C+
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers fleeced the room on the phones and earned a C+.
by aechean ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 15 picks
· 2 steals
· 9 reaches
The Steelers looked at the value chart, folded it up, and took Harold Perkins Jr. at No. 76 regardless, 56 picks early.
They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own. The Burks pick is the one they will point to when this weekend is judged.
They will answer for taking offensive lineman early while edge rusher and tight end went begging. They will regret leaving edge rusher for another day if the season turns on it.
Call it incomplete, and check back in a couple of seasons.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 22 they get a pocket-collapsing interior rusher. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
In the 23rd overall pick they get a green-dot type in the middle at fair value. A clean fit for the roster.
Caleb Lomu at the 24th pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
They liked Dontay Corleone enough to skip the value, taking him in No. 53. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Harold Perkins Jr. at Round 3, Pick 12 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Nicholas Singleton well ahead of where he belonged. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Steal is underselling it; Deion Burks at Round 4, Pick 14 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. The roster fit checks out.
The eyebrow-raiser of the weekend. They went offensive lineman with Parker Brailsford while clear needs at edge rusher and tight end sat open.
They reached into another round for Drew Allar, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Charles Demmings slipping to slot 161 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
A reach for Jeremiah Wright in pick No. 204; a little patience would have been rewarded. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
They jumped the gun on Isaiah Nwokobia, taking him earlier than his grade liked. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
The board had cheaper options than Xavier Nwankpa at the 224th overall pick, and it noticed. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A straight-up fair deal on Lander Barton at the Round 7 slot, value and slot in agreement. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Value said wait; Barion Brown in the 237th pick says they were not listening. A need, and now a little less of one.