For Steelers No. 68, he’s No. 67.
Pro Football Focus placed Steelers left tackle Kelvin Beachum at No. 67 in their Top 101 players feature recently, giving just credit for one of the surprise players of the 2014 season.
Writes PFF:
The Steelers really stumbled into a franchise left tackle, right? Not many would have seen the seventh-round pick as the solution back in 2012, but he has proven that with his best year to date. He’s not a dominant run blocker, but you want your left tackle to slow edge rushers down and giving up just 24 quarterback disruptions all year shows Beachum is more than capable of that.
His career arch is rising. Beachum took over as the team’s left tackle in Week 6 of the 2013 season, and, outside of a few games missed due to injury, he’s been the team’s undisputed starter. The Steelers drafted Beachum in the seventh round of the 2012 NFL Draft – about 200 spots after they took Mike Adams, Beachum’s back-up – making him the team’s best value pick of the last several years.
Beachum enters the final year of his rookie contract, and he’s a prime candidate for an extension. Whether the Steelers can afford him is a key question for the future of a dominant Steelers’ offense.
The price tag for an outstanding left tackle, particularly one who has been getting a seventh round pick’s salary to start at a marquee position, is upwards of $11 million a year.
He’s the first Steelers player on the list, with Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell still to follow.
