Steelers' draft strategy

To be honest, Sadiq isn't nearly as crazy as others make him out to be for the Steelers fit. If Mike McCarthy wants to evolve his West Coast Offense, Sean McVay could be a good example given how he used Tight Ends a lot more in his own form of the West Coast in 2025 than he ever has; nearly 17% as a whole. Furthermore, should Aaron Rodgers elect to come back again, having a dimensional dynamic weapon like Kenyon creates all sorts of issues for opposing Defenses.


Wide Receiver technically could still be covered since Kenyon doesn't function as even the traditional Inline Receiving Tight End anyhow.


Again though, only reason I don't see the Steelers picking Sadiq has nothing to do with him as a player but the aforementioned Rams may likely draft him and will likely not budge from that spot.

 

I believe he does have that potential; injury or not. Whether or not he will live up to it is another question. Regardless, Travis Hunter should have never been a two way player anyways for the NFL and the MLB are as about as different as an Apple is to a Pomegranate.


Trading up for Travis Hunter was the correct move IMO for HOF Level Corners are so damn rare. Attempting to pigeonhole him into a role that is simply impossible was the incorrect move. That is Liam Cohen's fault.


What does @jeh1856 need on the board?! DAB (Dumb Ass Button) correct?!


Liam Cohen committed a DAD (Dumb Ass Decision).

 

The general DAP (Dumb Ass People) that call themselves "analysts" certainly think so. Me and you were the only two at the time, and still do, believed that Hunter needed to be a Corner full time. One year later, to the shock of no one, people like me and you were proven correct.


Let this be a lesson to those who don't understand how violent the NFL is. MLB is a contact sport. The NFL is a collusion sport; big men vs bigger men bashing each other at a very high rate of speed repeatedly.

 

OT may be their biggest concern. they lost a safety (curl) to free agency as well. they do need some WR help but they already have a ton tied up in that room with the two biggies. would they add a number 13 first round pick? maybe.

i've seen sadiq as low as 19 which could be in range for us. he would be a nice chess piece to have. he is like a two birds with one stone type for the offense. brings way more than a friermuth in coverage. blocking wise you wouldn't lose much and actually may gain over muth. i like muth but he's limited and has been losing playing time lately. i know it's a different offense now. hard to predict not knowing how they will function yet.

 

Agree on the facet that Cohen believing Hunter would be capable of being a two way player was foolish.


Again though, HOF Corner Level talents like Travis dont cone around very often. Neither Mansoor nor JerMod possess the complete profile that Hunter did coming out. Very much worth a trade up; doubly so given both Liam Cohens and James Gladstone's background.


Travis was worth the trade up imo. Problem was Cohen saw things differently in terms of what he wanted from him.

 

He played twice as many snaps on offense than he did on defense. That was mistake #1. Flip that it might have worked out better.

 

LoL. Way too funny

 

OT is a major concern but given the limited amount of Pre Draft Visits by the Steelers (though Markel Bell is one of them), I don't believe the team will be taking an OT unless it is Monroe Freeling in Round 1; a mistake if I may add. As I said before and will again, Monroe Freeling is Broderick Jones 2.0; double the athleticism for double the lack of polish. He will either be the best Left Tackle of this entire class or will be the worst one overall. There is no middle ground for him.


As for Sadiq, I wouldn't sleep on Baltimore, Tampa Bay or even Miami. All three could use him and, of the three, Baltimore could shock everyone by forgoing the Offensive Line in trade for another dynamic weapon to give Lamar Jackson. I also wouldn't count out Philadelphia considering AJ Brown could be moved soon. Trading him along with a package in trade for someone like Kenyon would be a win for the Eagles.


Only way Pittsburgh nabs Kenyon is a trade up. Is he worth such a trade up?! Depends on what new wrinkles Mike McCarthy brings to the Offense.

 

I don't think Hunter has shown he is a HOF talent at corner to this point of his career. How good he can get remains to be seen.

 

I just saw something on the Steelers moving all in to move up for freeling and moving him to bring an athletic guard and then drafting bell as a tackle later. That was quite interesting.

 

Given Pittsburgh's heavy presence at Georgia's Pro Day, it wouldn't shock me if Freeling was in discussion. He is another Offensive Tackle that I would consider playing at Guard first before anything else. Only major reason I have Proctor to Pittsburgh (although it still is very unlikely even now) is that Proctor simply has both agility, explosiveness, strength, power and technical ability at his size that simply doesn't come around often.


In Monroe's Defense, if the Steelers wanted him to beef up, I believe his frame can easily accommodate 20 to 25lbs without much, if any issues.

 

I am talking about coming out of Colorado. Not so much thus far. Thanks to Liam Cohen, a year was wasted.


That doesn't mean all that talent that Hunter had during his time at both Jackson State and Colorado dissipated.

 

I just saw a draft profile for Freeling where it stated

NFL Comparison
Broderick Jones

Hmmm

 

I have been very consistent in what my final thoughts were for Freeling the second the 2025 CFB Season was over. For me, Freeling is a Supercharged Broderick Jones; for better and for worse. He will either be not just the best Offensive Tackle but best skill player overall from his class or will be out of the league in three seasons. There is no middle ground with him. His ceiling, potential and latent talent are that high but so too are the amount of mistakes; doubly so when lunging and incorrectly striking his opponents when engaging with them in both pass protection and run blocking.


He is a very high risk, very high reward level player. I truly do believe though that Freeling isn't going to be available to Pittsburgh anyhow due to the fact that the traits, talent and potential are simply way too immense to ignore. I would want Vega Ioane and nothing more but if not Baltimore, Tampa Bay is another team that could use him.

 

I always believed that he should have been drafted to play cornerback exclusively as well.

I believed he was a little overrated by many coming out of college. I think he's talented and the kid can play, but I think the talk of him being a generational talent was overstating his abilities. He really didn't play against the best competition consistently and so much of his game is coming off of his coverage to jump other routes. That works in college and while playing against inferior talent. For me he needs to show that he can succeed while playing disciplined coverage in structure and not guess as much as he did at Colorado. The plays look great and instinctual, but when he's in man coverage trying to run with a 6' 4" wide receiver that runs a 4.35, he can't have his eyes on the quarterback looking to come off of that coverage to jump another route like he did in college.

He also looks like he may need to add a couple pounds to be able to play physical at the NFL level. He just looks a hair small and can have trouble with big receivers getting physical with him at the line of scrimmage in press coverage.

Again, he has talent. I just think some people let the 2-way player thing go to their heads a little bit because he is a great athlete and anointed him a little prematurely. I hope he heals up from his injury and can become a great player. He seems like a good kid. He may get there, but there's still a lot of work for him to do to improve his game and become a great pro.

 

i meant the rams needing an OT.