Though it comes as little surprise, don’t expect the Pittsburgh Steelers to receive any compensatory picks in April’s draft. No one is better at predicting and projecting those selections than Over the Cap’s Nick Korte. Tuesday, he released his final projections for 2024 compensatory selections with the Steelers coming up empty.
The news hardly comes as a surprise. Though the team lost several free agents in the offseason, headlined by CB Cam Sutton signing a hefty deal with the Detroit Lions, those losses were cancelled out by an active free agency by the Steelers’ standards. Pittsburgh signed CB Patrick Peterson, helping offset Sutton’s loss, along with OG Isaac Seumalo, ILB Cole Holcomb, and others.
Korte outlines the Steelers’ losses and gains here, showing more of the latter. Meaning, the Steelers aren’t qualified to receive any compensatory picks.
It’s the second straight draft that Pittsburgh will go without a compensatory selection. The last time the league awarded the Steelers one came in the 2022 NFL Draft, the team receiving a fourth-round selection for losing CB Mike Hilton, OLB Bud Dupree, and OL Matt Feiler.
Per Korte’s projections, four teams are expected to receive third-round compensatory picks: Jacksonville, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Buffalo. His projections do not consider draft picks awarded for coaching and front-office losses, a recent change by the NFL. The Baltimore Ravens, who routinely receive high compensatory picks, are projected to receive a fourth-round pick. The Cincinnati Bengals are projected to receive fifth- and seventh-round picks while the Cleveland Browns aren’t predicted to receive anything.
Pittsburgh currently holds seven selections in April’s draft. As we wrote over the weekend, the Steelers have one pick in each of the first three rounds, two selections in the fourth round, none in the fifth, one in the sixth, and one in the seventh.
The NFL will reveal the official compensatory selections about a month prior to the draft. But generally speaking, Korte’s projections are accurate.
The 2024 NFL Draft will be held April 25-27 in Detroit.
