Scouting The Mock: A look at the latest Steelers 2025 mock drafts, Part 1
For fans who love the NFL Draft or consider themselves part of the draft community, making mock drafts and analyzing the “experts’” editions is a yearly tradition. We dive into these projections, hoping to get a glimpse of which players might hear their names called for the Pittsburgh Steelers come draft day. While these mocks are fun, they are often far from reality—especially this early in the offseason. Still, they remain one of the most enjoyable aspects of the long NFL offseason.
However, mock drafts can also be polarizing. Some picks make perfect sense, while others leave you wondering why you just wasted your time reading them. That’s where this series comes in. Each week, we’ll break down various mock drafts—both from draft analysts and the broader draft community—grading them based on how well they objectively address the Steelers’ needs. To cap it off, we’ll also review a fully automated mock draft, just to see how a computer simulation envisions the Steelers’ future.
Lets dive into some mock drafts…
Mock 1:
“Steelers 7-round NFL mock draft adds Russell Wilson replacement, help for George Pickens” – Bryce Lazenby/The Sporting News
- R1 Pick 21: WR Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State
- R2 Pick 52: QB Jalen Milroe, Alabama
- R3 Pick 83: CB Cobee Bryant, Kansas
- R4 Pick 122: OT Anthony Belton, NC State
- R5 Pick 163: DT Ty Robinson, Nebraska
- R7 Pick 225: OL Gus Hartwig, Purdue
- R7 Pick 238: EDGE Jah Joyner, Minnesota
- R7 Pick 247: RB Ja’Quinden Jackson, Arkansas
Summary:
The draft starts off strong with perhaps the most popular first-round selection for the Steelers—Emeka Egbuka. The high-character, high-floor wide receiver would provide a much-needed stabilizing presence in the position room. However, things begin to unravel from there.
Taking Jalen Milroe in the second round is a significant risk. While he possesses all the physical tools, his college tape suggests he is far from being NFL-ready. In the third round, selecting Kansas cornerback Cobee Bryant addresses the need for more depth at the position. Though he primarily played on the outside in college, his smaller frame could push him into a slot role at the next level.
Cobee Bryant has been absolutely SHUTDOWN at the East West Shrine Bowl practices.
Bryant has reportedly “turned the heads” of several NFL GM’s and scouts with his performance.
And is reportedly “quickly climbing up draft boards” with his recent practices.
Many NFL scouts… pic.twitter.com/k19IpWb9B8
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) January 27, 2025
On Day 3, using two more picks on offensive linemen feels somewhat redundant given the heavy investment already made in that group. Meanwhile, waiting until the fifth round to address the defensive line with Ty Robinson out of Nebraska seems too late for a team in desperate need of game-changing youth in the trenches.
Jah Joyner would add solid depth as a fourth outside rusher with his twitchy athleticism off the edge, and taking Ja’Quinden Jackson provides another body to a running back room that, depending on offseason moves, might only have Jaylen Warren as an established option.
Grade: C+
Mock 2:
This mock was a CPU simulation on the NFL Mock Draft Data base
R1 Pick 21: WR Luther Burden III, Missouri
R2 Pick 52: DT Darius Alexander, Toledo
R3 Pick 83: RB Kaleb Johnson, Iowa
R4 Pick 122: CB Cobee Bryant, Kansas
R5 Pick 163: Edge/DL Saivion Jones, LSU
R7 Pick 225: OL Marcus Wehr, Montana State
R7 Pick 238: OL Xavier Truss, Georgia
R7 Pick 247: TE Bryson Nesbit, North Carolina
Just like the previous mock, this one starts out strong but with a different wide receiver—Luther Burden out of Missouri. Burden entered the year as a projected top-five pick due to his unique blend of speed and size, making him a nightmare after the catch—a skill set the Steelers currently lack. The former five-star recruit would instantly change how teams defend the Steelers’ offense with his ability to play both inside and outside.
In the second round, the Steelers make a much earlier investment in the defensive line, selecting Darius Alexander, who provides a ready-made piece to work alongside Keeanu Benton and Cameron Heyward on the interior. His draft stock has been on the rise since the Senior Bowl in Mobile, and you can bet the Steelers have kept a close eye on the MAC talent.
They finish Day Two with a bang by selecting highly touted Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson, who has been described as a perfect fit for the outside zone scheme the Steelers are implementing under Arthur Smith. On Day Three, they pick up a familiar face, as Cobee Bryant is once again selected, bringing his ball-hawk abilities to the Steelers secondary.
