The Bengals encountered some scrutiny for passing on Penei Sewell to take Ja’Marr Chase at No. 5, given their issues on the offensive line. But the Chase-over-Sewell stance formed weeks ahead of the draft. Bengals brass went to Joe Burrow for a detailed opinion on this matter. Chase having played a key part in Burrow winning the 2019 Heisman Trophy, and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes the second-year quarterback gave his ex-LSU teammate a strong endorsement. Chase-to-Cincinnati gained considerable steam ahead of the draft, and the Bengals followed through with the move to add the impact receiver prospect to a wideout group that includes Tyler Boyd and 2020 second-rounder Tee Higgins. The Bengals viewed Chase as the kind of talent too good to pass up, Fowler adds. The Bengals drafted offensive linemen in the second, fourth and sixth rounds, with Jackson Carman — whom the team selected after trading down eight spots — being the most notable of these additions.
Here is the latest from the North divisions:
- Continuing recent tradition, the Raiders surprised draft viewers with their first-round pick. The Jon Gruden–Mike Mayock regime chose Alex Leatherwood 17th overall. The Alabama tackle was viewed by most as a major reach; Scouts Inc. rated him as this draft’s 60th-best prospect. The Raiders may have been leery of two teams eyeing Leatherwood in the back half of Round 1, however. The Steelers and Vikings had Leatherwood on their respective radars, per Fowler. The Vikings drafted Virginia Tech’s Christian Darrisaw (Scouts Inc.’s No. 20 overall prospect) at No. 23. Pittsburgh preferred him to most of the draft’s second-tier tackles, but the team appeared locked in on ex-Leatherwood teammate Najee Harris at No. 24. Leatherwood is expected to work as a right tackle in Las Vegas.
- Although the Steelers’ depth chart has the look of one that would benefit from a veteran tackle addition, they do not appear to be eyeing one in the post-draft period of free agency. Despite Alejandro Villanueva defecting to the Ravens and the Steelers not drafting a tackle before Round 4, the team likes its left tackle setup, Mark Kaboly of The Athletic notes (subscription required). Pittsburgh lost three O-line starters — Villanueva, Maurkice Pouncey and Matt Feiler — this offseason and is planning to move right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor to the left side. Pro Football Focus viewed Okorafor as one of the league’s worst tackles in 2020, grading him 70th at the position. Okorafor spent the 2018 and ’19 seasons as a backup, moving into the Steelers’ starting lineup after Zach Banner‘s Week 1 ACL tear. Banner has re-signed and is expected to compete for the right tackle job.
- Thanks to the Lions’ $13.5MM-per-year extension for Frank Ragnow, the NFL has a new highest-paid center.
- The Bears did not become aggressive in their effort to trade up for Justin Fields until draft day, when they identified a few teams as trade-down candidates and engaged in negotiations.
The Raiders need to develop a better gambling instinct. If everyone has your picks rated way lower than where you pick them, you have to trade down, at least a little, and take your chances. The worse that likely happens is that you wind up with Darrisaw and a #3/4 pick.
Local sports talk here in the DC area had a report from the Ravens that Leatherwood was not going past the first round and the inner thought was he would not pass #22.
Of course, no one has yet to see any rookie hit the field yet.
Steelers will be crazy not to see some help on that line, Mitchell Swartz (sp) is still available, Morgan Moses hasn’t missed a start and has been rock solid, Trai Turner, Chance Warmack, Russ Okung, i mean there is a few solids options still out there.c and Banner who’s coming off a ACL injury and never being a starter and Chucks who rated one of the worst with the old solid interior is decastro and Kevin Dotson who had a great rookie year. I get they drafted Green and have Bj Finney so solid at center, but that is not the OLine you want protecting and very aging BigBen.
Chuks is a LT by trade. The hope is that he’ll be more a better fit (more of a finesse guy than road-grater) and more comfortable on his natural side.
