I decided to put together a list of all the draft projections for the Steelers in the first and second rounds from experts around the league in one tidy spot here. As you look over the chart, you will see that cornerback is by far the most popular pick for the Steelers in the first round. Whether it is Darqueze Dennard from Michigan State, Justin Gilbert from OSU or Bradley Roby from Ohio State more than half of the experts named here have gone for a corner.
Despite all the draft chatter about the Steelers taking a wide receiver in round one only three experts see that happening and it is the more recent name to be associated with the Black and Gold is Odell Beckham Jr from LSU that they see coming to Pittsburgh or Marqise Lee from USC.
Louis Nix III from Notre Dame still lingers as a name for the Steelers to pick up come draft day in the eyes of a couple of experts although Mel Kiper thinks they could get him in round two.
Defense over offense appears to be the choice in the opinion of most of the writers with only 6 of the 25 listed here going for offense and CJ Mosley who was the dream choice for many Steeler fans only a month ago barely gets a look in anymore.
See my most recent post here:Why The Pittsburgh Steelers 2014 Draft Must Become Defensive?
Matt Miller from Bleacher Report goes somewhat off trend with his selections but that could be said about most of the selections in his mock draft which seems to be more about being controversial than accurate or credible.
Neal Coolong stands out from the crowd with his selection of Aaron Donald that had some readers scratching their heads but he certainly cant be accused of blindly following group thinking.
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Mock drafts around the web from the draft experts |
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| Publication / Author |
Last Updated |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
| Bleacher Report - Matt Miller |
4th April |
Kony Ealy DE |
Cyrus Kouandjio OT |
| BTSC - Community |
14th April |
Darqueze Dennard CB |
|
| CBS - Dane Brugler |
14th April |
Taylor Lewan OT |
|
| CBS - Pat Kirwan |
11th April |
Darqueze Dennard CB |
|
| CBS - Pete Prisco |
17th April |
Bradley Roby CB |
|
| CBS - Rob Rang |
14th April |
Darqueze Dennard CB |
|
| CBS - Will Brinson |
10th April |
Justin Gilbert CB |
|
| Draft Breakdown |
20th March |
Justin Gilbert CB |
|
| Draft Countdown |
9th March |
CJ Mosley ILB |
Lamarcus Joyner S |
| ESPN - Mel Kiper |
17th April |
Odell Beckham WR |
Louis Nix III NT |
| ESPN - Todd McShay |
10th April |
Darqueze Dennard CB |
Jace Amaro TE |
| Football Expert |
4th April |
Eric Ebron TE |
Stephin Tuitt DE |
| Footballs Future |
7th April |
Darqueze Dennard CB |
|
| NFL - Bucky Brooks |
15th April |
Darqueze Dennard CB |
Deone Bucannon S |
| NFL - Charles Davis |
March 18th |
Darqueze Dennard CB |
|
| NFL - Daniel Jeremiah |
9th April |
Bradley Roby CB |
|
| NFL - Matt Smith |
3rd April |
Darqueze Dennard CB |
|
| Pro Football Talk - Mike Florio |
7th April |
Marqise Lee WR |
|
| Rotoworld - Josh Norris |
14th April |
Louis Nix III NT |
|
| SB Nation - Neal Coolong |
9th April |
Aaron Donald DT |
|
| SI - Chris Burke |
17th April |
Odell Beckham WR* |
|
| SI - Don Banks |
10th April |
Justin Gilbert CB |
|
| SI - Doug Farrar |
1st April |
Louis Nix III NT |
|
| USA Today - Nate Davis |
10th April |
Justin Gilbert CB |
|
| Walter Football |
16th April |
Eric Ebron TE |
Jason Verrett CB |