Reports about prospects visiting teams abound at this time of the year, but sometimes the teams just go ahead and make an announcement about which players were at their headquarters.
The Steelers did that on Thursday by announcing that five players visited with the team. There were three defensive players on the list, including a pair of safeties.
Washington’s Budda Baker and North Carolina State’s Josh Jones were the prospects in at that position. Baker is on the small side at 5'10" and 195 pounds, but was productive enough at Washington that he’s got a chance to go in the first round of the draft. Lance Zierlein of NFL Media compared Jones to current Steelers safety Mike Mitchell in a draft profile, which may explain Pittsburgh’s interest.
Florida linebacker Jarrad Davis rounded out the defensive prospects. Neither of the offensive prospects had far to travel for their meetings.
Wide receiver Chris Godwin caught 59 passes for 982 yards and 11 touchdowns at Penn State last season and running back James Conner scored 20 times for the University of Pittsburgh. Conner’s performance was made more impressive by the fact that he returned from battling lymphoma that was diagnosed early in the 2015 season before his big year.