{"id":760626,"date":"2026-02-18T16:06:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T16:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/760626\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T16:06:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T16:06:20","slug":"pittsburgh-steelers-pre-free-agency-2026-nfl-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/760626\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Steelers Pre-Free Agency 2026 NFL Mock Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a time of transition, and it\u2019s mock draft season. This mock draft has a trade back in the first round and addresses positions of need with some of the best players available. For a deeper look, here\u2019s the full 2026 NFL Draft big board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Steelers Pre-Free Agency 2026 NFL Mock Draft
\nTrade \u2013 Pick 1.21 for 1.26 and 3.91 with the Buffalo Bills<\/a>
\nPick 1.26 \u2013 KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M<\/p>\n

Concepcion is a natural separator who complements what D.K. Metcalf<\/a> does well. His counting stats didn\u2019t set the world on fire, but he flashed on film and didn\u2019t have a lot of help from the quarterback position. The Steelers might not have a quarterback solution yet, but building out the wide receiver room to help out whoever is back there can help the team for years to come.<\/p>\n

Pick 2.53 \u2013 Chris Johnson, CB, San Diego State<\/p>\n

Johnson has the size and speed to keep up with top-tier wide receivers. Having both Johnson and Joey Porter Jr. on the field will be a nice pair, with Porter a little more physical and Johnson a little twitchier. A Steelers mock draft without addressing defensive back likely has a free agency fix, but there aren\u2019t many corners who offer the same upside as Johnson, hitting the open market.<\/p>\n

Pick 3.76 \u2013 Jacob Rodriguez<\/a>, ILB, Texas Tech<\/p>\n

A lot of pundits will point to Rodriguez\u2019s height and say that he\u2019s undersized, but he plays with a physicality that will translate. He\u2019s instinctual and constantly finds himself on the ball, but if Patrick Queen is a possible cut candidate, getting another difference maker inside will make an impact.<\/p>\n

Pick 3.85 \u2013 Bud Clark, FS, TCU<\/p>\n

Bud Clark had a heck of a week at the Senior Bowl this year. Throwing on the tape, it\u2019s easy to see why. He\u2019s rangy with solid hands to force incompletions and turnovers. Older prospects are becoming more common, but if Clark were 21, he\u2019d be a top-50 pick.<\/p>\n

Pick 3.91 \u2013 Billy Schrauth, OG, Notre Dame<\/p>\n

Schrauth has experience on both sides of the offensive line and was a three-year starter for one of the most dominant rushing attacks in college football. He might not have been the\u00a0reason they were successful, but he\u2019s technically savvy and has enough power to possibly replace Isaac Seumalo as he ages out.<\/p>\n

Pick 3.99 \u2013 Isaiah World, OT, Oregon<\/p>\n

There\u2019s likely going to be an injury discount on World as he recovers from an ACL tear<\/a>, but he\u2019s a mountain of a man who can develop into a really nice left tackle. There aren\u2019t many tackle prospects this late in drafts with real starting potential, so taking a swing to look at a post-Broderick Jones era makes sense in this Steelers mock draft.<\/p>\n

Pick 4.121 \u2013 Reggie Virgil<\/a>, WR, Texas Tech<\/p>\n

Virgil has one of the highest differences between consensus boards and our Last Word on Sports big board. He\u2019s a fluid mover who uses his full catch radius to pluck the ball out of the air. He has all of the tools to be a WR2 at the next level, and the Steelers need to double-dip in this mock draft after how bad the receiver room was in 2025.<\/p>\n

Pick 4.135 \u2013 Cole Payton, QB, North Dakota State<\/p>\n

Payton has limited starting experience and can be viewed as a project, but he set North Dakota State\u2019s record for both yards per attempt and completion percentage in 2025. It\u2019s been a minute since the Steelers had a quarterback prospect with this kind of arm talent, so a late swing can help. Even if they target someone in free agency.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Joseph Buvid-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a time of transition, and it\u2019s mock draft season. This mock draft has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[4955,63335,7,35794,43380,6,520,57,2376,2360,102856,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-760626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-2026-nfl-mock-draft","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-jacob-rodriguez","12":"tag-kc-concepcion","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-pittsburgh","15":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","16":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers-draft","17":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","18":"tag-reggie-virgil","19":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116092493653767025","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760626","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=760626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}