Every draft cycle, the inevitable question of maneuvering the draft board will come up. Should the Pittsburgh Steelers trade up to secure a talent they covet? Conversely, with several needs to address and only so many picks to address them, is trading down an option to pick up more draft capital?
Omar Khan was asked during the pre-draft press conference about the possibility of trading down in the draft.
“I would just say, in my opinion, you never trade away from a good player,” Khan said in a video of the press conference posted on the Steelers’ YouTube page. “Obviously if there is ever a scenario that makes sense for both sides, you have to look at it.”
The Steelers hold the 20th pick of the first round and four picks through the first two days of the draft. They have five major needs in center, right tackle, wide receiver, cornerback, and defensive line, so one position will be the odd man out in getting Day 1 and Day 2 help.
The last time the Steelers traded down in the first round of the draft was in 2001, when they moved back three spots from 16 to 19 and selected Texas NT Casey Hampton. They picked up an additional fourth-round pick and sixth-round pick in the process.
To me, a similar haul of a fourth- and sixth-round pick would not be sufficient compensation to move away from the 20th spot. There are plenty of great talents available at most of the Steelers’ positions of need, and a difference maker at one of those needs should be available when the Steelers are on the clock.
It seems unlikely that there won’t be a “good player,” as Khan described it, available at pick 20 to make a trade back worth it.
Mike Tomlin chimed in as well on the 20th pick being a sweet spot for trade action in the draft.
“It’s probably a historical sweet spot,” Tomlin said of the 20th pick in the first round. “That’s probably the area where people are having those discussions because there are good football teams that are usually picking, playoff-caliber football teams. Sometimes trading back provides value for those teams that don’t have glaring needs. I think that’s probably a spot that’s kind of annual in terms of those discussions.”
One of the last two times the Steelers held the 20th pick, they actually traded up to acquire Devin Bush at 10th overall.
How much planning goes into making these draft-day trades? Is it just a spur of the moment decision that unfolds while teams are on the clock, or do teams already have a good idea of their trade targets ahead of time? Khan answered some of these questions.
“We have plenty of strategy meetings. We’ve already started between now and Thursday about where the threshold would be or our comfort level is with certain guys,” Khan said. “There’s a million hypotheticals you go through right now and amongst the GMs we all talk amongst each other, so we kind of have a feel of who wants to move up, move down.”
Last year, the Steelers traded up three spots with the New York Jets to acquire Broderick Jones, the Jets likely to take him if they had waited with their original 17th overall pick. You can bet that was a hypothetical that they workshopped prior to the event so they were prepared when the board broke how it did.
The next day, the Steelers held the first pick of Day 2. That is a sweet spot for teams to reach out because they have a full day to game plan for their day two approach. Ultimately the Steelers stood on their pick and selected CB Joey Porter Jr., which goes back to Khan’s initial point of never trading away from a good player.
