Madden Monday: Steelers’ 1st-round draft choice ‘will be one of these 3 players’
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After months of speculation in Pittsburgh, Mark Madden of TribLIVE and 105.9 The X isn’t changing his prediction about who the Steelers will take in the first round of Thursday night’s NFL Draft.
He’s still convinced the franchise will select Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr., son of former Steelers All-Pro linebacker Joey Porter Sr.
Size (6-2, 195), length, and improving technique. There’s plenty to like about Porter Jr. Lacks turnover production (1 career INT), but gets his hands in throwing windows and on the ball plenty. pic.twitter.com/LFBJIl6dPF
— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) November 30, 2022
“If he’s available, they take him,” Madden said during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast. “The only thing that will stop them is if he goes before (the Steelers pick at No. 17). And he’s supposed to get picked right around that window.”
Madden advanced two other names as possibilities if Porter is off the board.
“From what I hear, Deonte Banks, the cornerback from Maryland, is probably a Plan B. I do think cornerback is their top priority in the draft. Not 100% with the 17th pick. I think they could go tackle there,” Madden said. “A tackle whose name I’m hearing more and more is Darnell Wright, who played at Tennessee. Now he’s more of a right side guy than a left side guy, although he has played both. So we’ll see how it falls. But I feel very comfortable in thinking that it’ll be one of those three guys: Porter, Banks or Wright.”
According to Madden, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was intrigued by what he saw of Wright at this year’s Senior Bowl, where Wright was named the American Team’s Offensive Line Practice Player of the Week. The issue with Wright is that he has much more experience and better quality tape at right tackle than left. If the Steelers were to replace one of the two tackles with a first-round pick, it’d likely be Dan Moore on the left side rather than Chuks Okorafor on the right side.
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Another school of thought is that the Steelers trade into the top 10 to possibly select Ohio State’s stud tackle Paris Johnson Jr. Madden says if the Steelers do trade up, it would be with only one target in mind.
“I have been told that the only player the Steelers would trade up to get is Christian Gonzalez (Oregon), who is thought by most to be the best cornerback in the draft,” Madden said. “I just think everything keeps pointing to Porter’s kid, like it has, to my mind, since roughly October.”
Also, during the podcast, I advance a trade idea to Madden that I think needs more traction. I profess my desire for the Steelers to select Georgia offensive tackle Broderick Jones. Madden and I also discuss the Pirates’ hot start, the nasty on-ice play in this year’s NHL playoffs and the NFL’s gambling controversy.
Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden talk Steelers Draft on Madden Monday