Banner handedly beat out Chuks for the RT job last year before his injury. Team is clearly high on him, so what the national media and fans think is irrelevant — they clearly feel set there.
Guards are solid. Center was addressed. Only people that think they’ll bring a starter in either aren’t Steelers fans, aren’t paying enough attention, or are merely stating what they think they SHOULD do. Two very different things.
Disagree, I watch every game and I am a huge fan. What both the Metrics and the film show is that Chucks is not a very solid starter, could that change.. yes it could…. same thing with Banner, he is a cult hero in the burgh, does that make him good…. no it doesn’t…. he hasn’t show anything worth starting other than a few games and his overall frame is amazing. As I stated, and you as well the guards are solid as well as the center. Oh not to mention the rushing game was awful as well, and that falls on the oLine a bit as…. if you think as of right now they are better than any of Those guys I mentioned then you are either delusional, not a fan of them team, don’t care and just like the players… and that’s fine, but I’m saying with a rather quickly aging Big Ben there are upgrades for that line so he isn’t having to throw every 1.3 seconds or we are not having to see 2-3 yard runs every time.
Re-read my comment. Nowhere in it did I say either Tackle is any good. Thats farrrrrr out of my non-existent football talent evaluating skill set, and unlike most on here I won’t pretend differently.
That being said, even I could tell Chuks was at least a below average RIGHT tackle. Am I personally happy with him starting at LT? No. I was jumping up and down draft night as Darrisaw was falling. Part of me was actually happy MIN took him at 23, because I have a feeling Najee still would have been their guy. But yes, I do think it is logical that Chuks could be an upgrade over last season’s shell-of-himself AV. Again, he is a LT by trade. And Villy also failed the eye test last year, so its not a very high bar.
Again though, you can keep shouting in the wind about what they *should* do or even *need* to do, but anyone that follows this team should not be surprised they haven’t and wont bring in a new starting tackle. On either side. They love Banner’s potential and they clearly want to see what Chuks can do on the left side. I’m sure they’d love to have a more experienced backup on the roster in case he flops, but once they sign the rookies they wont have much cap space .
Sounds like you know that and just disagree with them. That’s fine — you are entitled to do so and may very well be right. But I’m reading/hearing a lot of people questioning how & why the Steelers haven’t addressed T yet. The simple answer is that they wont, because they don’t feel they need to.
Yeah, the Steelers O-Line has quickly gone from one of the best to very mediocre, at best.
They single-handedly made James Connor go from looking like a future all-pro to just another backup RB.
They went from allowing Big Ben the time to letting long plays develop downfield, to well, what everyone saw last season…
The Steelers better hope their O-Line improves this season; otherwise, it won’t matter who is running or throwing the ball, they’ll be swallowed up before anything can properly develop.
Maybe Connor wasn’t fully healthy and lost a step, maybe Big Ben is just too old, and maybe their O-Line isn’t as bad as most think it is, but I’d be willing to bet if that grouping improves, you will quickly notice everyone around them suddenly playing better..
Gilbert was underrated on those lines you referenced. Feiler was a better RT than LG filling in for him. Chuks was a big downgrade from both. Pouncey & Villy both regressed the last couple seasons. Big Ragu was a key cog in the lines you referenced and a team leader — Feiler was a big step down, though Dotson looks very promising. DeCastro had a shockingly poor year last year as the Cherry on top of it all.
Shake up was both needed and justified. Question will be whether any of the changes are actually upgrades on last year or just changes…
Connor just needs to stay healthy. Even behind the poor line he was still averaging 4ypc I believe. If he can stay healthy I expect him to bounce back and be a bargain for ARZ. Going to miss him in the ‘burgh, both as a human and a RB.
Ben…topic for another time. Hope he still has some juice left after healing up, but last season was an important reminder that he’s one hit away from being immobile and all but losing his deep ball. Wouldn’t be surprised if he has a strong swan song of a year, also would be surprised if he ends up limping into retirement.