Steelers Trade Up to Land Amarius Mims in New Mock Draft

in the 2023 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers traded up to land a freak athlete at tackle in Broderick Jones. Could they do the same to land a special athlete at the positon in the 2024 NFL Draft? If the Athletic’s projection by NFL Draft analyst Dane Brugler comes true, that is exactly what will happen.

Brugler has the Steelers moving up to 16th overall from 20th overall with the Seattle Seahawks and moving their first-round pick and third-round pick in exchange for another fourth-round pick in addition to the 16th overall pick. With that pick, he has them landing Amarius Mims.

“Déjà vu here with the Steelers trading up in Round 1 for a Georgia offensive tackle. (Pittsburgh moved from No. 17 to No. 14 to select Broderick Jones last year). At 6-8, 340, Mims is the most fascinating player in the draft, because of his special traits. The body of work (eight starts) might not be there, but if he had a deeper resume, a team like the Steelers wouldn’t have a shot to get him this late,” Brugler said.

As expected, Mims stated that he did meet formally with the Pittsburgh brass in Indianapolis before declaring himself 100% for the testing portion of the combine. On Sunday, he was in the process of putting up some gaudy testing numbers prior to a minor hamstring tweak, forcing him to cut his workout short without completing the agility tests. For obvious reasons, there has been a lot of discussion in Pittsburgh recently about offensive lineman having to switch sides or positions as a whole. Mims isn’t concerned about it.

“I feel like regardless if you play right tackle or left tackle in college, you are a tackle. You have to be ready to play both because you never know what can happen,” Mims said.

For an underclassmen without much game experience, Mims is surprisingly polished as a pass protector. He showcases plenty of foot speed with the ability to reach his landmarks in pass pro with relative ease. The Georgia tackle comes equipped with an incredibly long reach, big hands with noticeable grip strength. His strong base and frame help him anchor against power moves while also having enough solid redirection ability for counters.