Steelers Land Project Piece On Defense, Address Trenches Offensively In Doug Farrar’s Three-Round Mock
The Pittsburgh Steelers continue addressing areas of need in free agency ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft and the start of the regular season.
GM Omar Khan can’t plug all the holes in free agency though, which will lead to next month’s draft being a rather important one for the Black and Gold.
If things go the way that Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar projects they do in his three-round mock that dropped Monday, the Steelers will be sitting rather pretty entering the 2023 season.
In Farrar’s mock, he has the Steelers landing Georgia cornerback Kelee Ringo at No. 17 overall. That might be a bit early for the liking of many, but the Steelers have shown a lot of interest in Ringo, meeting with him at the Combine and scheduling a pre-draft visit with him. The Steelers also had head coach Mike Tomlin, along with Khan, at Georgia’s Pro Day last week.
“The Steelers did what they needed to do at the guard positions in free agency with Isaac Seumalo and Nate Herbig, so maybe they go offensive tackle here to shore up the outside. Or they might address the fact that they’re cornerback-light after losing Cameron Sutton to the Lions,” Farrar writes regarding the selection of Ringo. “Signing Patrick Peterson to a two-year, $14 million deal is a nice Band-Aid, but everybody knows that Peterson is basically on his way out in a career sense. What Peterson can do to help his new team is to get a physically gifted cornerback up from his currently inconsistent play to more stability. Ringo at his best is as good as any cornerback in this class (especially in man coverage), but the peaks and valleys are problematic. We’re guessing that the Steelers bet on Ringo’s upside, with his new coaching staff (and one veteran defensive genius) assisting with the other stuff.”
Ringo is certainly an intriguing piece at the position, but he’s generally not in the top five at the position, at least among the consensus ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Ringo checked in at the Combine at 6016, 207 pounds with 31 1/4-inch arms, 8 1/2-inch hands, and a 74 1/8-inch wingspan. Ringo clocked a 4.36 40-yard dash with a 33.5-inch vertical and a 10’2″ broad jump.