Grade the overall draft

Not sure what I gave it at the time, probably a pretty good grade. Jones being subpar the whole time has tained this class, but Herbig met or exceeded anyones best expectations, albeit in a limited role.

I'd give this class an A-, down a ticket due to first round miss (starting, but subpar and more due to lack of T quality on roster), but ticks up for 3.5 starters in rounds 2/3/4.

I am a harsh grader and believe A, B, C, D and F all should be used. Not a fan of everyone gets an A or B. Also the problem with the current pre-adult generation and the prior one. We let millions of idiots and cowards (school boards, DoEd, non-confrontational teachers) decide participation trophies will serve kids and young adults better than being precies and when necessary, harsh with our assessments. I have worked with some seriously degraded intellectuals in their 20s that bragged about having a 4.1+ GPA in high school and 3.5+ in college. I am not sure they can read and process or do any math beyond addition. It's sad.

 

That is what JEH thinks. I try to call them as I see them.

The 2026 draft had average talent in it, and the board did not fall to us the way I hoped in round one or two.

But we did add a bunch of players and like most teams got better.

If you added to our 2026 free agents results ( which is the best in 5 years ) I gave that an A! The draft is a B- to C+ mostly based on a high amount of selections.

 

No, they just don't want to put themselves out there showing any incompetance by placing a grade on things, but DO want to troll this particular thread needlessly.
Scaredy cats is the best way to put it. Put a grade on it (you are reading a grade the draft thread for goodness sakes) and move on. This is the time to state what pick you loved, liked, indifferent or found bizarre or wasteful.

Nah, "I'm too scared I'll look stupid come November or December or 2027."

 

Grades my me after three season played.

• Round 1 (14th overall): Broderick Jones, OT, Georgia - C-
• Round 2 (32nd overall): Joey Porter Jr., CB, Penn State A
• Round 2 (49th overall): Keeanu Benton, DT, Wisconsin B-
• Round 3 (93rd overall): Darnell Washington, TE, Georgia B
• Round 4 (132nd overall): Nick Herbig, OLB, Wisconsin B
• Round 7 (241st overall): Cory Trice Jr., DB, Purdue F
• Round 7 (251st overall): Spencer Anderson, OL, Maryland C-

Overall draft grade: B-




We have 1 very good starter at a key position ( Porter ), one starter that is just okay ( Benton ), and two good backup types ) Herbig and Washington ) who might start one day.
Jones is a bust and likely finished for his career due to injuries.

 

They got the best potential player in the draft round 3.. the QB.

Lousy play calling and coaching at PSU. I am hopeful for Drew and looking forward to his progression. Dude is all in.

With new coaching! My hopes would be quite lower if MT was still here.

 

Bernard doesn't need to be, what we needed is a quality slot WR that will get open and make the tough catches between the hashes. Bernard has done that well the past two years. He is not "fast", but not slow either and very, very strong so won't be simple to take down or rip the ball away once he has it. He won't take it to the house often, but thats NOT what we needed. We need a good route runner that can get open against nickel DBs and ILBs and make the 5, 7 and 10 yard catch in traffic. Bernard is perfect for that. Concepcion would have been the impact player, but he also would have been negative impact player with the dropsies he's had for years. Bernard won't be a game-wrecker in EITHER direction, but he'll help us move the chains and put Roman Wilson on the bench where he belongs for now.

 

Amen. Judging any PSU offensive skill player is unfair. This PSU team has been conservatively ran for two plus decades. Even studs would look pedestrian at PSU. I'll cut Allar some slack for regressing under horrible leadership (from the A.D. down).

 

That's fine, there are plenty of receivers like that in the draft and in the NFL that can do that. We are not gaining advantage for a Super Bowl run with that pick. He is not outstanding. My comp: Byron Pringle.

 

A middle B. They filled most spots that were voided off-season. On field performance still pending until season begins coupled with the complete coaching shakeup - another unknown factor. As always, quite excited to see how it all unfolds.

