With just days to go until the 2020 NFL draft, we are going to go through all of the Steelers positional units to review the current state of the roster, gauge draft needs and talk about some approaches to addressing the need.
This time we talk about safety.
Roster
The reason the Steelers don’t have a first-round pick this year is they traded it early last season for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick is easily one of the best safeties in the league and more than makes up for the fact the Steelers aren’t picking on Thursday this year.
Pittsburgh’s other starting safety is another former first-round pick, Terrell Edmunds. Unfortunately, Edmunds hasn’t lived up to his draft status and it really showed last season playing next to an elite player like Fitzpatrick.
In terms of depth, Marcus Allen and Jordan Dangerfield are the primary backups with the most experience.
Draft needs
Despite having a pair of former first-round picks in the starting lineup, safety is absolutely a need this year. The Steelers need to convert Edmunds to hybrid linebacker/safety who can focus on playing downhill. But even if this happens, Allen and Dangerfield don’t offer much as backups in terms of coverage. If the Steelers could land a rangy safety in this draft it would make a great defense even better.
Possible targets
Antoine Winfield | Minnesota
Alohi Gilman | Notre Dame
J.R. Reed | Georgia
Julian Blackmon | Utah
L’Jarius Sneed | La. Tech.
