Restricted access, limited information all part of this year's draft process for Steelers

Draft preparations for this year’s event began last May for the Pittsburgh Steelers, which means the entirety of the process was conducted during the coronavirus pandemic.

Meetings were held virtually. Attendance on college campus was limited to game days. The NFL Combine was canceled.

“It’s been a real different, challenging kind of a road,” general manager Kevin Colbert said this week.

The road ends Thursday when, barring any trades, the Steelers will make the first of eight draft selections over a three-day span.

How well the Steelers met the challenge won’t be known for a few years — until this year’s crop of draft picks has a body of work to show whether it made its mark on the NFL.

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, its impact was felt in the final two months of that year’s draft. The majority of college pro days were canceled as were any in-person visits (teams previously could host 30 at their facility). The draft was conducted via Zoom.

The way teams adjusted last spring was a sign of things to come as the pandemic continued into 2021.

“We’ve had to be more mobile,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “We’ve had to work harder to gather information, and working along with Kevin and the scouting department has been a pleasure in that regard. The number of Zoom calls and things that we’ve had with prospects, when you look back at it, is really impressive.

“But we formulated a plan to kind of circumvent the challenges of the pandemic early, and I think that aided us in terms of being able to sit here comfortably today.”

After gathering the initial list of draft-eligible prospects in May, the Steelers — like all other teams — had to adjust to dozens of players opting out of the college season because of covid-19 concerns. The Big Ten and Pac 12 initially canceled the fall season before reconsidering and playing a shortened schedule.

Other conferences played fewer games and, in some cases for lower-level leagues, moved the season to the spring.

Colbert estimated the Steelers had a scout attend at least one college game involving a prospect except for six instances. That involved limitations, too.

“Scouts couldn’t get to the colleges except for a game setting, and even at the game settings, we couldn’t go on the field in the pregame,” he said. “We had to sit in the stands or the press box if it was allowable. A lot of times in those situations when you’re doing games, you’ll see a coach sitting on the bench before a game, you may have a conversation. None of that was available to us.”

Visits to colleges during the week to watch practice or study film weren’t permitted, either, because of covid-19 restrictions. Such limitations, though, could be overcome once all 32 teams gathered in Indianapolis in late February for the annual scouting combine. Coaches could talk to prospects, medical information could be gathered and on-field testing could take place in one climate-controlled setting.

Until the combine was canceled, that is. The only work done in Indianapolis happened in April when select prospects were brought in for physicals.

“The biggest deal is the (lack of) medical information,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said. “Last year, as weird as it was, we got the combine in, so you had 330-plus guys that had good medical. This year, you only end up having 150 guys go to Indy. … You’ve got incomplete medical information on these guys, and nothing scares a general manager more than not having the medical.”

The lack of a combine put an increased emphasis on the college pro days. Colbert said he and Tomlin attended nine events together. They hit the usual suspects: Clemson, Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Assistant coaches and scouts covered the remaining schools. Still, the on-field testing done at these events provided less-than-reliable information.

“The numbers at some of these pro days were ridiculous,” ESPN analyst Todd McShay said. “If a receiver runs a 4.44 40 at the combine, you can compare it to previous years. This year, you’ve got people running 4.26, 4.35 — ridiculous numbers — at the pro days. You can’t compare them to previous combines. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.”

Pro days were restricted, too. Front-office execs no longer could spend time talking to a player’s family or taking them out to dinner the night before the event. All interaction was done via Zoom, and Colbert estimated the Steelers conducted more than 100 such calls with prospects.

“We actually got to spend a little more time with them, and we feel good about that information,” Colbert said. “But it’s different. You can read my eyes, you can read coach’s eyes when I’m answering the question (in person). It’s not the same when you’re doing it via Zoom.

“It is what it is. We think we’re in good shape. I feel comfortable with the information we got. It’s all we can do at this point. We’ll try to make the best decisions possible.”