The Pittsburgh Steelers officially hold the 17th pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. With the Sunday night result known between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, the Steelers’ first round pick is finally set in stone.
Here is the Top-18 draft order. The Chicago Bears hold the #1 overall pick.
It’s a far lower/later pick than the Steelers were anticipated to have at the bye week. The downside to their strong second half run, going 7-2 since the bye and finishing the year 9-8, nearly making the playoffs as the AFC’s 7th seed. Still, it’s a relatively high pick by Pittsburgh’s standards and their highest originally slotted selection since selecting LB Ryan Shazier 15th overall in 2014. The team picked 10th in 2019 but traded up from 20th to land LB Devin Bush.
The last time the Steelers picked 17th overall came in 2013 when the team took EDGE Jarvis Jones, one of the worst picks of Kevin Colbert’s career. Other 17th overall selections include WR Charles Johnson in 1994, DE Keith Gary in 1981, and DL Joe Krupa in 1956.
This will be Pittsburgh’s first draft of the post-Kevin Colbert era. Running the show will be new GM Omar Khan, an internal promotion to replace Colbert last May, and assistant GM Andy Weidl, a Pittsburgh native hired over from Philadelphia to work alongside Khan. Under Colbert, the Steelers rarely moved in the first round, trading up only three times and trading down just once, the latter coming in 2001 when Colbert moved from #16 to #19 to pickup NT Casey Hampton.
Though each draft is unique and most of the time, trades aren’t made until draft day, it seems likely Khan and Weidl will be more open to moving up or down than Colbert was. Pittsburgh has an unusually high amount of draft capital this year. In addition to the 17th overall pick, they’ll also have the top pick of the second round thanks to sending WR Chase Claypool to Chicago for the Bears’ original second round pick. It’ll technically be the 32nd pick of the draft due to the Miami Dolphins’ forfeiting their 1st round pick as part of their punishment in tampering with Tom Brady. Still, the pick will only be a four-year contract and won’t include a fifth year option all first rounders officially get.
Factoring in the Dolphins’ forfeited pick, these are the current selections the Steelers hold.
From now until draft day, we’ll have a couple hundred player profiles, Pro Day visit tracking, mock drafts, and so much more to get you ready.
The 2023 NFL Draft takes place April 27th through the 29th in Kansas City.
