After selecting Washington offensive lineman Troy Fautanu in the first round of the NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers got better in the trenches by continued to build with their bigs. With that said, there’s plenty of work still to be done in the next 48 hours, with significant needs still on the roster, most prominently at the wide receiver and center positions. Before day two kicks off, here are several players that you’ll want to keep an eye on.

There will be 19 players taken before the Steelers make their first selection of Day Two of the draft at No. 51 overall.

C Jackson Powers-Johnson, Oregon

Powers-Johnson is an outstanding athlete for his size, a heat-seeking missile on the move and possesses the athleticism that the Steelers seem to be gravitating toward in the draft on the offensive line. While he was only a one-year starter in college, it was really encouraging to see how smart he was when handling stunts/games up front. Similar to Fautanu, there have been some rumblings regarding some injury concerns of late and that’s potentially one of the reasons that he slipped out of the first-round entirely.

C Zach Frazier, West Virginia

Frazier’s game is all built around his ability to consistently play with impeccable leverage, getting underneath defender’s pads and using his wrestling background to get them on the turf. He’s a tough, experienced player with 38 career starts at the pivot and there are flashes of the type of independent hand usage that Steelers offensive line coach Pat Meyer preaches from a technique perspective. He’s merely an average athlete and the NFL doesn’t typically like to in that profile in the first round but he won’t be available for too much longer in the second round.

WR AD Mitchell, Texas

Mitchell’s twitch, fluidity and straight-line speed are all unique for a player of his size at over 6-foot-2, 205 pounds. He can run every route imaginable, create separation for himself with ease and make plays at all three levels on the perimeter. Over the past few weeks, there’s been a lot of discussion surrounding teams concerns over his personality and character which led to some organizations removing him from their board completely. Mike Tomlin has handled high maintenance receivers better than anyone else in the industry. If they’re willing to take a chance, the upside is tremendous.

WR Malachi Corley, Western Kentucky

Corley is a playmaker with the ball in his hands who runs angry, has very good contact balance and runs with a legitimate mean streak. As a receiver, Corley gets to his top speed in an efficient manner, has shown the ability to catch the ball with his hands away from his frame before transitioning quickly as a runner. The biggest question mark in his profile is that we haven’t seen much of him doing actual wide receiver things up to this point as he was mostly a gadget player in college. The Steelers seem to be hunting for a receiver in the draft and even though Corley isn’t the tallest, he is very dense with a similar build to Niners star Deebo Samuel.

CB Max Melton, Rutgers

Melton is an intriguing day-to cornerback prospect because of his ability to flip his hips, accelerate to his top-end speed and run with faster threats vertically. A major selling point in his favor is his versatility: he’s played on the boundary and in the slot, while also making a significant impact on special teams having blocked several kicks during his time in college. Melton’s tape just isn’t on the level of the top players in the class from a consistency standpoint. However, he could contribute in a myriad of different ways from day one and should be a name that the Steelers brass considers on day two.

LB Cedric Gray, UNC

Gray’s coverage chops are his biggest strength as he has a nice athletic profile, has shown to be comfortable defending the football in the air and shows a good feel for zone coverage responsibilities. He’s more of a good athlete than an elite one but he features plenty of range on defense which allows him to consistently be near the football. The knock on his tape is that he struggles to stack and shed consistently whenever blockers are able to engage him at the second level. However, the Steelers don’t seem to have a great timeline for when Cole Holcomb may return from his injury and adding depth seems prudent.

DT Maason Smith, LSU

Smith is one of the few underclassmen that we have in this draft class. He possesses jaw-dropping length that he can use to lock out versus the run and there are flashes of pass-rushing skills such as an effective club-swim move. He’s still raw and just one year removed from an ACL-Injury and didn’t appear to be all that way back last year. Pittsburgh has all three of their starters along the defensive line coming back for 2024 but they need to start making some arrangements for life after Cam Heyward. Smith would be a solid stash and develop project for Karl Dunbar to mold for the future.

Bell: What Troy Fautanu Can Bring to the Table for Steelers (+)