Day 2 post-draft thoughts

Some Steelers fans might not have liked the pick, but I like the team's selection of Senquez Golson in the second round of Friday's draft.

It showed something of a change in thinking for the Steelers with their corners.

Yes, at 5-9, 176 pounds, Golson isn't the ideal size for a cornerback in the NFL. But he takes the ball away, including recording 10 interceptions last season.

For too long the Steelers have focused on bigger corners who don't necessarily have ball skills. And picking where they were typically at in the bottom of the first round, they rarely had an opportunity to select a corner with good ball skills.

If a guy has both size and ball skills, he goes in the first part of the first round.

But the Steelers took Golson over some larger corners who didn't possess his ball skills.

Those trashing the pick should think about one thing. Did they want the Steelers to take a chance on Tyrann Mathieu a couple of years ago?

Mathieu, as you might remember, had numerous off-field issues at LSU, eventually getting himself kicked out of school.

But there were plenty of Steelers fans who wanted the team to take a chance on him - despite his 5-9, 186-pound size and bevy of issues - because the team needed playmakers in its secondary.

Golson is Mathieu without the rap sheet.

The typical Steelers pick would have been Eric Rowe, a big corner with speed who had three career interceptions in college. And Pittsburgh was interested in him.

But for a team that hasn't had more than 11 interceptions in a season since 2010 - the last time it won a playoff game - acquiring a playmaker in the secondary was a must.

@ I thought the pick of Sammy Coates was a good value pick in the third round.

Yes, he has some issues with drops. But the Steelers feel that can be corrected.

He's got 4.4 speed and averaged over 20 yards per catch in his college career. And at 6-1, 212 chiseled pounds, he's got a different body type than Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton or even Martavis Bryant, to whom Coates has been compared.

The Steelers see Coates as a guy who can do some of the dirty work blocking while also having the ability to take the top off a defense.

@ The Steelers were trying to move up in the second round but found the price too expensive. Then, when they decided to wait and see if tight end Maxx Williams would fall to them, Baltimore pulled the trigger and moved up, giving up their second and fifth round picks to do so.

We'll see if that bites the Steelers in the behind. Williams is the top tight end in this draft, but it's a weak tight end group. He catches the ball well, but isn't particularly fast and offers little as a blocker, though he could get better as he grows into his body.

But it's not getting any easier to find true tight ends with so many college teams running spread offenses.

One thing for certain, if you look at the team's record of selecting tight ends early in the draft, it's been good, with Eric Green, Mark Bruener and Heath Miller all contributing early in their careers.

All were first-round picks and all had plenty of success right away.

In fact, the Steelers went to the Super Bowl in both 1995 and 2005, when they took Bruener and Miller in the first round.

@ Who will the Steelers target on Day 3?

Ohio State's Doran Grant or USC's Josh Shaw are the top corners still available. That position has once again been picked over pretty hard, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the Steelers make a move to go up in the fourth round to get one of them.

Other targets could include Penn State's Jesse James or South Alabama's Wes Saxton at tight end, Georgia Tech center/guard Shaq Mason and Clemson defensive end Corey Crawford or Kristjan Sokoli of Buffalo.

The Steelers also could target a safety since Will Allen isn't getting any younger. James Sample of Louisville  and Ibraheim of Northwestern are the top strong safety types available. One guy to keep an eye on, though is UCLA's Anthony Jefferson.

At free safety, there are some interesting guys still out there. Cody Prewitt, who played with Golson at Ole Miss is a solid centerfielder type and Penn State's Adrian Amos also is still on the board.

Derron Smith of Fresno also is a guy who had 15 career interceptions in college.

There also are a couple of interesting small college outside linebackers available in Davis Tull of Chattanooga and Kyle Emmanuel of North Dakota State, though I don't know the Steelers will take another outside linebacker unless the value is just too great to pass on.

I'm hearing that CFL product Shawn Lemon is just a guy so a special teams ace could find a spot.