PITTSBURGH—They compete on most every play in a football game, much of it one-on-one. Receiver versus cornerback; one wants to catch the ball, the other wants to prevent him from doing so.

That competition might very well have taken place in the draft room at the Steelers training facility for weeks. Cornerback versus receiver, which one do they draft in the first round?

It is a good time for the Steelers to be needy at cornerback and wide receiver, because the prospects at both positions are plentiful in numbers and quality in this draft.

They need to get much better at both positions and can start doing so Thursday night. But if those are their two biggest needs, in what order might they draft them? Wide receiver in the first round, then cornerback in the second? Or cornerback in the first round and wide receiver next?

And they also need linebackers and defensive linemen, but if it does come down to wide receiver against cornerback, as it does on the field, which do they pick first?

“My feeling would be the cornerback, just because of the way people are playing today,” said Tom Donahoe, the Philadelphia Eagles’ senior football advisor and before that president/general manager of the Buffalo Bills and Kevin Colbert’s predecessor with the Steelers.

“If you look at the draft over time, there probably have been more busts picking wide receivers than there have been picking corners. With the emphasis on the passing game today, you almost feel like you have to have four or five corners on your roster who can play just to compete. More teams are using the hurry-up offense, there’s more emphasis on throwing the ball; you better have people out there covering guys.”

But Donahoe provided a caveat.

“If you feel you have an impact guy, as a receiver who can come in and help your team, take him regardless.”

Then there is the view of BLESTO director Tom Modrak, who worked in Donahoe’s personnel departments with the Steelers and Bills. All else being equal, Modrak would grab the receiver first.

“If you have a dominating wide receiver, the way it’s being played now, it’s hard on teams, it’s hard on matchups, it makes all your other players better,” he said.

There are many more good receivers than cornerbacks in this draft.