Steelers not 'overly thirsty' entering draft despite glaring hole at center

The work done in the offseason, via signings and trades, has saturated the Pittsburgh Steelers roster and kept coach Mike Tomlin hydrated as the NFL Draft approaches.

“We’ve addressed a lot of needs, and you don’t feel overly thirsty in any particular area,” Tomlin said Monday at a pre-draft news conference. “That’s a good feel as you go into the weekend.”

Still, what transpired since the January loss to the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card playoff round hasn’t totally resulted in the Steelers finding an all-encompassing oasis in the desert entering the draft.

One spot on the roster needs quenched: at center, where the Steelers haven’t replaced Mason Cole since they released their two-year starter two months ago. In the interim, the Steelers have signed or traded for three quarterbacks, several depth receivers, an inside linebacker, safety, cornerback, tight end, punter, defensive lineman and kickoff returner.

As for center, the Steelers’ candidates include backup interior offensive lineman Nate Herbig and starting right guard James Daniels. Just as it did in February.

“It’s an important position,” general manager Omar Khan said. “We have guys on the roster that have flexibility, so we have options there. There are some good players at the position, and we’ll see where it shakes out.”

The Steelers hold the No. 20 overall pick Thursday night and the No. 51 selection when their turn next arrives Friday in the second round. That is barring a trade, which Khan executed in his first year as general manager when he moved up four spots so the Steelers could select tackle Broderick Jones with the No. 14 pick.

The last time the Steelers traded down in the opening round was 2001, when they moved back three spots and selected nose tackle Casey Hampton at No. 19.

“You never trade away from a good player,” Khan said when asked about potentially trading back in the opening round. “Obviously, if there ever is a scenario that makes sense for both sides, you have to look at it.”

The Steelers no longer do mock drafts that focus on the movements of teams ahead of them on the board. What they do is, using this year’s class as an example, is make a list of the top 20 prospects regardless of position and rank them accordingly.

“We mock it for us,” Tomlin said. “It’s a waste of time to try to figure out how others might address needs.”

The situation facing the Steelers is that with the wealth of quarterbacks, receivers and tackles ranked in the top half of the draft, they may have their pick of the center prospects. That list includes Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson, Duke’s Graham Barton and West Virginia’s Zach Frazier.

If all three are available at No. 20, that could entice the Steelers to seek a trade partner so they could improve their draft positioning in later rounds or acquire extra capital.

“There are a handful of centers that are going to be starters in the NFL this year and for years to come,” Khan said. “It’s no different than any position.”

The Steelers brought those three centers to UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for official top-30 visits. That followed the scouting and interviews that took place at the Senior Bowl, NFL Combine and at college pro days.

Powers-Johnson didn’t exclusively play center at Oregon until this past season when he won the Rimington Trophy. Barton spent the past three seasons at left tackle after occupying center as a freshman.

Asked how to determine whether an offensive lineman can make the transition to center, Tomlin said, “Usually there are some intellect things in terms of front identification and communication-oriented things. They have to show an aptitude for that, and preferably they have something in their background.”

Khan already has started the feeling-out process with other general managers trying to gauge which teams have an interest in trading up or down and which teams plan to stand pat.

“We’ve gone through a ton of hypotheticals,” Khan said. “The (draft) board, we try not to overthink this too much, but I’d say it’s close to where we feel it is comfortable. We’re going through a million scenarios right now as part of the strategy process. These next few days will feel like a year, but I’m excited to get there.”