Pittsburgh Steelers Midseason 7-Round Mock Draft Update

Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have logged a full nine games in the 2014 season, it is beginning to become more clear as to what this team has and what they do not. Obviously, free agency will have a great deal of influence on the makeup of this roster for 2015, but the area where the Steelers need to really hit a home run is the NFL draft.

Return on investment of draft picks has come to be crucial to a franchise's success. The days of allowing rookies to simmer on the sidelines are long gone. With free agency sending players scurrying off to big paydays the gaps they leave behind need to be filled with talented youngsters.

With that, it is time to assess the needs of the Steelers as we roll into the second half of the season and do a shiny new seven-round projection of the 2015 NFL draft. These selections were based on the Steelers finishing with the No. 17 overall pick. 

This number came from where the Steelers are on Super Bowl odds provided by Oddsshark. Clearly, if the Steelers keep on winning, that number will change, but for this being right in the middle, the slotting offers a solid look at which prospects could be on the board when the Steelers make their picks.

All player data courtesy of ESPN.com.

First Round

Shane Ray, DE/LB, Missouri

I have gone back and forth on this pick, between the Steelers taking a pass-rushing outside linebacker and a cornerback.

At this point, those are the two most pressing needs on this team.

The two most impressive outside linebackers on the roster are Jason Worilds and James Harrison, both of whom could be gone at the end of the season. Jarvis Jones is still a work in progress, and Arthur Moats offers little as a pass-rush threat off the edge.

Missouri edge-player Shane Ray is a truly special prospect. His explosion and first step are elite and his ability to lean in and turn the corner make him a naturally gifted rusher. Ray has made steady improvement during his time at Missouri and has firmly cemented himself among the very top players in this tweener role.

In this scenario, with Pittsburgh drafting near the middle of the round, I can only hope that some of the more high-profile edge-rushers help push Ray down to the Steelers' pick.

Second Round

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Jake Fisher, OT, Oregon

You never like to see offensive linemen referred to as turnstiles. Unfortunately, every week on social media, that reference is applied to one or both of the Steelers' starting offensive tackles. When they are good they are good, but when they are bad, they are an abomination.

This position needs an upgrade.

The pick here is Oregon offensive tackle Jake Fisher. Fisher might be the best offensive lineman in the country that no one is yet talking about. But they will. After missing two games with an injury, he sort of fell off the radar, but all you have to do is watch what he has done upon his return, and you understand why he'd be such a great fit in Pittsburgh.

Fisher is adept at working in space in the zone-run system Oregon employs. He shows great punch and can engage smaller athletes in open space. He is also excellent at pass protection for a quarterback who likes to improvise at times with his feet. His combination of power and athleticism would likely make him the best tackle on the Pittsburgh roster from the moment he was drafted.

Third Round

Wayne Lyons, CB, Stanford

Moving to the third round, the Steelers address cornerback by adding both size and speed. The current group of cornerbacks on the roster features hardworking players, but the current starters and nickel cornerback are all 5'10" or under. The two cornerbacks with height, Ike Taylor and Cortez Allen, are likely retiring (Taylor) or benched (Allen). 

The hope is that 2015 will be a breakout season for rookie Shaquille Richardson, but they can't sit by and hope. Instead, they spend a third-round pick on tall, rangy Stanford cornerback Wayne Lyons, who has tremendous length while retaining good lower-body flexibility and technique. 

Lyons' draft stock will vary greatly depending on how he runs in the offseason. If Lyons can get under 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash, it will make all that size and intelligence look even better.

Fourth Round

Adrian Amos, S, Penn State

It might finally be time for safety Troy Polamalu to hang up the cleats, put his hair in a bun and relax. Unfortunately, the Steelers have something of a mess at safety behind him. Shamarko Thomas was drafted to be the heir apparent, but that just hasn't worked out. 

The Steelers signed Mike Mitchell, who might be a better fit in Polamalu's role, but that still leaves a vacancy in that deep free safety spot. Mitchell struggles in coverage and takes poor angles in space. It might be better to slide him up closer to the line of scrimmage and find a replacement on the back end.

Penn State safety Adrian Amos is a rangy free safety with ideal NFL size and solid ball skills. Amos isn't a pure free safety and is pretty happy up around the line as well, but this late in the draft, Amos is worth a pick as a developmental player to replace veteran Will Allen.

Fifth Round

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

Blake Bell, TE Oklahoma

This is the point in the draft where a team has to look at potential and roll the dice on a player or two. For the Steelers, that means drafting a great athlete who is new to his position.

Pittsburgh needs to restock the tight end position behind Heath Miller, so the pick makes sense, and it is always a good thing to get more athletic on both sides of the ball.

Oklahoma converted quarterback Blake Bell to tight end, and the experiment has gone quite well. Bell won't be drafted high because he does lack experience and isn't an overly athletic prospect. However, at 6'6" and 259 pounds with soft hands, Bell has everything you could ask for in a developmental player. 

Bell was used a great deal at Oklahoma as a running back in their "Bell-Dozer" package where he was a bruising fullback disguised as a quarterback. The options for how the Steelers could implement a player with experience at three different skills positions like that make him a very interesting pick at this point in the draft.

Sixth Round

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Brandon Bridge, QB, South Alabama

You don't have to go home, but Landry Jones you have got to go. Jones has kept a seat warm as Pittsburgh's No. 3 quarterback for the past two years, and it is time to cut ties and let him walk. It's hard to say how long backup Bruce Gradkowski will stay around, but at some point the Steelers need to at least entertain the notion of life after quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Enter South Alabama star Brandon Bridge. You've likely never heard of Bridge, but just give it a minute and you will. Bridge is a Canadian-born player who found his way to South Alabama to help cultivate his very raw football skills. 

Bridge is 6'5" and 235 pounds with exceptional athleticism and one of the most active arms of any quarterback in this draft. Do yourself a favor and find a South Alabama game and just check out the velocity this young man puts on his throws. 

He reminds me a great deal of a less-polished Colin Kaepernick, and that alone makes him worth a sixth-round pick. If Pittsburgh is going to stash a kid away, why not make it someone like Bridge who has some real NFL potential?

Seventh Round

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Jeff Whitaker, DE/DT, Auburn

We round out this mock draft with the obligatory defensive lineman pick. Since the Steelers run a 3-4 base defense, every year they need to draft a defensive tackle or two whom they hope can either turn into a star 5-technique end or beef up to play the 0-technique nose tackle.

This year, that honor goes to Auburn's Jeff Whitaker.

Whitaker lost all of the 2013 season to injury and with it a lot of momentum for a future in the NFL. At this point, Whitaker is a fringe draft prospect and could more likely end up a priority undrafted free-agent signing. However, for this projection, he slips in at the end of the final round as a project player. 

At 335 pounds, Whitaker wouldn't need much to get up to speed on playing the nose, but with a gimpy knee, he could be better served to drop some pounds and find his way to the outside as an end.