Circling back a bit but it was really interesting to hear Kevin Colbert discuss his reaction to the team earning a third round compensatory pick.
We like to think the team knows exactly what to expect and has everything planned out. As it turns out, Colbert and company were as surprised as you and me.
“We have two capologists,” he told Gerry Dulac on SNR. “One said it was going to be one pick, the other said it’d be three [compensatory picks]…to get a third, we were very excited…surprised, yes, excited, yes as well. So we just got to make good on having an extra pick.”
Those two capologists are Omar Khan and assistant and possible heir Samir Suleiman. Colbert quipped that truly nothing surprises him from the compensatory process because it’s such a difficult to understand application of the rules.
The pick gives the Steelers four selections in the top 105 picks for only the third time in Colbert’s time with the Steelers dating back to 2000. It happened in 2009 and 2000. In ’09, they took Ziggy Hood, Kraig Urbik, Mike Wallace, and Keenan Lewis. In 2000, the four were Plaxico Burress, Marvel Smith, Kendrick Clancy, and Hank Poteat.
Compensatory picks are now able to be traded for the first time giving the team added flexibility if they so choose.
As we wrote about right after the news broke, the Steelers didn’t lose much of anything in order to get one of the top comp picks. They’ve done well to immediately replace Kelvin Beachum and Steve McLendon with Alejandro Villanueva and Javon Hargrave.
The offseason is just kicking off but with the Baltimore Ravens likely to lose Brandon Williams and the Cincinnati Bengals allowing Kevin Zeitler to walk, the Steelers are in position to be the heavy favorite going into training camp.
