Tag: 2024 Steelers draft

Steelers agree to terms with Michigan State UDFA LB Jacoby Windmon

The Steelers keep their UDFA signings rolling with Michigan State LB Jacoby Windmon.

The Pittsburgh Steelers keep their undrafted free agent signings rolling with Michigan State linebacker Jacoby Windmon.

Windmon transferred to Michigan State from UNLV at the start of his fifth season.

In 2023, Windmon logged playing time in just three games and logged a total of 93 snaps six tackles, four assists, and three stops. As a pass rusher, he tallied three total pressures, which included one QB hurry, one QB hit and a one sack.

Here are some strengths and weaknesses on the 6-foot-2 linebacker, provided by NFLDraftBuzz.com:

Strengths:

  • Showed initial quickness and good flexibility to dip and bend. Windmon has active hands and suddenness to his movements, demonstrating the ability to counter inside.
  • Shows toughness to get under the pads of tackles to bull them, club them upfield to get the inside lane, or fight through blocks for secondary rush when the passer steps up.
  • He has an excellent feel for working off blockers and knowing how and when to counter as the play goes on.
  • He has value as an inside blitzer as well, showing the initial burst to shoot through gaps and disrupt the backfield.
  • A chase-and-tackle Will prospect, Windmon is instinctive, reading and reacting quickly and showing the ability to absolutely fly around the field.
  • Windmon shows good quickness off the line of scrimmage and flashes the violent hands to win around the edge.

Weaknesses:

  • He’ll need to be covered up to be effective. He’s not the kind of guy you can line up in the pass rush and have him bend the edge; he’s limited to shooting through gaps.
  • He’s often slow to react and locate the ball against the run.
  • While Windmon has the take-on skills to be a 4-3 Mike, he’s probably better as a Will so he can maximize his range and speed.

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WATCH: Highlights of new Steelers OT Troy Fautanu

These highlights from Troy Fautanu’s final season in Washington offer a glimpse of what Steelers fans can look forward to.

The months of relentless speculation about who the Pittsburgh Steelers would take with their first pick of the 2024 NFL draft are over. They needed a tackle and they certainly got one in brawler Troy Fautanu.

According to Pro Football Focus, Fautanu allowed just three sacks in his four seasons as a Washington Husky.

These highlights from Fautanu’s final season in Washington offer a glimpse of what Steelers fans can look forward to:

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Steelers host Oregon C Jackson Powers-Johnson, Notre Dame OT Blake Fisher for predraft visit

The Steelers are hosting two offensive linemen, Jackson Powers-Johnson and Blake Fisher, for predraft visits.

In case you haven’t heard, the Pittsburgh Steelers need a center. They’ve needed one since Maurkice Pouncey retired in 2021, but Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin attempted to stop the bleeding with a bandaid, and it clearly got messy with Kendrick Green and Mason Cole.

2024 is their opportunity to fix that and the majority of mocks have them taking a center with their first overall pick. The draft class is deep, which offers teams who need to address the position some flexibility.

But if the Steelers have their eye specifically on Jackson Powers-Johnson, they won’t likely be able to wait.

According to Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Powers-Johnson is meeting with the Steelers today. He’s the first of a few centers who are expected to come in for the predraft process.

Notre Dame offensive tackle Blake Fisher, projected as a mid-round pick, is doing the same.

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Steelers 2024 draft: Trade ‘déjà vu’ lands franchise tackle in Pittsburgh

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Steelers trade up in the NFL draft for a Georgia offensive tackle. 

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Pittsburgh Steelers trade up in the NFL draft for a Georgia offensive tackle.

If it sounds familiar, it’s because it should. In 2023, the Steelers traded up from No. 17 to 14 to select Georgia tackle Broderick Jones. So far, so good on early returns.

The Steelers are projected to send No. 20 and No. 84 to the Seahawks for No. 16 and No. 151 in the latest mock draft from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler. The NFL draft analyst has Pittsburgh selecting Amarius Mims at 20 overall.

“Déjà vu here with the Steelers trading up in Round 1 for a Georgia offensive tackle,” Brugler wrote.

“At 6-8, 340, Mims is the most fascinating player in the draft because of his special traits. The body of work (eight starts) might not be there, but if he had a deeper resume, a team like the Steelers wouldn’t have a shot to get him this late.”

Pittsburgh selecting Mims, no matter in what order, would allow Jones to return to his natural left tackle position, which Omar Khan alluded to happening — eventually. Knowing the Steelers, however, it’ll take an injury or subpar performances for Mims to be plugged into the starting lineup. Unless they’re wise and start offseason training with Jones at left and Mims at right. That would mean trading Dan Moore Jr. for future draft capital or relegating him to reserves.

But let’s not put the cart before the (6-feet-8) horse. The Steelers have to draft him first.

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