The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in a very precarious spot at the No. 20 slot in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
With the first round likely to be heavy on offensive tackles and wide receivers — two positions of need for the Steelers — a run could occur in front of them, potentially leading to a tough spot for the Steelers.
Were that to occur, Steelers GM Omar Khan could look to trade down and accumulate more draft picks. While the likeliest scenario for the Steelers is a trade up to get into the offensive tackle market, Khan could decide to move down.
And if he does? The Dallas Cowboys could be a perfect trade partner.
According to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, a trade down with the Cowboys back to No. 24 could be the ideal move for the Steelers. In the deal, the Steelers would move down from No. 20 to No. 24 and would send No. 119 to the Cowboys for No. 87 overall in the third round and No. 174 in the fifth round.
“It’s rare to see two of the league’s most storied franchises come together on a trade, but there’s some logic here for both parties,” Barnwell writes regarding a potential trade down for the Steelers with the Cowboys. “The Steelers could stand to add another offensive lineman, but they would probably be looking toward tackle as opposed to guard. This wasn’t a deep team a year ago, and the days when they had homegrown talent waiting to burst through the ranks up and down the roster appear to be in the past.
“I’d like to see Pittsburgh add more depth across the board with this draft, and Mike Tomlin’s team would have five top-100 picks if it did this deal.”
That trade down would see the Steelers move back just four spots in the first round, but it would put them behind some offensive line-needy teams like the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles and especially the Cowboys, which could limit pickings once they are back on the clock.
But moving down just four spots to then acquire another third round pick, which would give them three third rounders, would be quite the move, along with adding a fifth-rounder, something they currently don’t have.
While it might cost the Steelers a shot at the likes of Duke’s Graham Barton or Georgia’s Amarius Mims at No. 20, it could make it a bit more feasible to land West Virginia center Zach Frazier, Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson, or even Texas wide receiver Adonai Mitchell later in the first round at a much more understandable draft slot.
Khan has shown aggressiveness moving up in the draft, doing so just last year in the first round to land offensive tackle Broderick Jones. He also showed the ability to move down in the draft, too, trading down in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft to ultimately getting tight end Darnell Washington and later landing outside linebacker Nick Herbig with the additional draft pick they acquired in the trade down with the Carolina Panthers.
But that was in the third round, not the first round.
Will Khan be open to moving down in the first round? Maybe, if the offer is right. But the Steelers typically don’t do that and tend to stand pat and ultimately take the player they covet the most, positional value or consensus ranking not withstanding.
A trade down with the Cowboys would give the Steelers move draft capital, but it could hinder the top of the draft entirely if the Steelers were to miss out on a player they covet at a clear position of need.
