2024 NFL Draft
Pauline: Steelers Looking to Move Up for Quinyon Mitchell
The Pittsburgh Steelers are reportedly looking to potentially move up the board to land Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell.
Most mock drafts have the Pittsburgh Steelers selecting either a offensive tackle or center in the first round. That seems to be the general consensus. Cornerback is also a big need, but it hasn’t been talked about as much in the first round, with the Steelers acquiring Donte Jackson from the Carolina Panthers in the Diontae Johnson trade last month. But Tony Pauline says that the Steelers love Quinyon Mitchell and that they are hoping to move up for him. But the Philadelphia Eagles are doing the same.
“I’m told the Steelers and Broncos are talking trade as Pittsburgh is another team that is targeting Mitchell and would move up in the draft for him,” Pauline wrote.
The Steelers were represented at the Toledo Rockets pro day last month, even though Mitchell wasn’t running.
The Steelers sent director of college scouting Dan Colbert to Toledo to gather info at the school’s pro day, but the Steelers have been after Mitchell a long time.
They twice sent scouts to be at his games in-person in 2023, then Mike Tomlin did some serous in-person scouting of Mitchell at the 2024 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, when Tomlin challenged him to face Michigan wide receiver Roman Wilson in 1-on-1 competition.
Wilson got the best of that matchup, but Mitchell was one of the best players overall at the Senior Bowl and continued his strong offseason with a fantastic showing at the 2024 NFL Combine.
In Indianapolis, Mitchell ran a 4.33-second 40-yard dash, the second-fastest time of any cornerback in the class. He also posted a 38-inch vertical. His overall Relative Athletic Score is a 9.78 out of 10.
Thanks to that strong performance, he chose to sit out Toledo’s pro day, which brings up an interesting question. The Steelers have traditionally only selected players that were scouted in-person by their head coach or general manager at a pro day in the first round.
But with fewer and fewer top picks participating at their pro days, there’s little reason for Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan to be in attendance — especially at a place like Toledo, where Mitchell is the only player in the NFL Mock Draft Database top 300.
The Steelers also did not do formal interviews at the 2024 NFL Combine with players like Mitchell that they had met with extensively at the Senior Bowl, so Khan and Tomlin had just one good chance to get to to know him.
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Q Mitchell, in The Steelers’ defensive scheme, would, eventually, make The 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers’ Defense be talked about in the same breath as The Steel Curtain, the ‘85 Bears and the Ravens’ 2000 squad… I don’t sense The Steelers moving in that direction during the first round of this 2024 NFL Draft but we’ll see…
That news makes sense as the Raiders are rumored to be very interested in QM. But the rumor of Daniels not wanting to sign with the Commanders if drafted could create a cascade of changes in the first round. Reminds me of the Eli Manning debacle.
Pipe dream; would risk OT and Center needs doing that.
Plenty of talented CBs and Slot DBs available in 3rd and 4th rounds.
Curse on the possibility, sending a Colbert family member to scout Mitchell.
Mitchell is a fantastic player…easily the top CB in the draft. However, moving up to acquire him would not be the smartest move, IMO. If they were moving up to #12, it would make more sense to draft one of the top OTs. This is a fairly CB rich draft…They now have Donte Jackson and I don’t believe people should forget about Cory Trice. Trice was as impressive as Joey Jr. in the early going last off-season, until his injury.
DeJean, Fiske & Trotter, then hope to Trent Dilfer our way to a championship.