 

Well hello Tank

I see your last post was April 4 and after almost 3 weeks of deliberation the wealth of your thought surpassed my expectations

 

I think we have well established that you aren’t qualified to comprehend what I think

 

I gave it a B. I still feel like our 1st pick was a reach, but let's say it sucks, but 3 of the others turn out good to great like 2023, then it's a B anyway, but if our Tackle turns out good it can be an A.
Although if Allar becomes even a competent QB it could be an A+.
We shall see. So in all that crap I just wrote. I give it a B

 

They just need Bernard to be an effective WR3 not catch 100 passes.

 

I gave this draft a solid B Overall.


Germaine Bernard, Drew Allar and Robert Spears-Jennings hard carry this class. Max Iheanachor needs a DIRE OVERHAUL of his tools for they are there for him to work with but the consistency clearly hasn't caught up. Daylen Everette is much of the same but potentially worse given the amount of starts he has yet still hasn't developed the instincts needed to play coverage overall. Gennings Dunker, even with his position change, still has balance, agility and flexibility issues that will get him in trouble if he doesn't get more consistent with his hand placement and decrease his lunging. Kade Wetjen does fill a need but needs to be schemed up very specifically to maximize his YAC, short area quickness and situational awareness.


To round out the rest?! Gabriel Rubio, Riley Nowakowski and Eli Heidenreich all filled positions based on either departing players or soon to be departing players. Nothing great but nothing terrible either.



Khan has been GM since 2023. Of the four drafts he has had, this is one that is among the worst on paper. We shall see how it all turns out.

 

The Jones injury was bad luck. Trice was not. Everyone knew he was injury-prone when the Steelers drafted him. That is why they were able to get him so late. It was a good roll of the dice, but it came up craps.

 

I really like the hacksaw jim dugger pick
OOOOOOOOO

 

I'm not sure why you think listing those safeties comes off as a good thing. Brisker is a solid starter. The rest are question marks, and that may be putting it kindly. Ramsey is miscast as a free safety. His game is built on being aggressive, which isn't what they need back there. Elliott can't stay healthy. The Steelers were lucky to get one good season out of him in 2024. Castro is an undrafted free agent who hasn't done anything as a pro to show the league was wrong to leave him undrafted. Spears-Jennings is fast, but he fell to the seventh round for a reason. It is not a good group. The Steelers had opportunities to improve it in the first, third, fourth, and fifth rounds and passed to reach for other positions every time. That may be the worst thing about this draft.

Yes, that is a below-average linebacker group. Tomlin didn't turn Queen into a poor tackler. He didn't make Wilson undersized. Harrison is okay as a guy who can only help in run downs, but someone you want starting. Holcom is like Elliott. He can't stay on the field. Bruener is excellent on special teams, but that is likely all he can do.

This staff can do some things differently, such as taking the green dot away from Queen, but they haven't been given the resources they should have at safety or inside linebacker.

 

So Saunders is suggesting that the Steelers moved away from selecting BPA and went mostly for need? Or is he saying the Steelers had no clue who was BPA at their pick #? And Weidl sets the draft board so he is a part of the process as well.

I've said before that this draft class wasn't really all that exceptional. You didn't see blockbuster moves up. You saw modest shifting around (same as what the Steelers did).

 

Well I don't do crazy! But you kind of amuse me.

 

Yes, journeyman safeties. Jennings, Henderson, Castro don't play or haven't played. I wasn't referring to them. As for the others...

Ramsey: Steelers, Dolphins, Rams, Jaguars

Elliot: Steelers, Dolphins, Lions, Ravens

Savage: Steelers, Packers, Jaguars, Redskins, Bills

Brisker: Steelers, Bears(not a journeyman)


So under Tomlin they failed, but under a DC with a history of mediocrity they could excel? It's possible.

Queen was rated one of the worst LBs last season. He had the second lowest coverage grade among qualifying linebackers at 31.3(NFL avg. was 60). He also had the worst tackling grade for players with substantial snaps at 30.1. Out of just the 88 qualified LBs, Queen was ranked 78th. Queen is better at playing the WILL. He struggled in Baltimore when they played him as the MIKE. If the Steelers move him to WILL, then who plays the MIKE? Harrison?

Wilson was ranked 65th. Wilson could have been ranked worse, but the Steelers often shielded him from heavy run sets.

I am merely giving my opinion, which is no more valid or invalid than any other person on the site : )

 

That's really all he does on here. You would think he would be embarrassed.