The Pittsburgh Steelers have a need at cornerback, and with it being a deep class, the team could make a splash in the first round by taking one. But the name that might make the most sense with what they want to do is Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell. Mitchell is not only a dynamite athlete, but his tape is some of the most polished tape in the class at cornerback. Mitchell checks the boxes and looks like the best player at the Senior Bowl.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah believes that Mitchell represents the dream scenario for the Steelers as it stands. Jeremiah went as far to call that a ‘home run pick’ for Pittsburgh.
“I also think that adding another corner is something that they need to look at, and they need to get accomplished. Where they’re picking, they’re picking 20,” Jeremiah said in a conference call on Thursday. “We’ve kind of talked about that corner list a little bit earlier, but those are — man, to me if you want to say what’s a home run pick, like if you could write it in right now and turn it in and somehow guarantee it would happen, putting Quinyon Mitchell from Toledo on the opposite side of who you took last year with Joey Porter, Jr. I think would be — man, that would be a heck of a young secondary with Minkah at the top of the Christmas tree there. That would be a fun defense to watch.”
The Steelers sent scouts to Toledo games on multiple occasions this fall, so he was clearly already on their radar before they got to Mobile, and head coach Mike Tomlin confirmed that interest by keeping a close eye on Mitchell during the individual drills.
But Mitchell’s strong showing against the top competition in Mobile might have taken him out of the Steelers’ range in the 2024 NFL Draft. Mitchell was the consensus 27th overall pick, according to the NFL Mock Draft Database, before the Senior Bowl. Now, he’s one of the hottest prospects in the first round, rising to his current position of 15th, five spots ahead of the Steelers.
The NFL Combine in Indianapolis, which starts next week, will always tell a big part of the story for when and where defensive backs get drafted. But if Mitchell impresses as much on the track as he did on the field at the Senior Bowl, the Steelers should probably start making other plans for their first-round pick, unless they want to trade up to get their guy.