The Pittsburgh Steelers have been linked to superstar center Jackson Powers-Johnson out of Oregon this entire offseason. After releasing Mason Cole immediately following the 2023 season, finding a replacement became a priority. While some believe the Steelers should have kept Cole until they had a replacement or as a backup, many others feel that his performance in 2023 was so bad, it didn't make much sense to.
After spending time touted as the top center in the draft, Powers-Johnson now finds himself slipping down the board, perhaps even to the second round. This is surprising since, initially, most felt he wouldn't even make it to the Steelers at 20. Of course, there are reports that Powers-Johnson's value could have been inflated more by the media, not by the team's themselves.
This isn't to say that Powers-Johnson isn't a talented center. He is; he just may not be the elite-level talent he was originally projected to be. Now, Steelers reporter Ray Fittipaldo from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says he might not even be the top center anymore. Fittipaldo joined Adam Crowley and Dorin Dickerson on 93.7 The Fan's Morning Show and answered questions about the upcoming draft.
"If you guys have noticed, JPJ [Jackson Powers-Johnson] has kind of been sliding down the top 50 list. You see him a lot now mid-second round in some of these mock drafts. I think some of the steam has gone out of that ship a little bit. I think he still could be in the first-round conversation for some teams, but he doesn't seem to be as hot. You know he was the hot guy early, did really well early and it seems like [Graham] Barton is catching up to him," said Fittipaldo.
The other center who came up often in the Steelers' drafts was Zach Frazier out of West Virginia. Frazier represents a hometown player, which the fans and media love. He has that blue-collar kind of work ethic the Steelers value. But Fittipaldo also feels that Frazier has slid out of top contention in favor of Graham Barton out of Duke. Fittipaldo said those rankings seem to have totally flipped, from Barton going later than Powers-Johnson or Frazier to Barton going ahead of all of them.
"I think if there's going to be a center drafted in the first round this year, whether it's by the Steelers or anyone else, it's going to be Graham Barton, probably mid-first round."
Johnson seems to have lost the momentum he had coming out of the Reese's Senior Bowl, and Barton appears to have found it. This is not surprising after Barton's incredible display of athleticism at the NFL Combine. Fittipaldo said he is the most athletic interior lineman he has seen in 35 years.
The Steelers also have other needs, so seeing how this all shakes out during the draft will be interesting. Will they go with a tackle with their first pick and hold center to the second or third round? The Steelers are good at keeping their cards close to their vest, and while they let everyone know what positions they are considering, they don't reveal who they are most interested in.
Would Graham Barton Be Like Kendrick Green All Over Again?
Steelers legendary center Maurkice Pouncey retired at the end of the 2020 season after providing the team with excellence and stability at that position for 11 seasons. In 2021, they drafted Kendrick Green in the third round as a potential replacement. Green, like Barton, had only played a handful of games at center in college, instead playing mostly at left guard while Barton played primarily tackle.
Fittipaldo has previously cautioned fans to avoid making these two picks the same person because they have experience at center in common. In Barton, they are looking at a likely first-round, early second-round selection, and Green was a third-rounder, which is not at all a sure thing.
The Steelers felt they could make it work based on what they saw at camp that year, and the experiment failed. Green struggled and ultimately ended up on the bench in 2022 prior to going to the Houston Texans.
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