Steelers 2021 mock draft: What if Ben Roethlisberger is done?

Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 mock draft: What if Big Ben is gone?

After dominating them his entire Pittsburgh Steelers career, how ironic would it be if Ben Roethlisberger’s final NFL game was a devastating home loss to the Cleveland Browns?

The Steelers’ 2020-21 season is over, and they are now slated to pick 24th in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Could it not only be the end of their season but the end of an era?

Roethlisberger nearly thew 70 passes in the Steelers’ loss to the Browns, and as the agony of defeat set in, perhaps also the realization of what is to come did as well.

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Roethlisberger has had an incredible NFL career since he was drafted in the vaunted 2004 class (Eli Manning, Philip Rivers). How would the Steelers move on?

The reality is, Pittsburgh is a team in need of a veteran presence at the QB position, and they would likely make some kind of move there for a bridge at the very least.

Barring any trades for veterans, however, here is what the first four picks of the Steelers’ 2021 NFL Draft class could look like if Roethlisberger decides to call it a career.

Steelers 2021 mock draft: 1st round

It’s a testament to the Steelers’ defensive front that the team was able to lose as talented of a player as Javon Hargrave in free agency and still finish the season with a whopping 56 sacks on the year.

That sack production is fairly well spread although TJ Watt and Stephon Tuitt finished in the double-digit tier with 15 and 11 respectively.

For teams in transition at the quarterback position like the Steelers, it’s almost a non-negotiable to find a way to strengthen a strength. One way to do that in the 2021 NFL Draft would be selecting Iowa’s Daviyon Nixon, a freakish athlete on the defensive front who was absolutely outstanding in 2020.

Nixon flew under the radar in his first season with the Hawkeyes (2019) as AJ Epenesa drew all of the NFL attention.

The Steelers’ defensive front would get a nice boost from having Nixon, who could use his quickness off the ball to absolutely destroy the interior offensive line as the other playmakers on Pittsburgh’s defensive front draw attention themselves.

The Steelers’ offensive line could be a unit in transition in 2021.

Left tackle Alejandro Villanueva is slated to hit free agency. Right tackle Chuckwuma Okorafor did a solid job this past season in relief of Matt Feiler, who came off of IR to play some left guard for the Steelers in their playoff loss to the Browns.

2021 will be a contract year for Okorafor either way, so is it possible the Steelers could have two new guys at the tackle positions by 2022?

It’s certainly not impossible.

There has to be some forward thinking done by the Steelers on the offensive line, and a player like Alex Leatherwood in round two would be an absolute coup.

Leatherwood was projected as a first-rounder in the 2020 NFL Draft but went back to Alabama and it’s not like he’s gotten any worse.

Maybe there are some questions about his upside. Maybe it has to do with the fact that some think Leatherwood projects best to the interior at the next level.

One way or another, if he’s on the board in round two as he was in this particular projection, he would be a great pickup for a Steelers team that could have needs at either tackle position in the not-so-distant future.

In addition to bringing in help for the trenches on both sides of the ball, what is another area teams can strengthen in order to support any quarterback?

Strengthen the running game.

The Steelers are not only potentially losing Ben Roethlisberger in the 2021 offseason, but they could also potentially lose running back James Conner.

That wouldn’t make a ton of sense given how significant of a piece of their offense he has been when healthy, but nothing should be considered surprising in the NFL anymore.

Even if the Steelers keep Conner, we know this is a team that loves to add to its offensive weaponry early and often. The Steelers consistently have one of the most impressive collections of skill player talent in the NFL and they seem to be able to cycle through guys like no other team.

Trey Sermon, a former Oklahoma transfer, has elevated his 2021 NFL Draft stock substantially in recent weeks and he has a chance to get himself firmly in the day two discussion with a big game against Alabama.

Sermon’s physical style of running and tackle-breaking abilities are his greatest strengths, but he has three-down potential at the next level and would be a great pickup for Pittsburgh’s running game.

Let’s get something crystal clear here — I am not suggesting that Sam Ehlinger would be the replacement for Ben Roethlisberger.

As stated in the introductory slide, the Steelers are a team that needs a veteran presence at the quarterback position.

I think Pittsburgh would be a team that would obviously be involved in the Jets were trading Sam Darnold, or maybe they try to go after a different reclamation project like Jameis Winston, who stylistically could be a bit more like Roethlisberger in their offense, which has become somewhat of an air-raid attack.

Ehlinger is a totally different style but maybe the ideal type of backup quarterback in that he is a true gamer who can come in and both manage a game while making plays with his legs.

Ehlinger has a ton of experience coming out of the Texas program where he etched himself in Longhorns history as one of the best quarterbacks the school has ever had.

That doesn’t necessarily mean his game translates great to the NFL game, but there will be a spot for a player like this who works hard, studies hard, and prepares well.