Steelers Land Freak Athlete DB in New Mock Draft

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a perfect position to grab another lockdown cornerback across from Joey Porter Jr. with this class’s absurd depth and the potential value of grabbing a cornerback at that spot. There is no surprise they have been mocked by cornerbacks multiple times as a result.

And in the Ringer’s latest mock draft, NFL Draft analyst Danny Kelly has them landing Iowa’s Cooper DeJean, who is an interesting player with great athleticism, but is a versatile cornerback who might play a bit all over the field.

“There hasn’t been much buzz yet on Cooper DeJean, the corner out of Iowa—I think he’s gonna have a great predraft process, starting with the combine. A true top-flight athlete and multi-year college starter, DeJean has been tagged as a CB/S hybrid and potential safety convert—I think he’s clearly good enough to be a corner, but hey, the Steelers need help at both spots! This is a classic “draft the good player and figure out where exactly to play him later” situation,” Kelly wrote.

Patrick Peterson has become somewhat of an odd fit with Porter playing so much press-man coverage. But even then, the group is not overly athletic relative to their peers in the league. Porter has that athleticism, while rookie Darius Rush gives the team a little injection of what could be the future of the group. However, DeJean is one of those players that scouts expect to pop in the testing metrics. That could be something the Steelers are drawn to, and the type of versatility that he brings to the table is attractive, too.

He would allow the team to play their style of man coverage while fitting into the room as a sort of chess piece that they would love to have. So, the pick makes perfect sense. He has not received nearly as much buzz as he probably should have lately, but he checks the boxes well.