The Steelers continued the pre-draft vetting process on Thursday with five more visits from potential draftees, four of whom play in the secondary.
The team announced that Ohio State safety Vonn Bell, Clemson safety T.J. Green, Auburn cornerback Jonathan Jones and North Carolina Central cornerback Ryan Smith were all in Pittsburgh to meet with the team. Those visits come a day after the team had Florida safety Keanu Neal, Boise State safety Darian Thompson and Temple cornerback Tavon Young at their facility.
Miami safety Deon Bush, Duke safety Jeremy Cash and Georgia Tech cornerback David White were reportedly in last week, so it’s safe to say there’s a trend in place.
The interest in defensive backs shouldn’t come as any surprise. The Steelers have invested several high picks elsewhere on defense in recent seasons, but their secondary is still in need of major improvement after allowing the third-most passing yards in the league last season.
Their recent visitors are projected to go at various points during the draft and it’s easy to see them using more than one of their seven picks on players to bolster the back end of the defense. They also hope to have 2015 second-round corner Senquez Golson back from injury to help create a more effective unit in 2016.