I’m not sure if you realize this, but the 2024 NFL Draft is just two weeks away.

That’s right, it just sort of crept up on all of us (kind of like tax season).

While most football fans probably don’t give a darn about the draft, there are those truly hardcore addicts who think about it 365 days a year (366 in 2024). I try not to look those people in the eye when I see them in public, but it ain’t always easy. Anyway, those folks have been asking me my opinion on who the Steelers should draft in the first round (20th, overall) since the end of the 2023 regular season.

My answer back then was simple: Cornerback.

Now that I, like you, have finally had a chance to sit down and examine the big board, pore over the position rankings, dissect these prospects one by one, and mull over team needs, my answer on who Pittsburgh should draft in the first round (20th, overall) remains the same: Cornerback.

If I were a betting man, I’d say that the Steelers are going to draft a center in the second round. They cut Mason Cole and haven’t signed a veteran to take his place (as of this writing). Sure, Nate Herbig, a versatile interior lineman who the Steelers inked to a multi-year deal last offseason, could theoretically be the starting center in Week 1, but the organization needs to draft a youngster with a premium pick.

The second round seems to be the sweet spot for top centers these days. It’s kind of like running back; sure, you can draft one in the first round, but prepare yourself for the epic meltdowns on Twitter if you do (and they’ll still be going on three or four years later).

If the Steelers don’t take a center in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, that leaves cornerback and offensive tackle as their top two needs that could be addressed with first-round talent (at least in my opinion).

You have to go with a cornerback in the first round, right? I mean, the Steelers just selected a tackle in the first round last year. They’re not going to do that two years in a row, are they? Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be opposed to selecting a tackle in the first round, and if the big boards and mock drafts are to be believed, there should be at least a couple of worthy candidates available at 20.

You can say the same thing about the cornerback spot. Much like last year, there are more than a handful of promising cornerbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft, and unlike previous springs, it doesn’t appear that the position is being overvalued based on team needs.

Pittsburgh hasn’t selected a cornerback in the first round since 2016; yes, I know. his name was Artie Burns, but that doesn’t have anything to do with now. True, the Steelers did select Joey Porter Jr. with the 32nd pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, but that officially wasn’t a first-round choice. Besides, why not pair Peezy Jr. with another promising cornerback prospect like, say, Kool-Aid McKinstry?

It’s no secret that the Steelers have some decent edge rushers. If they can become elite at cornerback, that would make for a truly dominant defense.

Your argument might be that Pittsburgh just acquired Donte Jackson in the trade that sent receiver Diontae Johnson to the Panthers back in March. Jackson does seem like a quality corner–or at least he did until he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in November of 2022. Maybe he was still recovering from his injury, but it was a fact that quarterbacks had a 107.7 passer rating when targeting Jackson in 2023. 

Besides all of that, Jackson is going into the final year of his contract. Therefore, even if he does return to his pre-injury form, he’ll likely want bigger money than the Steelers may be willing to pay.

My gut (and you don’t have to trust my gut if you don’t want to) tells me that Jackson is now closer to being Levi Wallace than he is to his old self.

I know what you might be saying, “Dan Moore Jr. is trash, Tony! He was graded as the worst pass-protecting tackle by PFF in 2023.” Fair point, but Moore is the devil that the Steelers know, and he has managed to start 49 of a possible 51 games since winning the left tackle job at his rookie training camp back in 2021.

Does this mean that I want Moore to be Pittsburgh’s starting left tackle forever? No. But Moore can’t play right tackle (no matter how many times people insist he should move over there). Broderick Jones, the Steelers first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, is an athletically gifted tackle who had no trouble moving over to the right side when Mike Tomlin permanently benched Chuks Okorafor in the middle of the 2023 campaign.

I can envision a scenario where both Moore and Jones begin where they left off last year. In the meantime, the Steelers rookie right tackle, the guy they’ll draft with one of their two third-round picks, will sit and learn on the bench for a few weeks until he’s inserted into the starting lineup as the right tackle.

“So it will be Moore over on the left and some third-round rookie on the right?” No, silly. Jones, the athletically gifted big man, will easily slide over to the left. Moore will spend the rest of the season as a backup left tackle before leaving as a free agent next spring.

The Steelers may want to re-sign Moore, but his lack of position flexibility will force them to go in another direction when it comes to finding a backup swing tackle.

I just think it’s harder to find a quality starting cornerback in the third round than it is a quality starting offensive tackle.

And, again, since the second round is the new first round when it comes to centers, the Steelers may be better off going with a cornerback in the first round and a tackle in the third.

Finally, with so many quarterbacks, receivers, pass rushers and offensive tackles projected to be selected over the first 19 picks, the Steelers may have a choice of first-round worthy cornerbacks available to them at 20.

It has to be cornerback at 20, right?