The Pittsburgh Steelers have six picks this year’s NFL draft. It is deep in talent, so there’s a chance they could find a true difference maker with all six of those selections. At the 21st overall pick in the first round, though, they’ll have to wait for some talent to fall down the board.
Despite the Steelers picking in the bottom half of the first round yet again, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko doesn’t think they should consider trading up.
“I’m pretty close to saying, this is a draft class where under no circumstance should you make a move up the board, because the value is way more in the depth than the top-tier talent,” Batko said Friday on The North Shore Drive podcast. “I hesitate to say I would even want to trade a fourth or fifth (round pick) in this specific draft. I don’t think you’re gonna see many teams trading up in the 2025 draft.”
The only position that might be worth the risk of trading up for is quarterback. Pittsburgh is still waiting on Aaron Rodgers. If that wait continues into the draft, maybe the Steelers feel some pressure and trades up. In that case, the only real QBs they’d have a chance at are Shedeur Sanders and Jaxson Dart.
There are plenty of reasons against trading up, and aside from QB, there really isn’t a position that makes sense giving up draft capital to move up the board. Both defensive line and running back are arguably the biggest positional needs on the roster. At both of those spots, Pittsburgh could stay put with its current picks and still find difference makers. The 2026 QB class is also considered a better class than this one. Unless the Steelers are faced with the reality of starting Mason Rudolph, they probably wouldn’t trade up for a QB this year.
Trading up also becomes harder when you don’t have a second-round pick. Nobody would blame the Steelers for not having one. They used it to acquire DK Metcalf a little less than a month ago. But the reality is, without a second rounder, trading up in the first round would probably cost a few lower-round picks. With Pittsburgh only having six picks this year, that likely isn’t worth it.
It’s also worth mentioning that the Steelers will have many more assets during the 2026 draft. Thanks to the bevy of compensatory picks they’ll be receiving next offseason, trading up would be a more realistic scenario next year.
