With their season over, the Pittsburgh Steelers must now look to how to improve for next season. It’s also the time of year when analysts l let their hot takes fly. Colin Cowherd had his own idea how to improve the Steelers recently, wanting them to trade T.J. Watt, George Pickens, and two first-round picks to move up in the draft and select one of the top quarterbacks. He got some pushback on that, and now he’s responded.
“All these Pittsburgh fans are like, ‘That is outrageous,'” Cowherd said Friday on FS1’s The Herd. “Okay, you do what you’re doing and bring back Justin Fields. Go for it. How’s that working for you offensively? When was your last playoff win?
“Because Kansas City and Baltimore and Green Bay, they’re taking big swings on quarterbacks. The idea that it’s outrageous, do you really want George Pickens around? T.J. Watt is great but gets hurt.”
There’s so much wrong with what Cowherd is saying. First, his idea is outrageous and calling it that isn’t crazy. The Steelers have only traded up in the first round three times since 2000, and none of those trades was the blockbuster Cowherd is suggesting. Adding Watt and Pickens, two players with only one year left on each of their contracts, isn’t exactly genius either.
Using Watt’s health as a reason to trade him doesn’t make much sense either. He played every game this year, and in his career, he’s only really missed significant time once. Pickens could be traded because of how much of a headache he’s been, but the Steelers would need to hope that one of the teams near the top of the draft wants to take on that baggage. Trading him is easier said than done.
And yet Cowherd bashed people who criticize his idea.
“You went 0-5 down the stretch, you want to run it back? That’s a hot take. ‘We couldn’t score, let’s run it back.’ That’s a hot take, not my brilliant idea,” he said.
Just because the Steelers don’t have great options available at quarterback doesn’t mean they should mortgage their future to take a chance on a player who might be good. It’s still early, but this does not look like a strong quarterback class. The Steelers giving up that kind of package to move up would feel like them panicking.
It does look like the Steelers’ best option is re-signing Fields or Russell Wilson, but that doesn’t mean their offense will be just as bad next year. They could make moves to improve their offensive line and playmakers, which might make one of those quarterbacks look better.
Cowherd’s idea is far from brilliant — or realistic. It’s a trade you’d see made in a video game, not real life. Could the Steelers move up in the draft for a quarterback? Yes. Are they going to give up Watt, Pickens, and multiple first-round picks to do so? The answer is almost certainly no. Changing things just for the sake of change isn’t the right move. Cowherd’s idea isn’t a solution. It’s solving one problem to create more.