Savion Jones becomes the first double dip in this draft, providing the Steelers with a toolsy but raw defensive end at 6’6″ and 280 lbs. He would be brought in to compete with DeMarvin Leal for the tweener spot on the defensive line.
In the seventh round, this mock once again opts to double dip on the offensive line, adding Marcus Wehr and Xavier Truss to provide depth across both guard and tackle spots. The draft is then completed with the selection of Bryson Nesbit, who adds another weapon to an offense that relies heavily on multiple tight end sets.
Grade: A (Its tough to give out anything higher without free agency)
These two drafts were quite different, with the second one providing more immediate solutions to the Steelers’ roster needs as things stand today. Of course, free agency could drastically shift the team’s priorities, impacting how these mocks are perceived. But sitting here in mid-February, if the Steelers could land a haul like the one in the second mock, I think many fans would be optimistic about the direction of the team.
What do you think? Am I being too harsh on the first mock and too high on the second? How do you feel about the value throughout the rounds?
I also think that adding Free Agency into the mocks are just as important. A brief synopsis of who was signed adds to the context of the draft itself. Adding in who was available when the Steelers took the podium is also a talking point.
Oh absolutely, Free agency makes the blue print for the draft a whole lot more clear. Doing a whole mock off-season would be a fun exercise for sure.
It’s been a blast doing these for well over a decade dating back to SB Nation days. Great group of guys that are all football junkies. Our site is a one stop shop for league and team information.
If the Steelers don’t sign a FA pass catcher then both of those selections makes sense. I like both but feel Burden doesn’t fit into what the Steelers need or want. Do they have an offense that allows Burden to get those free releases that he was accustomed to in Missouri. I mentioned at a site not to be mentioned here out of respect to Jeff and some of his writers, that Burden is a 1st round talent but he’s much lower, as in the second round, looking at a Steelers Board. That’s just my opinion.
The OL is a sore subject with me but I can actually see a pick being made, although the double dip is a but much. I look at replacing Seuamlo in 2026 as a real need and getting a guy in house with a year to groom would be ideal. Steelers have Mason McCormick, who by trade is a LG but in sore subject mode, they will likely keep him as a RG. This draft has some interesting Tackle to Guard options. If I’m Weidl I seriously have to look at LT if a guy presents itself.
I don’t really do grades but I like the middle to bottom half of the first mock and the top end of the second mock. Minus the double dip along the OL.
Huge fan of Alexander, was on him at the onset of the college season. Found him while watching the Mitchell tape.
Johnson just screams Steelers pick
TY Robinson has some serious power just needs some refinement. Nice project piece but as you mentioned do the Steelers have time for that kind of development. They need help yesterday along that front. My ideal off season is to poach from PHI the way they poached Hargrave. Take Milton Williams in FA and double dip with Harmon at 21 and Alexander at 52
I simply agree on your Burden take, he is a phenomenal after the catch threat and fairly decent contested catcher. His lack of a release package against press is worrying which is why I prefer Golden from Texas if WR was the first round selection.
With O-Line Im happy with a selection as you say that can get a year of experience under the starters we have now, but I wasn’t huge on investing twice in that position group as I feel the need for depth at other positions is more pressing.
I agree on Johnson and Alexander as I think they both are just Steelers in the way they play the game, and with Alexander with his experience I can see him being an immediate impact along the line.
I replied on SCN and even at a few of the other blog sites that we need an Amon Ra St Brown type. I feel Egbuka is as close as any in this draft but I’m not sure I can pull the trigger at 21?
Yeah Emeka does have some St Brown and maybe JSN traits about the way he plays. I’m excited to see him test at the combine alongside Golden who I really like out of Texas. I still say I would lean D-Line at 21 if Grant or Nolan were there, but if there is a early run on DL I wouldn’t hate either of those two WR at 21.
Maybe a little Keenan Allen as well?
I don’t really know the players, but I like the positions chosen in the second draft a hell of a lot more than the first.
While, I’d rather see a D lineman taken with the 1st, if Burden is still there when the Steelers pick it likely means the top D linemen are gone , so at that point Burden seems like a steal.
I tend to agree if you can get a Nolan or Grant in the first round that would be where I would lean to. But Burden is a profile that the Steelers don’t have and would provide an interesting skillset, however if they go after Deebo there is too much of an overlap I would say.
Ughh, I don’t want Debo. Too high price.
If my choice is the 5th or 6th D lineman or the 1st or 2nd WR I’ll take the WR every time.
More than fair, I don’t think I would want him but I feel if the Steelers were to go that route it mat take Burden off the board unless you see his limited outside success as something to build on for the future.
