NFL Draft 2019: 5 sleepers the Steelers should draft in the first round
By Joe Romano
Isaiah Johnson, CB, Houston
Like with linebacker, this is not a great year to need a corner back. The draft’s top corner is a debate between Washington’s Byron Murphy and LSU’s Greedy Williams. For Pittsburgh only Williams fits the mold of what they are looking for in a corner. They prioritize length, height and speed over some of the technical aspects of playing the position.
Williams is an elite athlete with great length but mental lapses are dampening his stock. He also may be picked well before it is the Steelers’ turn. Georgia’s DeAndre Baker might jump into the mix but he’s getting terrible reviews from teams in pre-draft interviews and is not the athlete that Pittsburgh will target.
Isaiah Johnson of Houston is the prototype player at corner for the Steelers. At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds with 33 inch arms and an almost 80 inch wingspan, he’s an enormous corner. He coupled that with 4.4 speed and excellent explosive drills to elevate his stock. Johnson’s tape screams a mid-round pick but those traits have first round pick written all over them. If there was a team that is going to take a chance on a player like Johnson it’s Pittsburgh.
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Johnson joins fellow big, long corners as Pittsburgh targets. Michigan State’s Justin Layne, Kentucky’s Lonnie Johnson, Vanderbilt’s Joejuan Williams, Temple’s Rock Ya-Sin and Penn State’s Amani Oruwariye are others to know. Pittsburgh could see one of them fall into their laps later in the draft. Corner is an area they prioritized with seven visits including Baker, Murphy, Layne and Ya-Sin. Look for one of those names to be a Steeler when the draft is all said and done.