The “Top 30” visits are players that the Steelers have specifically invited to their Team Headquarters. As the moniker implies, the team gets 30 players to visit and get a final feel for each other before the Draft. They get to interview the players and administer any type of written test that they choose, plus go through medicals for anyone with those types of concerns.

Teams can also have other players with ‘local ties’ into the facility that do not count against this number, and THIS is where it can get tricky trying to determine who the Steelers have visited with that actually counts against the 30 total visits.

So let’s start at the top by saying that it seems that there are two main criteria for determining who is a “Local Visit” and who is not. This data was compiled from what seems to be the majority opinion of all online data sources I could find regarding the subject from as reputable sources as I could give credence to.

The first criteria used in determining who is a ‘Local Visit’ and does NOT count towards the “Top 30” is defined as: “Any player who attended and played at a University/College within the metropolitan area of the Team Headquarters.”

As far as I can tell, there is no actual mileage radius to the criteria deciding what colleges and universities are ‘local’, and it seems the NFL subjectively chooses the radius of which schools qualify.

To be honest, I am STILL not 100% clear on the boundaries as I haven’t found an official page, or .pdf, or even a memorandum regarding how the League decides these boundaries. There is much debate online as to which colleges are within the “metropolitan area” of the teams in the League.

If you, my readers, have a verified source of information regarding the boundaries for each NFL team and how the League goes about selecting them, please drop me a note below, because the League is hiding that Secret Sauce recipe pretty well from all of my research.

This means that while schools like Pitt, West Virginia, and Youngstown St are inside of the ‘metropolitan radius’, other schools such as Ohio State, Akron, and Penn State are not.

This can be vitally important when considering the type of athletes that Ohio State and Penn State consistently turn out, and the amount of extra “Free Visits” that the Steelers could have with top notch players.

The second criteria, which is much more clearly stated and accepted, says that: “any player who went to High School in the metropolitan area is also not counted towards the ‘Top 30’.”

So let me pull the ‘Spirit of the Rule’ together and give you an example of what the League has in place. Joey Porter Jr is a good example to use here, and helps make the point pretty easily.

Since JPJ went to Penn State, and Penn State is outside of the Pittsburgh Metro Area, under Criteria #1 he should count against the total visits, EXCEPT that he went to High School at North Allegheny, which makes him eligible under Criteria #2 to visit the Steelers without counting against their official visit total.

So I am taking everything I have gleaned so far from the Interwebs, filtering it through a Pittsburgh Steelers State of Mind, and I’m just running with it like the Bus running over Brian Urlacher in the falling snow.

UPDATED 4/8/24

*** Denotes local visits within the radius rule that do not count towards the total number of visits

Offensive Players – (12 Official + 2 Locals)

Dillon Johnson (Running Back) – Washington (Date Unknown)

Adonai Mitchell (Wide Receiver) – Texas (Date Unknown – est. 4/8-4/12)

Ricky Pearsall (Wide Receiver) – Florida (March 18)

Malachi Corley (Wide Receiver) – Western Kentucky (April 2)

Xavier Legette (Wide Receiver) – South Carolina (March 21)

Tahj Washington (Wide Receiver) – USC (April 3)

Luke McCaffrey (Wide Receiver) – Rice (April 4)

Steven Jones (Guard) – Oregon (April 4)

Zach Frazier (Center) – West Virginia *** (Initial report of official visit deleted, Date Unknown)

Troy Fautanu (Offensive Tackle) – Washington (Date Unknown)

Taliese Fuaga (Offensive tackle) – Oregon State (March 21)

Travis Glover (Offensive tackle) – Georgia State (March 21)

Amarius Mims (Offensive tackle) – Georgia (Date Unknown)

Matt Goncalves (Offensive Tackle) – Pitt *** (April 3)

Defensive Players – (9 Official + 1 Local)

Braden Fiske (Defensive tackle) – Florida State (April 2)

Darius Robinson (Defensive tackle) – Missouri (March 24)

Khristian Boyd (Defensive tackle) – Northern Iowa (Date Unknown)

Maason Smith (Defensive Tackle) – LSU (April 3)

Jaden Crumedy (Defensive Tackle) – Mississippi State (April 9)

Andru Phillips (Cornerback) – Kentucky (April 2)

Nate Wiggins (Cornerback) – Clemson (April 4)

Max Melton (Cornerback) – Rutgers (April 8)

M.J. Devonshire (Cornerback) – Pitt *** (April 3)

Daequan Hardy (Cornerback) – Penn State (April 2)

TOTAL PLAYER VISITS: 21 Official + 3 Locals

***NOTE*** This Visit Tracker is being run first as a ‘Top 30’ to bring you the latest information as it comes out. The next iteration of this will include the Combine and Pro Day visits as well to give you full scope of what Omar and the Band has been up to the last couple of weeks!

As the Steelers continue to bring players in, we will update this article accordingly with the latest information. Continue to stay tuned to the Steel Curtain Network for updates, and let me know your thoughts in the comments below!