Justin K. Aller/Getty Images QB Kenny Pickett (#8) of the Pittsburgh Steelers during the first half of a game against the Cleveland Browns at Acrisure Stadium on January 8, 2023.
Conventional wisdom says that the Pittsburgh Steelers are looking to trade up to draft an offensive tackle or cornerback with their 2023 1st-round pick. But in his Football Morning in America column on April 24, 2023, longtime NFL journalist Peter King has the Steelers going in a different direction, predicting that the team will stand pat and select Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba at No. 17 overall.
“This is about where the receivers will start getting picked, and I’d be surprised if the Steelers weren’t seriously considering one to pair long-term with George Pickens. Corner’s another position the Steelers could favor here, and watch for Maryland’s Deonte Banks if that’s the call,” writes King, before predicting that Banks will be selected by the Detroit Lions at No. 18 overall.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba: The Next Jarvis Landry?
Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus (PFF) currently has Smith-Njigba as the 9th-best prospect in the 2023 draft — and expects him to be the 1st wide receiver off the board.
“Smith-Njigba missed almost the entire fall with hamstring issues but was Ohio State’s leading receiver in 2021 as a sophomore. That year, he caught 95 passes for 1,595 yards and nine scores. He provides the uncoachable route-running ability and ball skills that will always have a role in the NFL,” offers Renner. Those stats include a Rose Bowl performance in which he hauled in 15 passes for 347 yards against Utah, setting a new bowl game record.
Yet in 2022, Smith-Njigba — 6-foot-1 and 196 pounds — appeared in just three games and caught only a handful of passes as a result of the aforementioned left hamstring injury.
The big question is whether injury concerns lower his draft stock, and whether teams like the Steelers will overlook the fact that almost all of his college production came in one season (2021).
There’s also the issue of whether a team like the Steelers would spend a 1st-round pick on a player who is widely considered to have a “slot-only role in the NFL,” owing to his “spindly frame” and lack of elite length and power, as Kyle Stackpole of CBS Sports puts it.
Instead, Smith-Njigba “creates space with some wiggle and how quicky he flips into top gear once the ball is in his hands. He glides around the field and away from defenders,” adds Stackpole, before noting: “He has savvy YAC skills, deceptive speed, and ultra-reliable hands to be a big-time playmaker in the NFL despite not possessing supreme athletic gifts.”
Likewise, NFL Draft Buzz says that “Smith-Njigba has some of the best natural playing skills of any receiver in this year’s draft class, he runs great routes, is explosive enough, and has nice hands along with the ability to fight for the ball with a natural affinity to find gaps in the coverage.”
NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein compares Smith-Njigba to 2014 2nd-round pick Jarvis Landry, who has totaled 713 career catches and 38 receiving touchdowns in nine NFL seasons with the Dolphins, Browns and Saints.
That said, it’s worth noting that King sees the Steelers passing on cornerback Joey Porter Jr. in round one, with the Penn State product going to the Dallas Cowboys at No. 26 overall.
Peter King: Don’t Be Shocked if Joey Porter Jr. is a Day 2 Pick
“When the offseason began, I expected Porter — son the of the ferocious former Steeler linebacker (Joey Porter) — to go somewhere in the teens, latest. But some evaluators think he’s not the physical presence his size would portend, and I wouldn’t be shocked if he fell out of the first round,” writes King.
PFF’s Michael Renner has Porter ranked as the 21st-best player in the 2023 draft.
“Porter is the press cornerback you want in the class. At 6-foot-2 and 198 pounds, he attacks receivers at the line of scrimmage the same way his father attacked offensive tackles. He had a career year this past fall, allowing only 143 yards in 10 games,” reminds Renner.
Meanwhile, King has another player the Steelers are said to “love” — offensive tackle Darnell Wright of Tennessee — going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at No. 19 overall.