The NFL Scouting Combine will kick off next week in Indianapolis, with some 329 draft-eligible players invited to be tested and interviewed by all 32 NFL teams.
There's obviously a lot of work that goes into the event, not only for the league, but for each of the teams.
NFL teams get seven draft picks allotted to them each season. Obviously, some of those change hands each year. The league also awards 32 compensatory picks each year, meaning, the draft is, in effect, eight rounds.
That means that 256 players are selected in the draft each year. It also means that a good number of the players who will attend the Combine next week will not be selected in the draft.
Of course, most of those players will then become undrafted rookie free agents, but there will be more about 200 of those signed by teams in the hours following the draft.
Just because a player isn't at the Combine doesn't mean he can't make it.
The players who attend the Combine are selected with input from all 32 teams and are chosen because the teams have a "draftable" grade on them.
But that also doesn't mean there aren't players who slip through the cracks. For example, Steelers cornerback Beanie Bishop wasn't invited to the Combine last season.
Bishop went undrafted, but wound up appearing in all 17 games for the Steelers last season working as a slot cornerback.
The draft is an inexact science, and it always will be, largely because there's just so much variance.
Players can be poked, prodded and tested. But what can't be necessarily measured is how they'll respond to being a professional player. The NFL season is more of a grind than the college season.
You have to have a true passion for the game to become great. Talent alone won't get it done.
And that passion is something that can be hard to measure. Every player is going to answer yes when asked if they love the game.
They would be foolish to not do so.
But sifting through who is talented and actually has that passion and who is faking it is a big part of the Combine interview process.
The Combine also begins the start of the offseason, as the new league year and free agency open March 12. News will be flying fast and furious starting next week.
• Steelers General Manager Omar Khan also will speak with the media for the first time since the 2024 season ended. And there will be plenty of questions for him as the Steelers prepare for free agency, which begins March 12, and the draft.
Obviously, many of the questions for Khan next week will revolve around what the team plans to do at quarterback.
But don't expect Khan to tip the team's hand and make any definitive announcements about anything. There's still plenty of negotiating to be done.
And it serves no purpose for the Steelers to tip their hand regarding their plans.
• The NFL Draft was reduced from 12 rounds to 8 in 1993. It then went to its current format of 7 rounds in 1994.
In that final year of a 12-round draft in 1992, the Steelers selected seven players in rounds 8 through 12, including safety Darren Perry in the eighth round and long-snapper Kendall Gammon in the 11th round. Perry was a long-time starter at free safety, recording 35 interceptions in his career, while Gammon was the first pure long-snapper in team history.
But they were hardly the only hits among the players selected in the eighth round and later that season.
The first player taken in the eighth round was safety Jason Belser by the Colts. He appeared in 173 games and recorded 14 career interceptions.
Fullback Sam Gash (New England) appeared in 177 career games, while Detroit selected defensive back Will Clay in the eighth round and he played in 118 career games.
In the ninth round, the biggest hit was Minnesota quarterback Brad Johnson, who played in two Pro Bowls and threw for nearly 30,000 career yards. But offensive linemen David Dixon and Jay Leeuwenburg also were both longtime NFL starters.
Round 10 produced linebackers Steve Grant and Elijah Alexander, fullback Tim Lester, a future Steeler, guard Jerry Ostroski and defensive back Mark McMillan. All became starters in the NFL.
The 11th and 12th rounds weren't quite as fruitful, with Gammon being one of the few players who stuck in the league for more than a couple of seasons – he appeared in 234 career games – but when you go 336 players deep as that draft did, that's par for the course.
The Steelers also had some good fortune mining those later rounds during the final years in which the draft went more than seven rounds.
Players such as Carlton Haselrig, Justin Strzelczyk, John Jackson, Jerry Olsavsky and Merril Hoge were all taken in the eighth round or later in those final drafts and would go on to become starters or key contributors.
• While it might not have always seemed like it, the Steelers finished the 2024 season as one of the top tackling teams in the NFL.
According to the NFL's NextGen Stats, the Steelers had a tackle efficiency rating of 89.1 percent, just .2 lower than that of the Chiefs.
That means the Steelers as a team made the tackle 89.1 percent of the time when they got their hands on an opposing ball carrier.
The team's most solid tackler was outside linebacker Alex Highsmith, who did not miss one – according to Pro Football Reference – despite taking part in 45 tackles.
Safety DeShon Elliott missed just three tackles in 111 chances, while fellow safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was credited with four in 100 opportunities.
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast Pittonline@iheartmedia.com
As a team, according to Pro Football Reference, the Steelers missed just 69 tackles all season. That works out to 4 per game.
And remember, the Steelers played Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry (twice) last season, two players who combined to rush for nearly 4,000 yards.
• There is nothing more vapid than seeing predictions about the postseason and awards for the following NFL season in the hours and days following the conclusion of the previous season.
It creates talking points and things of that nature, but in reality, it's all meaningless.
For example, preseason mock drafts from a year ago had the Washington Commanders selecting in the top 5 of the draft again this year. They'll actually pick 29th after reaching the NFC Championship.
The Steelers, meanwhile, were largely tabbed to have a losing record, finish fourth in the AFC North and have a top-15 draft pick. That obviously didn't happen, either.
Meanwhile, plenty of prognostications had San Francisco winning the Super Bowl and teams such as the Browns, Bears, Dolphins and Jets, as teams poised to make deep runs in the playoffs.
None of that group sniffed the postseason.
Fact of the matter is, with free agency and the draft still yet to take place, a lot of teams are going to look a lot different three months from now than their current construction.