The biggest fault I have with these and most 7-round mocks is they have the Steelers with 3 7th-round picks. They only have 2.
There are some outlets having us with three 7 rounders. Our draft site has always used Tankathon and have been really accurate. They list us with having the following picks
21original
52 original
83 original
122 original
163 via Rams
225 via NO
231 via ATL
247 via WAS
Drafttek
Has the same order for the top 5 picks listing the 163 as the Dotson trade but only has Pick 250 in the 7th listed for the Pickett trade
Mock Draft Database has the same number of picks as the Tankathon order
I’ve see those picks from that site and here is why I believe they are wrong, along with several other Steelers reporters who I have interacted with (Alan Saunders, Nick Farabaugh)…
The Steelers shouldn’t be getting a pick from Washington because they didn’t send a 6th round pick to them. Their 6th round pick went to Chicago. Technically it wasn’t theirs, but it was the only one they still had. What that site is saying is part of the WJ3 trade but the pick swap was conditional. Because Jackson never played for the Steelers the conditions were not met. The Steelers did not send a 6th pound pick to Washington, and Washington did not send their 7th round pick the Pittsburgh. That’s the error. Had the Steelers done that with Washington and still had the conditions of that trade happening, they wouldn’t have had a 6th round pick to offer Chicago for Justin Fields.
The Steelers had their own 7th round pick and 2 7th rounds picks from the Eagles from the Pickett trade. The Steelers sent one of those picks to Green Bay for Preston Smith. That’s why they have two. That’s why places like Over The Cap only have the Steelers with two.
As for the exact pick numbers, nothing is known beyond the 3rd round because the compensatory draft picks have not been announced yet. They are all just estimates.
Okay that makes sense and thanks for the comment on that topic but why does drafttek have us at 250, a completely different numbered pick. When at least the other sites have the same pick numbers?
It’s all estimates based on the expected compensatory picks. That is why I assume there’s a discrepancy in the exact selection. The odds of anybody’s numbers being correct is low as the compensatory picks don’t often exactly match the estimates.Those should be announced very soon and the NFL will officially announce every pick. I’m not exactly sure which pick of the Steelers in the 7th round went to Green Bay.
I can’t remember either and to lazy today to look it up at this point
Being this article is about mock drafts
21 – Derrick Harmon IDL Oregon
52 – Darius Alexander IDL Toledo
83 – Dylan Sampson RB Tennessee
122 – Dorian Strong CB/NCB VA Tech
163 – Kyle Williams WR Washington State
I haven’t went further in the draft other than here because there is a discrepancy in the picks in the 7th round so waiting on what that entails. We haven’t had our draft yet. It’s scheduled for April 11th-13th
FA Signings per Spotrac #s
Justin Fields – you all know him – 6m
Milton Williams IDL PHI – 10m
Byron Murphy CB MIN – 22m
Patrick Mekari OL BAL -10m
Darius Slayton WR NYG – 16m
Yes, some very expensive contracts in there totaling 64million dollars on 5 contracts. Yes, the Steelers can fit them in there cap space with some cost efficient moves. Our draft group held a FA exercise using Over The Cap, so I know over 100 million in cap space can be created. Now you may disagree with some of that rework and even some of this spending but the Steelers can use every bit of this young veteran talent.
There’s an up and coming penetrating disruptive IDL in Williams
A corner coming from Brian Flores aggressive defensive scheme in MIN inside/outside ability
A versatile OL that has taken reps all across the line and pulls away from a division opponent
And an undervalued WR that has still produced in a dysfunctional offense worse than ours.
I traded Minkah Fitzpatrick for BUF Pick 62 and Darnell Washington for Pick 98. So you can add in a TE and any other pick you feel would be conducive to rebuilding this team. This may not go over well with some but?
It gets better than that folks.
Camryn Bynum was signed to take Minkah’s place also from that aggressive Flores D
Zack Baun ILB also signed to add to that newly formed ILB room who had one helluva season in only one year of playing the position. Stood out in the SB as well as did Milton
Baun at 9m
Bynum at 17m
FA total per Spotrac totals 90 million leaving 10million+ for the draft class
I signed a couple other guys for depth pieces at vet cost.
Ben Skowronek
TY Johnson RB BUF
Both RFA and ERFA guys
Yes this is fairly unreasonable due to the amount of money spent but the cap space can be had. It just depends on when you choose to use it. 2026 is also looking good. I felt I signed some very talented FA at some positions of need. Maybe the Baun signing was a little over the top. I often shared my draft groups happenings with BTSC and mostly you guys when you were there. I just wanted to share what this sick minded GM was doing.
