Steelers Show Surprising Draft Interest in Sleeper Position Group
The Pittsburgh Steelers have some obvious desires for the 2025 NFL Draft later this month.
They very clearly would like to pay significant attention to the future of their defensive line, in a similar fashion to what they did over the last two seasons on the offensive side of the trenches, when they drafted four linemen in the first four rounds of the last two selections.
They have a hole to fill at running back, where Najee Harris has departed.
At wide receiver, cornerback and guard there are significant questions about the future with George Pickens, Darius Slay and Isaac Seumalo all entering the final season of their contracts.
That’s more than enough work to do for even a full slate of draft picks, and the Steelers won’t have that after trading their second-rounder to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for DK Metcalf.
But despite that, the Steelers seem to be showing an inordinate amount of interest at another position, where they don’t have an obvious need: safety.
The Steelers have All-Pro Minkah Fitzpatrick under contract through the end of the 2026 season. DeShon Elliott is entering the final year of his contract, but played so well in his first season with the Steelers in 2024 that it’s hard to envision him not being re-signed. The Steelers even took care of their depth at the position, signing former Cleveland Browns starter Juan Thornhill.
Despite all of that, their interest in the safeties in the NFL Draft class of 2025 has not been hard to suss out, especially because it’s not all that deep of a class. There are about 17 safeties ranked in the top 250 on the NFL Mock Draft Database consensus big board. The Steelers have talked to almost all of them.
Head coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan were at the pro days of projected first-round pick Malaki Starks, second-round pick Xavier Watts and third-round picks Andrew Mukuba and Latham Ransom.
Now, you could excuse that interest as being on other targets. Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Texas all have draftable quarterbacks, for example. Ohio State and Texas have potential first-round wide receivers.
But there are some flies in the ointment in dismissing the Steelers’ safety interest as a coincidence. For starters, they had NFL Combine formal interviews with Watts and Penn State’s Jaylen Reed.
Watts is a bit of a Swiss Army knife, a player that could possibly translate to slot cornerback at the next level. Reed is from Penn State, a school the Steelers do a lot of business with. Again, you can try to excuse the interest away if you want to.
But that kind of all goes out the window with the other potential first-round draft pick option at safety, as the Steelers sent defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander to South Carolina to personally work out safety Nick Emmanwori.
Emmanwori is a strong safety. He’s no slot corner. He’d project as an eventual replacement for Elliott if the Steelers drafted him. That’s not a coincidence.
The rest of the board filled in, as well. Billy Bowman, Jonas Sander, Sebastian Castro, Caleb Ransaw, Dan Jackson and Hunter Wohler were all at the Senior Bowl. Tomlin and company were there for Jackson’s pro day, as well as Alabama safety Malachi Moore. At Georgia, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin helped runs the drills for Jackson and Starks. Alexander was also at Pitt, where late-round safety Donovan McMillon worked out.
The only safety in the top 250 the Steelers haven’t met with is Penn State’s Kevin Winston — and in all likelihood, they have and it just wasn’t reported.
The need is not obvious, and the interest might not be at the surface level, but if you look carefully, the Steelers are telling us they’re interested in drafting a safety this year.