Titans Select Steelers Target J.C. Latham
The Pittsburgh Steelers top offensive tackle target in J.C. Latham is now off the board to the Tennessee Titans.
The Pittsburgh Steelers seem poised to try and land an offensive lineman in the NFL Draft this year, and it is becoming the likeliest option at 20th overall. However, which one ends up being is still up in the air, but it won’t be J.C. Latham. Latham is heading to the Tennesee Titans, who ended up picking him.
Listed at 365 pounds on Alabama’s website, he came in over 20 pounds lighter at the NFL Combine and looked nimbler than ever. And according to Adam Schefter, Latham put together an impressive list of visits that included the Bears, Titans, Cardinals, and Titans, which signaled that Latham might be rising out of the team’s range. The Steelers never brought him in for a visit.
Latham started at right guard before moving to right tackle for Alabama in 2022. A two-year starter at that position, he would have likely played right tackle in the NFL, and that would have moved Broderick Jones back to left tackle, where he played in college. Jones played right tackle in 2023.
Despite his size, Latham is no lumberer, and he is seen as a well-rounded player that can be elite in both run and pass blocking. In 915 pass-rush snaps as a tackle at Alabama, he gave up just two sacks, per Pro Football Focus.
Latham was one of the Steelers’ tackle options in the first round. He now joins guys lke Penn State’s Olu Fashanu and Notre Dame’s Joe Alt who will likely be gone well before Pittsburgh picks, four tackles could be available in the back half of this year’s first round: Mims, Washington’s Troy Fautanu, Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga, and Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton.
Dan Moore Jr., the Steelers’ incumbent starter at left tackle, is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and Chuks Okorafor, who lost his right tackle job to Jones mid-season has been released, so it appears high time for the Steelers to make another long-term upgrade at tackle after trading up to draft Jones last year.
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