With the 2024 NFL Draft fast approaching, many fans feel that the Steelers’ biggest needs are tackle, center and cornerback (and not necessarily in that order).

I personally think cornerback is Pittsburgh’s biggest need, while others will fight you on center or tackle.

How about receiver?

If you look at the Steelers’ depth chart at wide-out, it’s not exactly a who’s who after George Pickens. I mean, Van Jefferson and Quez Watkins? I suppose they’re good in a Miles Boykin kind of way, but I’m fairly certain Russell Wilson didn’t sign here so he can throw to Van Jefferson with the game on the line. Calvin Austin III is nice, but he’s like a toy. He’s like a little baby. Sure, he’s a good gadget player, but I can’t see him being a full-time starter at the NFL level.

Thankfully, my mom is Catholic, which means she has lots of visions that predict the future.

She called me up the other day and told me that one of her recent visions had the Steelers selecting Brian Thomas Jr., wide receiver, LSU, with the 20th pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

I couldn’t believe it. I said, “Are you sure?” She said that she was. She told me that receiver is a position that far too many people are overlooking as a top priority for the Steelers; she was praying the rosary and meditating on team needs, and Thomas, the Tigers’ other receiver opposite Malik Nabers, came to her in a vision.

My mom told me that Thomas “Presents an appealing combination of size, length and speed with experience working inside and outside. Thomas will occasionally go through the motions as a route-runner, but the bend, athleticism and speed needed to get better are all in the toolbox. He’s elusive against press and can uncover quickly underneath, but he still needs to improve intermediate routes and play a little more physically when crowded to become well-rounded. Thomas rarely has issues generating separation deep and could be counted on as an NFL team’s designated deep guy early in his career. Thomas is unpolished but has projectable talent to become a WR1/2 in time.”

I was stunned by how in-depth my mom’s vision was when describing Thomas–including his strengths and weaknesses. I told her I had to hang up for a bit and think about why I, a football writer for so many years, never get visions like that.

I then began to do some research on Thomas and said, “Hey, wait a minute! My mom got all of her information from Thomas’s NFL.com draft profile!”

I called her back and gave her the what for. “You’re a hack, Mom! You stole that “vision” from NFL.com.” She said, “I don’t have the Internet. That description of Thomas–btw, did you know that he’s 6′ 3″ and 209 pounds and is equipped with 4.3 speed?–just came to me during my vision. I don’t even know how to text.”

That’s true. My mom is way behind in the technology department. She doesn’t own a computer of any kind, and her flip phone is 15 years old.

“What I liked about Thomas was how his production increased every year in college. He caught 28 passes for 359 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman in 2021.  He posted 31 catches for 361 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore in 2022. Thomas’s production really took off in his final season at LSU when he caught 68 passes for 1,177 yards and an incredible 17 touchdowns.”

I looked it up, and my mom’s stats were on point. What a vision.

I tried to play Devil’s advocate with my mom and said, “Some might say that Thomas benefited from not only catching passes from Jayden Daniels, one of the best quarterbacks in this year’s draft, but by playing second fiddle to Nabers, who caught a combined 161 passes for 2,586 yards over his final two seasons with the Tigers.”

My mom then said, “Did you watch his tape?”

I was like, “Oh, come on, not you, too, mom!”

I said, “How do you have access to All-22 footage?”

“It was part of the vision.”

I did watch some of his highlights, and I must say that in another year when the position wasn’t this strong–Nabers could come off the board shortly after Marvin Harrison Jr.–Thomas would probably be at the head of the receiver class.

I then asked my mom if she thought Thomas would be a reach at 20, and she said, “No, getting a player of that caliber at that point in the first round would represent great draft value.”

I said, “Not you, too!”

My mom then went off the rails a bit and started talking about Jim Nabors and how he was such a great singer and underrated actor (you know how moms can ramble).  After I got her refocused, I said, “You know, you might be on to something here, Mom. The fans seem so eager to see the Steelers trade for Brandon Aiyuk. He’s going to cost them at least a second-round pick. Plus, he wants a new contract worth like $25 million a year. I know he looks like Mike Tomlin and all of that, but why not just select a receiver in the first round if they think the need is so great?”

My mom then told me that Antonio Brown interrupted her Thomas vision to remind her that the Steelers aren’t as good at drafting receivers in the middle rounds as people think. “There’s me, and that’s it. Also, B****** like to [unintelligible] my ****! Call God. #CTESPN”

Wow. Anyway, I said, “You know, some might say that receiver is a deeper class than tackle. If the Steelers are going to use their first-round pick on offense, why not continue to invest in the offensive line? My mom then rhetorically asked, “Remember when the Bengals were supposed to take Penei Sewell in the 2021 NFL Draft so they could have someone to protect Joe Burrow’s blind side? All the so-called experts were predicting this would happen leading up to the draft, but who did Cincinnati take? Receiver Ja’Marr Chase. I’d say that worked out pretty well in the end.”

“Vision?”

“No, I actually watch the NFL, you know that, right? In fact, I have a better cable package than you, you cheapskate.”

There you have it.

I don’t necessarily love the idea of the Steelers selecting Brian Thomas Jr., but my mom is Catholic, and he does bless himself after some of his touchdowns.

Plus, my mom stands by her source, so I wouldn’t bet against it.