More Draft Prospects Visit

With less than a month until the NFL Draft, teams have begun to host players at their facilities for pre-draft visits. Teams use these pre-draft visits on players that are recovering from injury to monitor the player's recovery, players with character concerns or players that teams are unsure of how to rank on their draft boards, either because of lack of playing time or the system in which they played during college (such as a 4-3 DE that is potentially adjusting to a 3-4 OLB). Over the last four years, only one of the Steelers first round picks (Maurkice Pouncey) was brought in for a pre-draft visit. However, quite a few of their later round picks were brought in for visits. To give a sense of the caliber of the prospects, I included rankings from four of my favorite draft sites: Draft Breakdown, Optimum Scouting, ScarDraft, and Mocking The Draft.

Xavier Rhodes

CB - Florida State

6'1" 210 lbs

Draft Breakdown Rank: #2 CB

Optimum Scouting Rank: #2 CB

ScarDraft Rank: #2 CB, #16 overall

Mocking The Draft Rank: #2 CB, #17 overall

Rhodes was a 3-year starter at Florida State who developed into a shutdown corner. Florida State's aggressive defense was built on their physical corners, and Rhodes' ability to play press man coverage stands out, even against bigger receivers. Rhodes is a violent tackler and has the speed to keep up with receivers down the field. He is one of the top corners in the draft and a likely first round pick.

Blidi Wreh-Wilson

CB - UConn

6'0" 186 lbs

Draft Breakdown Rank: #18 CB

Optimum Scouting Rank: #7 CB

ScarDraft Rank: #12 CB, #101 overall

Mocking The Draft Rank: #8 CB , #62 overall

Wreh-Wilson is a tall lanky corner with good size and strength. He isn't the fastest corner in the draft and doesn't have the best hands, but his hands are active and he breaks up a lot of passes. Wreh-Wilson isn't the best tackler, which is something the Steelers look for in cornerbacks and is still a bit raw. That said, if he's still on the board in the third or fourth round, he would be a huge value to whatever team lands him. He has NFL size and decent closing speed, but his ability to match up one-on-one against a receiver is somewhat questionable.