At this point, there is very little argument to be made that if an elite offensive tackle prospect is on the board for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft, they should take them. The problem is there is no consensus about who the best offensive tackle is or just how high they would be drafted.
Our friends at Touchdown Wire have a new one-round mock draft out and in their opinion, Ohio State offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. is the top prospect. And because of that, he’s already off the board when the Steelers pick at No. 14. So instead they opt for who TD Wire considered the second-best prospect, Georgia’s Broderick Jones.
TD Wire also has Oklahoma’s Anton Harrison and Northwestern’s Peter Skornonski going in the first round. Is either one better than Jones? It depends on what a team wants. I could reasonably see any of these three guys being the smart pick depending on how the offseason workouts and analysis end up. As it stands, Jones is a strong, athletic guy with tons of experience. A very safe and Steelers-like pick even if drafting an offensive tackle in the first round isn’t something the team has done since 1996.
