After a three-year run of using a high-round pick on a wide receiver, the Pittsburgh Steelers entered another offseason in which a talented pass catcher may be too good to pass up early in the NFL Draft.

When general manager Kevin Colbert, coach Mike Tomlin and their staffs head to Indianapolis this week for the annual NFL Scouting Combine, they will encounter a group of wide receivers that features quantity as well as quality.

Draft experts are near unanimous in their belief the deepest group of players among the skill positions – if not the entire class – is at wide receiver.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. projects 25 receivers will be drafted in the first three-and-a-half rounds, with perhaps 14 of them going in the first and second rounds.

“It may be historic,” Kiper said.

NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah is even more bullish on the receiver class. He gave 27 pass-catchers grades good enough to be selected in the first, second or third rounds.

“This is really a phenomenal group of wideouts,” Jeremiah said. “Not all those guys are going to go early. They’ll end up spreading throughout the draft, but it’s a really good group.”

That can be construed as good news for the Steelers, who despite their recent draft history, may be inclined to add depth to the wide receiver room.

JuJu Smith-Schuster, the second-round pick from the 2017 draft class, is entering the final year of his contract and is coming off a season in which he lost four games to injury and totaled career lows with 42 catches, 552 yards and three touchdowns.

If the Steelers decide not to sign Smith-Schuster, who had 111 catches for 1,426 yards in 2018, to an extension, they could draft his eventual successor with either the No. 49 overall pick or their anticipated compensatory pick at the end of the third round.

James Washington, a second-rounder in 2018, had a career-high 44 catches for 735 yards and three touchdowns last season, but he did not take the same kind of jump from his first to second season that Smith-Schuster did.

Diontae Johnson, a third-rounder in 2019 and the second player selected by the Steelers, led the Steelers with 59 receptions and five touchdowns as a rookie while also gaining second-team All-Pro consideration as a punt returner.

With Ben Roethlisberger beginning a throwing program as he tries to bounce back from season-ending right elbow surgery, the Steelers may use this draft class to provide the 16-year veteran with another target. And the Steelers not having a first-round pick won’t appear to be an issue.

“You can find guys and maybe better second-round picks than guys who go in the first round,” Kiper said. “I like a lot of the second-round receivers.”

The NFL invited 55 receivers to the combine, the most players among any position group. Although the Steelers scouted some of those players at the Senior Bowl, there will be 20 underclassmen wideouts at the combine, including a handful of potential first-rounders.

In the second wave of wide receivers, Kiper lists Penn State’s KJ Hamler, who left school with a year of eligibility remaining after catching 56 passes for 904 yards and eight touchdowns in 2019.

“If he had been more consistent,” Kiper said, “he would be guaranteed to go in the first.”

Players that could be available at No. 49 for the Steelers include Baylor’s Denzel Mims, Ohio State’s KJ Hill, Colorado’s Laviska Shenault Jr., TCU’s Jalen Reagor, Liberty’s Antonio Gandy-Golden and USC’s Michael Pittman.

“There’s so much depth,” Jeremiah said. “I can show you studies that will show you how many impact players have come in the second, third round, and you can get good players in those positions.”

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