Steelers had pre-draft visit with mystery man Steven Jones

It wasn’t Jackson Powers-Johnson who the Steelers chose to meet with after Oregon’s Pro Day

The Steelers are in the middle of their pre-draft visit season. Each team is allowed 30 visits from prospective draftees plus unlimited local visits. So far, 17 of the 30 have been announced along with 4 local visits. Check here for Behind the Steel Curtain’s tracker.

One of these visits belongs to unknown OL prospect Steven Jones. On March 12, OL coach Pat Meyer attended Oregon’s Pro Day assumedly to check out top center prospect Jackson Powers-Johnson. Without Mike Tomlin or Omar Khan present, it would make sense that anyone who impressed Meyer would be invited to Pittsburgh on a visit to be evaluated by the decision-makers. Oddly, Powers-Johnson wasn’t invited but Jones was.

If you haven’t heard of Jones, you are not alone. When I saw his visit announced, I started researching to do this article. There was virtually no info on him whatsoever. I looked through mock draft websites to see where he ranked. The short answer is that on most sites he didn’t rank at all. I did find him on NFLmockdraftdatabase.com as overall prospect No. 371 and interior OL prospect No. 38. If you google him now, almost every news result is since he visited the Steelers. It’s almost like he was in witness protection and his visit put him on the internet map.

What I can tell you is that Steven Jones is one mountain of a man based on his Pro Day measurables per USCAnnenbergMedia. Think of 18-year OT Jason Peters for a comp size.

• 6’5¼
• 342 Pounds
• 10 ¾ Hands
• 34⅝ Arms
• 84⅛ Wingspan

From the Oregon website goducks.com, we learn that Jones was AP All-Pac 12 first team in 2023, starting all 14 games at right guard. Earlier in his career he bounced between left tackle, right tackle, and right guard before playing exclusively at right guard as a junior and senior. His junior season was interrupted for 8 games by a Lisfranc injury that required surgery.

After spending six years at Oregon, it can be assumed that Jones is a much older prospect. However, the lack of info available on him leaves his exact age in question. The only site I found that showed a birthdate listed it as 1/1/1999 which would make him 25 years old. However, that same site had his height and weight listed incorrectly, swapping them with another Steven Jones who plays defensive back at Appalachian State.

I wish there was more to tell or show about Jones, but he defines under-the-radar. Given his low regard among the mock sites, it would appear the Steelers are doing research on a free agent signing for after the draft. His size and arm length may give him a future at tackle as well as guard. His assumed age seems a bit old for a developmental UDFA prospect, but Alejandro Villanueva was 27 the first time he played a snap in the NFL. It sounds like Jones may be a similar low-risk lottery ticket on a future guard with possible tackle versatility.