2021 Steelers Season Recall: Offensive line finally addressed in middle rounds of NFL Draft
Steel City Underground presents our 2021 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
Following the first two rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers had seemingly ignored one of their top needs: offensive line.
However, this would be addressed swiftly in the next two rounds of the draft, as the team would add to their first two picks on offense with two additional ones.
There was some criticism of the Steelers passing on two different centers in the second round, in favor of TE Pat Freiermuth. It’s possible that the front office felt that Josh Myers or Creed Humphrey would potentially be around still by pick 87, or that Illinois’ Kendrick Green was the pick the entire time.
Green, primarily a college guard, was noted for his similar stature and ability to previous Steelers centers Dermontti Dawson and Maurkice Pouncey. The team was hopeful he could transition to playing center in the NFL.
Still on the board at the time too was Quinn Meinerz, from Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Denver Broncos would draft him with pick 98 overall, making Meinerz the highest-drafted D3 player in NFHL history.
There would be quite the wait between pick 87 and the Steelers next, pick 128 overall in the fourth round. (Ten additional compensatory choices began at the end of the third round.)
With their fourth-round selection, the Steelers would stick with the offensive side of the ball, doubling-down on offensive linemen by taking Texas A&M’s Dan Moore, Jr.
With covid protocols still affecting the scouting process, Moore was thought of as a steal this late in the draft, and many felt he would’ve been selected earlier in a different year, under a different set of scenarios.
Incidentally, Moore was never in the Steelers plans to start in 2021, unlike Green, who was earmarked from the end of the day two picks to be a starter in Week 1.
However, Steelers OT Zach Banner never properly recovered to play at left tackle, making it necessary for Chukwuma Okorafor to stay at the right tackle spot he played at in 2021 when Banner was sidelined with the same injury.
The team would find this was a better fit than playing Moore on the right side, as the fourth-round pick would become the team’s starting left tackle defending Ben Roethlisberger’s blind side.
Green, on the other hand, would struggle with inconsistency throughout the season, and miss the final two games of the year – plus the Steelers Wild Card game against the Chiefs – due to a leg injury.
While the jury is still out on these two picks, the first four Steelers draft choices would all start and make an impact in their own way over the course of the 2021 season, with at least Harris and Freiermuth representing the future of their draft class.
Pittsburgh was far from done with drafting players, and their next several selections would shift gears from the offense in order to address other areas of concern. (That will be covered in our next edition of the 2021 Recall series!)
