The Steelers don't have a first-round draft pick for the first time since 1967 as a result of the trade last year for Minkah Fitzpatrick.
That means they won't make a pick on the first day of the NFL Draft, which is scheduled to be held April 23-25. And their first selection won't be made until pick 49, which means the team will do a whole lot of watching and waiting in the first few hours of the draft.
That's perfectly OK with GM Kevin Colbert.
"I’m not real concerned about getting back in there," Colbert said about the possibility of making a trade to get back into the first round. "There’s really good depth in this draft. I feel good about who we can get in the second round and beyond."
But what direction could the team go with that pick? The Steelers, as they typically do, have set themselves up so that they don't necessarily have to make a draft pick out of need. In fact, if they had to line up and play a game on April 22, the day before the draft, they would have a veteran capable of playing all 22 starting spots.
That does not mean, however, there aren't needs and a number of directions in which the team could go with its top pick.
And that makes it all that much more difficult to zero in on one position.
At nose tackle, Tyson Alualu is slated to move into a starting role to replace Javon Hargrave, who signed a three-year, $36-million free-agent contract with the Eagles. But Alualu will turn 33 in May.
The former top-10 draft pick of the Jaguars, Alualu played 432 defensive snaps last season -- good for 39.9 percent -- and could likely handle that kind of workload again in 2020 as the nose tackle, but the only depth behind him as a true nose tackle is longtime project Daniel McCullers. McCullers, who will be entering his seventh NFL season, has played sparingly throughout his career.
So the Steelers should be looking for a nose tackle with their second-round pick, right?
Maybe not. After all, Hargrave was a third-round pick in 2016 and became an immediate starter. And in 2018, when he was largely playing just nose tackle, he barely played more than 40 percent of the defensive snaps.
The Steelers also lost starting left guard Ramon Foster to retirement and then saw top backup interior lineman B.J. Finney leave in free agency. Perhaps that means an interior offensive lineman could be the pick at No. 49?
That seems unlikely after the Steelers signed Stefen Wisniewski in free agency. The team can move right tackle Matt Feiler inside to guard or Wisniewski, who has started two of the past three Super Bowls, could be there.
And that's probably a good thing since this draft is lacking in interior offensive linemen who can step in and play. Only Michigan center Caesar Ruiz is expected to be selected in the first 50 picks and will likely be gone when the Steelers make their selection. Any other interior lineman at that spot would be considered a reach.
So if not a lineman, then perhaps a skill position player will be the pick. After all, the Steelers have selected a skill position player with one of their top two draft picks in four of the past seven drafts, going back to Le'Veon Bell in 2013.
They haven't selected a lineman -- either offensive or defensive -- since taking Stephon Tuitt in the second round in 2014.
And with both running back James Conner and wide receiver JuJu Smith Schuster set to become unrestricted free agents after the 2020 season, preparing for the future might make some sense.
What about another outside linebacker? After all, Bud Dupree is playing on the franchise tag and top backup Anthony Chickillo was released in a cost-cutting move.
Perhaps, but the edge rushers who might be available in the second round this year are largely underwhelming, much like the interior offensive linemen.
But the reality is that, picking at 49, so much will depend on what happens ahead of their pick.
"That's a good question, trying to figure out what's going to be there at that point in time," NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said of who the Steelers' top pick will be.
If there's a run on a talented group of receivers -- the deepest position in the draft -- it might take that position off the board but allow some talented players at other positions to fall.
But, if teams feel they can wait on a wide receiver because the position is so deep, it might allow a player on which the Steelers have a high grade to fall into their lap.
"I've got 27 wide receivers with top-three-round grades in this draft," said Jeremiah. "And consider [an] average [of] 31 are taken. We had a max of 35 taken in, I believe that was in 2017. So this is a really phenomenal group of wideouts. Not all those guys are going to go early. They'll end up spreading throughout the draft."
It leaves those trying to figure out who the Steelers will take grasping at straws, which is why the team's top pick in various mock drafts has been all over the place.
One thing that won't be taken is a quarterback. Bet on that.
Colbert, head coach Mike Tomlin and team president Art Rooney II have all gone on record as saying they are happy with third-year pro Mason Rudolph as the team's backup. And the Steelers have four other quarterbacks on the roster, including starter Ben Roethlisberger, who is recovering well from elbow surgery.
The team likes the competition it has set up behind Roethlisberger with Rudolph, former Broncos' first-round draft pick Paxton Lynch, Devlin Hodges, who went 3-3 in six starts in 2019 as a rookie, and former Ohio State star J.T. Barrett competing for two spots.
So, the prognosticators who have the Steelers taking another developmental quarterback are probably way off base.
Just another reason why guessing who the Steelers' top pick will be is going to be so difficult.
Position odds for the Steelers' top pick
WR-2/1
RB-3/1
NT-5/1
OL-5/1
OLB-6/1
ILB-8/1
S-10/1
CB-15/1
DE-20/1
TE-25/1
QB-100/1