Go Steelers and I apologize to the author for hijacking his thread!
Remember the first year of multi-year contracts is cheaper than the rest. If it was a 3-year, $66 million contract, it’s probably coming in closer to $12 million, $27 million, $27 million in terms of cap hit (that’s using a $3 million base year 1, $18 million base the other 2, and a $27 million singing bonus). That’s how you make those moves and they still are under the cap.
If it helps, I have the Steelers needing about $17 million to go into the season to sign the draft class, add the salaries of 52 & 53, the offseason workouts, signing the practice squad, and having money to do business for the season.
Also remember because of roster displacement, every player signed bumps a $840k to $960k contract out. That means for every 3 players signed, that’s about another $2.5 million cap space not used. So you have more cap space than you realize.
When looking at how the Steelers could sign someone for $22 million APY and still only count $12 million this season, it shows how much they really could do.
Our exercise was limited to the average of the contract. Like Fields at 66 million that would be 22 per year at 3 years. It made it easier for our cap guy(s) to keep up with contracts for 32 GMS. But I get what you are saying about those. Obviously it requires bot the FA to want to come to Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh wanting to change their MO of FA. They have dabbled because the cap wasn’t conducive to huge acquisitions or quantity of them. If they want to build a team and can entice some big time talent to come for the rebuild the money is there.
The cost for Murphy and even Milton have been scattered I actually spent 45 million at 15 a year to sign both of those guys. Had some bid up with a couple of interested GMs. According to Spotrac’s projection I got a steal for Murphy and I over bid on Milton. For Baun there was a great amount of interest from about 5 GMs. My initial bid came in 10m and I ended up getting him for 16.3 for 49 for 3 years.
I went all in 2025 because I believed in the guys I was bidding on to help this team in 2025 and beyond. It’s hard to say how the Steelers would look at their needs and how they would spend that money. We needed a vet but young IDL and also a second CB to pair with JPJ. I don’t think Minkah will get traded but I was willing to move on, eat some dead money and invest in two DBs from Flores aggressive style defense. Does that mean anything in real life, most of that was a jab at the current coaching staff, who I don’t believe is aggressive enough. To answer your question honestly I don’t see the Steelers being this aggressive in what I did and how much money I freed up. But there is a new sheriff in town with Khan and more importantly Weidl and if what I believe is in store next, is a rebuild of the D Line.
I haven’t yet dove into my own mock drafts (which, as a non college football watcher, is the only way I learn about & study college players), but with the many articles/columns/opinions I’ve read, I like the second draft considerably more than the first. Although I would have taken a 2nd DL as opposed to a 2nd OL. I also strongly agree with PB56 that I’d like to know what we’ve done in FA before doing too many mock drafts.
Nice piece Archie. This the beginning of my college player study.
Thank you SteelYinzer,
As you said I agree that free agency provides that natural blue print as to where the Steelers will lean too in the draft, making mocks seemingly more realistic. Similar to you personally I am a massive advocate in double dipping into this DL class due to its depth!
Wow…no offense, not a fan of Mock 1 at all. Mock 2 is not too far off from I got – except I got Kaleb Johnson in 2nd Rd (There’s no more of a fit at RB in this draft for the Steelers than Johnson). I don’t believe CB is as a “must draft” as others. The Steelers REALLY like Cory Trice – and one will be signed in FA.
I also believe the Steelers will come out of this draft with 2 D-lineman (with one possibly being a NT).
I have the Steelers trading back in Rd. 1 (then selecting Darius Alexander/DT/Toledo)
Taking Kaleb Johnson with their 2nd. Another DT (Jordan Phillips/MD) in Rd. 3 as well as a WR or TE with their 2nd 3rd rounder from trade. The QB I REALLY like as a back-up/possible future signal caller is Tyler Shough.
Totally agree with taking an O-lineman late (i.e. Xavier Truss), or the guy I like, Caleb Rogers (Tx. Tech)
Yep! Johnson is a Steeler RB through and through so would not be surprised if he was a 2nd round selection.
I see where you are coming from with CB I just worry that with Trice he may not be able to be counted on with his injury history which if you don’t look for depth at the position might leave you exposed mid season.
Darius Alexander is one of my personal favourites and similar to Johnson feels like a Steelers DL.
When it comes to Shough if someone said to me that in two or three years he’s a top 3 if not higher QB from this class I wouldn’t be shocked, his tools are kind of off the charts and his age doesn’t worry me due to the position.