{"id":18889,"date":"2025-05-02T21:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T21:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/18889\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T21:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T21:14:08","slug":"steelers-draft-class-named-afcs-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/18889\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers’ Draft Class Named AFC’s Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite picking 21st overall, being without a second-round pick, and having just two choices in the top 120 selections, the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 draft class still earned high marks. Sports Illustrated\u2019s Matt Verderame ranked the 16 AFC classes<\/a> and placed the Steelers No. 1 overall, praising them for their trench-first focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cPittsburgh didn\u2019t have its second-round pick because of the DK Metcalf trade and still nailed the draft,\u201d Verderame wrote. \u201c[Derrick] Harmon is a stud inside who should pair nicely with Cam Heyward, while [Kaleb] Johnson will make a nasty tandem with Jaylen Warren in the backfield. [Jack] Sawyer is also a good value who should thrive in Pittsburgh\u2019s system, with no team doing a better job of coaching front-seven talents over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harmon was considered one of the top defensive linemen in the class and only\u00a0slightly\u00a0fell due to reported medical concerns with his shoulder. He should be an immediate contributor and likely starter with the long-term goal of assuming Cam Heyward\u2019s role as the Steelers\u2019 top down lineman.<\/p>\n

At No. 83, Johnson was strong value and ranked as a top-five back by nearly every draftnik. He\u2019ll replace Najee Harris and should have an instant role on early downs. Johnson is also a strong scheme fit under OC Arthur Smith, who is building the offense closer to his vision<\/a> in his second year on the job.<\/p>\n

Sawyer is a clean system fit who, as Verderame points out, was another strong-value pick. Though unmentioned, the same applies to sixth rounder QB Will Howard, viewed by many as an early Day 3 pick pre-draft. In the seventh round, Pittsburgh added a high-floor special teamer in Carson Bruener.<\/p>\n

The Steelers were the only AFC team to receive an \u2018A\u2019 grade. They finished ahead of the New England Patriots, widely agreed as having one of the best draft overhauls of their roster.<\/p>\n

Relative to the AFC North, the Steelers finished first, the Cleveland Browns third, the Baltimore Ravens sixth, and the Cincinnati Bengals bringing up the conference\u2019s rear at No. 16.<\/p>\n

Given their limited draft capital, placing Pittsburgh first is aggressive and there\u2019s a case to be made that it should be a couple spots lower. The Patriots\u2019 class, headlined by OT Will Campbell, RB TreVeyon Henderson, WR Kyle Williams, and C Jared Wilson in the top 100 is a stronger haul. But Pittsburgh did well with sparse resources and understanding Metcalf stands in for their second-round pick, the Steelers\u2019 selections look even better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite picking 21st overall, being without a second-round pick, and having just two choices in the top 120…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[80,7,9407,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-18889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-2025-nfl-draft","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-matt-verderame","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114440311341878602","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}