. Improving the ILB room would definitely help the team. I think WR is a bigger need right now, but you can't take a first round pick at every position of need.