Strackbein: Steelers Likely Have Two Names on Top of Their NFL Draft Board

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a very predictable team in some drafts.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers always have a few different boxes on their NFL Draft checklist, and their rich history only allows them to make those qualifiers even more significant in their evaluations. 

The Steelers will take advantage of relationships when it comes to the NFL Draft, and for the most part, it works out. It's how they found their current quarterback, and what looks like their second-string tight end. 

The team has built a roster of relationships, going through 2022 with three pairs of brothers at different points during the season. 

The NFL has also begun doing the same thing. With the connections of Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase, and Tua Tagovaolia and Jaylen Waddle, the league is forming offenses based on familiarity with the quarterback. And no one knows their QB like the top college wide receiver. 

Which brings us to the 2023 NFL Draft. The Steelers hold the 17th overall pick, and with it, a few names have been popped around as ideas. 

Most analysts believe Pittsburgh will target a cornerback or offensive lineman, but the occasional different position is thrown in from time to time. 

Most likely, though, there are two names on the top of the Steelers' early draft boards. And just like it was predictable the team was chasing Najee Harris two years ago, it feels the same type of predictable they're chasing these two this spring. 

The two names are Joey Porter Jr. and Jordan Addison, and both fall under exactly what the Steelers love about their rookies. 

Kenny Pickett has spent the last week or so doing nothing but praising Addison and talking about how he'd like to see him back in Pittsburgh. 

"I think the most impressive thing about him off the field is that his attitude, how he attacks work every single day, how he was so eager to get in the film room every day with me and he never missed a throwing session since he was a freshman at Pitt," Pickett said on Cam Heyward's 'Not Just Football' podcast. "For two years straight, he was always there and when your No. 1 receiver is doing the right things, everybody else follows. So it was easy to get the room right when Jordan was in there."

A player who has the approval of the franchise quarterback and has a hard work ethic? Can't get much better than that. 

If he's sitting there at 17, the Steelers will be talking high and low about how he was their guy because of his character and exceptional skill. A guy they couldn't pass up. 

With Porter Jr., that junior plays a big role, but so does his position. 

The Steelers would love to bring the son of one of the greatest defenders to Pittsburgh and continue the legacy of the Porter last name in the black and gold. They know what they're getting in a mentor to the player, and if they like Porter the way his presence at the facility this past season says so, they have no issues drafting his son. 

He also fills a major need for the Steelers. While Calvin Austin is still a player with high expectations, Pittsburgh is currently looking at a roster without Cam Sutton and Levi Wallace as their top cornerback. 

With questions to Ahkello Witherspoon and William Jackson III, the secondary is a major concern for this team right now. 

Porter is likely the second or third-best cornerback in the draft. The Steelers will move him up because of his lineage. 

There are plenty of names the Steelers "could" target in the NFL Draft, but there are likely only two they are as of now. 

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