When it is all said and done, there’s a good chance David DeCastro is known as one of the best interior offensive linemen in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was the team’s first-round pick back in 2012 and has been entrenched as a leader on offense from day one.
But what about the rest of the draft? Other than seventh-round offensive tackle Kelvin Beachum who started 39 games in four seasons with Pittsburgh, the draft was something of a failure. So we decided to re-draft the 2012 NFL draft leaving only the bookend picks of DeCastro and Beachum in place.
Second round
The Steelers took a chance on the boom/bust potential of offensive lineman Mike Adams. Unfortunately, he turned out to mostly bust. Who should the pick have been? Of course, it’s linebacker Lavonte David. He has been a force at inside linebacker and has topped 100 tackles in every season but one.
Third round
With the addition of David in the second round, linebacker Sean Spence wouldn’t be a necessary pick. But even so, in this re-draft scenario we sub him out because, despite his potential, injuries undid his career before it could ever get going. Who instead? The first thought was wide receiver T.Y. Hilton but with Byron Leftwich and Charlie Batch as backups, we decide to go with quarterback Kirk Cousins with this selection.
Fourth round
Defensive lineman Alameda Ta’amu only lasted for 2 seasons with the Steelers and had zero impact with the team. Instead, we opt for offensive tackle Bobby Massie to replace the Adams selection from earlier. Massie has been a solid starter in the league all the way back to his rookie season.
Fifth round
Running back Chris Rainey was supposed to bring a speed element to the Pittsburgh offense. Instead he was off to Indianapolis in a year and out of the league in another. Who do we draft in his place? Safety George Iloka. He has carved himself out a very nice career with 79 career starts between the Cincinnati Bengals and Minnesota Vikings.
Seventh round
The Steelers have four seventh-round picks and we are only keeping Beachum. But instead of picking three more guys who are going to have zero NFL impact, for our hypothetical we package those three picks to trade up to draft linebacker Danny Trevathan. He has been a tremendous player in the NFL despite being taking No. 188 overall.
