Pittsburgh Steelers: Brian Allen a very intriguing prospect
The Pittsburgh Steelers made eight selections in the 2017 NFL Draft, and they continued to address the team’s secondary in the fifth round with Brian Allen.
Some believe that the Pittsburgh Steelers may have the best group of wide receivers in the NFL. So it’s somewhat/kind of ironic that the team is trying to fix its leaky pass defense with a player that transitions from wideout to cornerback.
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In this year’s draft, general manager Kevin Colbert uses a fifth-round pick on Utah’s Brian Allen. The one-time pass-catcher turned pass-defender is still learning the nuances of his current position.
“Every day everybody teaches something different, so when I made the transition it took me a year, year and a half just to get adapted to the small basic things of playing corner,” said Allen to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
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It all started to come together for Allen in 2016. He would start nine of the 13 games he played in. He finished with 35 tackles, nine passes defensed and four interceptions. Still, via NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein, there’s still a lot of work to be done by the 6-3, 205-pound prospect:
"On the surface, Allen is nowhere near ready to play NFL football. He lacks smooth feet and hips in coverage, a feel for routes and is below average playing the deep ball. His issues as a tackler make it unlikely a team would trust him to move to safety. However, his elite size, speed and length are sure to garner attention and he does flash some potential as a bump-and-run corner."
The Pittsburgh Steelers are always busy addressing their secondary. The team use a first- and second-round picks in 2016 on cornerback Artie Burns and strong safety Sean Davis, respectively.
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Earlier in this year’s draft, Tennessee’s Cameron Sutton is a third-round selection. And the team adds cornerback Coty Sensabaugh via free agency. Allen may take a little time to develop, but he appears to be a chance worth taking.