Ideal team-prospect fits for the 2021 NFL Draft

NFL Team: Pittsburgh Steelers – Javonte Williams, RB, North Carolina

Javonte Williams

The Steelers need to overhaul what they do offensively altogether. That dink-and-dunk, spread offense, where they throw a hundred screens and shallow crossers per game, just won’t work at this level.

More importantly, they need to get that run game going, and that starts up front. I could see them going in round one. But with the top two centers to replace M. Pouncey already off the board, that means one of them could be on their team by then.

They could be looking for that reliable force in the backfield Pittsburgh has had pretty much every year since the 70s. After the season James Conner just had, I just can’t see him coming back on anything more than a one-year deal worth a couple million dollars, if he really wants to stay home.

It's much more likely that they could let him walk in free agency and bring in somebody who’s actually available most weeks. North Carolina’s J Williams would be an absolutely brilliant pick-up, in my opinion.

After Najee Harris and Travis Etienne, he is clearly my number three back (and he’s not too far off number two), thanks to the physicality he runs with, his ability to process information and string movements together, his contact balance and the fact that he can contribute in the passing game as a receiver as well as a protector.

In an AFC North, where they have Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, Joe Mixon and the young JK Dobbins, Williams would be right in line in terms of what they want their RBs to bring to the table.

And linebacker play is actually not great in that division, so his violent style would win most of the battles when they match up in space. I think this guy would immediately give that offense, and the team as a whole, a different attitude altogether.