About that "prioritize improving the run game" thing... We've added a LT and a C who played on the top two OLs in CFB and who are both great in the run game. We added the best blocking TE/H-Back in the class. We added an elusive, tough former QB who fights for yards and ran 4.41.
And we recognize the need for some speed adn have added a 4.41 RB.
But you can never have enough AND the Steelers cupboard going into the draft was totally bare at one position group above all others. The RB group before the draft was perhaps the worst in the NFL and the worst Steelers group I can recall––and I go back 50+ years.
To wit:
The presumed starter Benny Snell should be out of football or become a FT STs guy, He's not quick but he's also slow. He's as useless in the passing game as Ebron is as a run-blocker.
The "change of pace guy" McFarland ran 4.44 but only a 1.60 10-yard split. He's also functionally illiterate in the passing game.
Jaylen Samuels was a college superstar, put up a great draft workout, came in and was very effective as RB2 in his rookie year, and promptly fell off the face of the earth. I'm willing to give him a chance going into this year because the guy who made him a superstar is taking over the offense, but how many years of poor play will it take to stop hanging on what he did before 2019?
The RB we add here was good enough that if the RB draft had gone a different way earlier, we had planned on taking him to be our RB1. On tape, he is a tough runner, who finds tiny creases, has great vision, and gets chunks. He is solid in the passing game, with great body control and catch radius for a RB.
His superpower is that he is a TD machine, running around, over, through, and by defenses...
scoring a ridiculous 46 TDs in only 42 college games, in a committee backfield. And zero fumbles.
Despite his slightly "Directional State" status, the fellows over there on the South Side may have noticed this kid because he was the one running behind the "Directional" player they draft last year who has the look of draft-steal, future All-Pro. Could this be 2 for 2?
And, oh, yeah he just ran an official 4.38 40. The days of Benny Snail Football have come to an end. We hope.
With the 140th pick in the 2021 SteelerFury Board Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers run a 4.38 on the way to the podium to select:
Elijah Mitchell, RB, Louisiana