I am a life long Steelers fan, but I first started paying serious attention to the Steelers in the 10th grade, which happened to fall in the 1987-88 school year.

So the first NFL draft I followed was the 1988 NFL draft.

And I wanted the Steelers to draft Craig “Ironhead” Heyward the vaunted running back from Pitt.

My attraction to Heyward arose from nothing more than seeing some ESPN highlights of him barreling through defensive lines. The Steelers of course passed on Ironhead in the 1988 NFL draft opting to pick Aaron Jones instead.

23 years later the Steelers decided to give his son Cameron Heyward, defensive end from Ohio State, a shot, when they selected him with the 31st pick of the 2011 NFL draft.

While the Steelers greatest need is at corner, their defensive line desperately needs an injection of youth, if not for the sake of their 2011 season, but certainly for seasons that will come quickly after that.

Top corners were still on the board of course, as were any number of other highly rated players as more quarterbacks were taken in the 1st round than expected.

I’ll offer no opinion on any should haves or would haves. For now I’ll simply say that the Steelers addressed a need and got one of the top defensive lineman in the 2011 NFL draft.

And of course I’ll welcome Cameron Heyward to Steelers Nation.

Thanks for visiting. Click here to follow Steel Curtain Rising on Twitter.