Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin likes to say that if you have red paint, you paint the barn red.
In the case of the 2024 NFL Draft, which wrapped up Saturday night, the draft was deep in offensive linemen. So, the Steelers took advantage of that and added offensive linemen with three of their seven overall selections.
In his first opportunity to run the Steelers' draft a year ago, general manager Omar Khan traded up three spots with the New England Patriots to acquire offensive tackle Broderick Jones in a draft that wasn't nearly as deep with offensive linemen.
This time around, Khan could be more patient, allowing the board to come to him, even though it wasn't easy with some of the players the Steelers coveted getting into range for the team to select.
As a result, the Steelers entered the 2024 draft with seven picks and they finished the draft having made seven picks.
And in this instance, they still got the players they wanted. And in several cases, they were value picks, as well.
"(I'm) very pleased how the weekend turned out for us," Khan said as the smoke cleared. "We addressed some needs but really got some high-character guys and some players that we think are going to help us not only this year but in the future and are going to be great parts of this community."
In the first round, the Steelers selected offensive tackle Troy Fautanu of Washington with the 20th selection, then followed that up by picking center Zach Frazier of West Virginia in the second round, 51st overall. The Steelers had two selections in the third round, and used those on wide receiver Roman Wilson (84th) and linebacker Payton Wilson (98th), before finishing off the third day of the draft with guard Mason McCormick of South Dakota State in the fourth round and defensive end Logan Lee of Iowa and defensive back Ryan Watts of Texas with their two picks in the sixth round. The Steelers did not have picks in the fifth or seventh rounds.
"We had conversations about moving up and the phone was ringing about moving down," Khan said. "Really every round we were in, we had a pick, we were having conversations about moving up, moving down. It was pretty active."
But in the end, the Steelers chose to stick to their board and utilize the picks as they fell.
As things proceeded, they wound up with three new offensive linemen, continuing the rebuild of that unit that began in 2023 with the selection of Jones.
"We'll give them an opportunity to (play), but needless to say we're really excited about having them," said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. "We had some testy moments there leading up to our picks but that's a good thing from my perspective. It means we had guys on our board that we're excited about the potential of taking, and I think in all three of those instances we were really excited."
Fautanu will be added to the mix at offensive tackle, where Jones started on the right side and Dan Moore the left. Frazier, meanwhile, will get an opportunity to battle for a starting job at center, where veteran Nate Herbig currently has pole position after Mason Cole was released in the offseason. McCormick, meanwhile, will add depth to the roster at guard behind starters James Daniels and Isaac Seumalo.
All told, those three offensive linemen all made 30 or more collegiate starts.
"We're looking for guys with talent. Oftentimes that talent is coupled with experience," Tomlin said. "It's good to have a group that is mature as players and as people. All that means is we should expect those guys to have a high floor and maybe have a good presentation of what they're capable of early on, and for that we're excited."
It will make for a crowded offensive line room for position coach Pat Meyer. But the competition should bring out the best in everyone.
"We wanted to continue to become youthful at that position," Meyer said. "We got Broderick here last year, pick three this year. You know the draft is always different. You never know. We could have come out with zero this year. We came out with three. Just the way the draft order goes down and the picks and who's available at that position. But obviously we're excited about it – having three new guys in the room. All three of them will be great additions for us."
They aren't the only ones.
In Wilson, the Steelers get a wide receiver who will help ease the loss of Diontae Johnson, who was traded to Carolina on the offseason in a deal that saw cornerback Donte Jackson come to the Steelers in return.
Like the offensive linemen, he's got a lot of experience, having appeared in 46 career games, 24 of them starts, at Michigan. Wilson was a key component of Michigan's national championship team last season.
Wilson is a competitive receiver who can play inside or outside and is a gritty blocker at the position who should compliment the skillsets of George Pickens as the team's No. 1 receiver.
"Forget how he compliments anyone, he's a good player, he's competitive," Tomlin said. "He creates separation at break points. He's battle tested on the interior portions of the field. He comes from a winning program. You can't say enough about the winning component in terms of how it shapes the relationships with the game and what they're willing to do and their mettle. He checks a lot of those boxes."
What Wilson brings to the offense on that side of the ball, Payton Wilson could bring on the defensive side of things.
The 2023 Bednarik Award winner as college football's best defensive player and Butkus Award winner as the top linebacker in the nation, Wilson slipped to the end of the third round because of concerns about his injury history.
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But the Steelers saw a talented, highly productive player who was just too good to pass up, even though they had signed veteran Patrick Queen in the offseason to help shore up the position.
"I think you could characterize it as surprised," Tomlin said of the fact Payton Wilson was still available.
And like the addition of McCormick a handful of picks later, the value was just too good to pass up.
"I like to reserve some of those opinions until we get our groups on the field and start the process of working, but just on paper certainly we've helped ourselves, whether it's Wilson or whether it's some of the things that we did in free agency with Queen," Tomlin said of inside linebacker. "We're really excited about the collection of talent we've been able to assemble."
Some might look at this draft and feel like the Steelers overdid things on the offensive line. This draft marked the first time since 1976 that the team selected three offensive linemen in their first five picks.
That allowed them to take a player such as McCormick not just with an eye on helping the team today, but with an eye on future years, as well.
But it was just a product of allowing the draft to play out and staying true to their evaluations of the players.
"It was a strong offensive line group," Khan said. "We've talked plenty of times about how we feel about the importance of the offensive line, and we got through day one, and it just kind of worked that way for us. Even in the fourth round when we had a chance to get Mason McCormick, he's a guy that we had rated really high up there, and we had a couple players at the position who are in the last year of their contracts and felt it was important to address it if he was there, and we did."
