AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Draft Analysis And Grade

Best Pick: Jarvis Jones

I debated between Markus Wheaton and Jarvis Jones on this, but I went with Jones. Jarvis Jones is easily a top 5 talent, and if it weren’t for his medical problem, he would have gone a lot higher than this. Not only that, but Jones has played with this issue throughout his whole life. He was a great pass-rusher in college and possesses great closing speed. He uses his hands very well so that he can get off blockers, and also he has tremendous upper body strength. He does well when locking up against TEs and can even knock WRs off their routes legally. My biggest gripe with him, however, is that he was a one year starter. He also did not have a good combine nor pro day, but once you put on the tape, that answers all the questions a scout can have. As a Bengals fan, I am not looking forward to the Bengals having to play against Jarvis Jones twice a year. He will be a pass-rushing specialist and will definitely create problems for numerous offensive lines.

Worst Pick: Landry Jones

This was both surprising and just down-right bad. Jones is actually pretty decent with a strong pocket and can make some nice throws that are short and sometimes intermediate, but he also tries to thread the needle a lot. He is really bad when under duress and gets caught too easily when getting out of the pocket. This will be a problem, because the Steelers offensive line struggles with pass blocking. Lacks awareness when outside of the pocket and allows plays to break down too easily. He has even allowed the ball to float and sail if the ball comes out of his hand weird, which happens quite a bit. Also, he is horrible down the field, missing wide open receivers and being poor when passing on the run. You can also tell that he has a long memory when making mistakes and allows that to effect his games. He’s extremely inconsistent in almost every way of his game. Jones was a bad pick, especially since the Steelers just signed Bruce Gradkowski as a backup QB.