Steelers Meet with Several Top Wide Receivers

INDIANAPOLIS — The Pittsburgh Steelers met with multiple top wide receiver prospects at the NFL Combine. The headliner of that group is LSU wide receiver Brian Thomas, who is projected as a first-round pick. He met with Mike Tomlin in that formal meeting.

The Steelers held other meetings with Oregon’s Troy Franklin, Texas’ Adonai Mitchell, Florida State’s Keon Coleman, and Washington’s Jalen McMillan. Those four players are all projected to go either on the draft’s first day or early day two. Pittsburgh has not cast a super wide net on wide receiver, opting to either meet with guys with speed or tough slot receivers that can add that grit to Arthur Smith’s offense.

Thomas is a freak athlete who can make plays above the rim. He is an entirely different player than Johnson, which raises some questions about the pick, but there is no doubt that Thomas has the requisite tools to appeal to the Steelers. His height, weight, and speed combination allows him to win on the outside and vertically, but more than anything, he is a guy who gives 100 percent on every play. Even though the profile reads like George Pickens, he is different than him, too. Thomas has some Matravis Bryant traits in his game.

Franklin joins him as a guy with fantastic speed. Meanwhile, McMillan is a tough slot receiver who exemplifies what the team needs over the middle of the field. Mitchell is a guy who can do it all and runs crisp routes. But all in all, those are guys that the team should look at closely. All will likely be gone by the time they are on the board in the third round, so this a first two round interest.