Idea That Steelers Would Be Ignored By #1 Overall Talent Jalen Carter Dismissed As Ridiculous By CBS Insider

The Pittsburgh Steelers are on the clock. They have pick 17 in the upcoming NFL Draft which is less than one month away. The Steelers have several needs that are well-documented, but a wrinkle is developing. The best player on pure ability in the 2023 draft is tumbling down draft boards because of off-the-field issues, coupled with a poor Pro Day performance. Jalen Carter is a gifted football player, but he further damaged his cause by saying he would not meet with teams picking outside of the top 10.

Ryan Wilson is a CBS NFL Draft analyst, and he joined the PM Team w/Poni & Mueller to discuss Carter’s curious statements and just how badly he was damaging his draft stock by Andrew Fillipponi.

“In terms of Jalen Carter,” Wilson began. “It is sort of funny. I saw the headline and I laughed. The reality is that we are at the part of the draft process where you can’t really take anything seriously. His agent Drew Rosenhaus has relationships with all these teams, so it is not going to be a circumstance where he doesn’t go visit. If you are telling me that Mike Tomlin says we are going to trade up to 15 to get Jalen Carter, we want to talk to him. There is going to be a hard no on that?”

Drew Rosenhaus has represented several notable Steelers over the years including Javon Hargrave, Mike Hilton and Antonio Brown. All of those players eventually left Pittsburgh with significant mileage left on their tires. Wilson makes a savvy point that his familiarity with the organization precludes the likelihood that Carter would stiff the Steelers and Mike Tomlin.

“Rick Spielman who is my buddy and co-host on the podcast we do. He was the Vikings general manager for over a decade,” Wilson said. "He is old school and said this would make me angry if I were a team picking in the bottom half of the first round. What you have to remind yourself is a lot of times agents are giving their players bad advice.”

The aforementioned Rosenhaus has a lot of players who had spectacular careers, but he also represented players like Artie Burns who before Devin Bush Jr was the biggest bust for Kevin Colbert. The super-agent did not make his money by accident and even he gets things wrong. Lamar Jackson is being castigated for avoiding representation but players that have agents are also making significant mistakes.

“Dawand Jones is the right tackle for Ohio State, he didn’t weigh in two weeks ago at his pro day,” Wilson continued.  “His agent told him not to, you’re left to wonder, is he 500 pounds or is he 350? You don’t know and you can sort of get those answers pretty quickly.”

Dawand Jones has been associated with the Steelers in quite a few mock drafts, and his weight is cause for concern. Jones is huge already and if he has eaten himself up to 400 pounds it could drastically affect his draft status and push him back into the third or fourth round. It is understandable why he elected to not step on a scale, but it will cast doubt when you can least afford it.

Top Prospect Jalen Carter's Statements Appear To Snub The Pittsburgh Steelers Potential Interest

Chris Mueller who is the co-host of the popular afternoon drive program asked Wilson who is a regular on the Pick Six podcast where Carter ranked as far as pure talent regardless of recent issues. Wilson did not hold back on his evaluation of the Georgia Bulldogs defensive lineman.

“In terms of Jalen Carter, this is the least concerning thing in the last few months,” Wilson concluded. “He is number one. Look last year Georgia had five guys go in the first round on defense. He was the best player on that team a year ago. The issue is can he do it play in and play out? Will he do it play in and play out? When you go back and watch you just have to laugh at how he is manhandling guys against kids that are getting drafted first, second, third round.”  

The Steelers need a transcendent defensive lineman to go to the next level on defense. The reality is that the number one player in the draft is not going to drop all the way to 17, right? It is not completely unprecedented and if the Steelers want to truly exorcise the demons of the worst draft day decision in team history, they should be ready to pounce. In 1983 they passed on Dan Marino, and it haunted the franchise for decades. If Carter falls into the Steelers’ lap it would be an equivalent error if they passed.

When the Steelers have multiple Pro Bowlers on the defensive line, they win Super Bowls. Carter is at the top of his class for a reason and slotting him in between Cam Heyward and Larry Ogunjobi gives them the best defensive line since Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel anchored the last Super Bowl defense in Pittsburgh.