Adam Schefter reported in his Monday morning draft buzz file on ESPN that the Pittsburgh Steelers were among a few teams looking to possibly trade down in the first round. It’s always difficult to know what information to trust this time of year, but Yahoo Sports NFL insider Charles Robinson had a draft nuggets column this morning and doubled down on that possibility for Pittsburgh.
“I think three franchises have some realistic buzz around them when it comes to trading on the clock,” Robinson wrote. “The Pittsburgh Steelers moving back from 21st to accrue more draft capital and possibly take a quarterback closer to the end of the first round.”
What we do know are two things. One, the Steelers rarely trade down at all and hardly ever in the first round. The last first-round trade down was in 2001 to move from No. 16 to No. 19 to select NT Casey Hampton.
More recently, the Steelers executed a trade down in the third round of 2023 and grabbed TE Darnell Washington while gaining the pick that netted them OLB Nick Herbig.
Without a pick in the second round this year, a trade down feels like a reasonable approach.
The second thing that is indisputable is that the Steelers are interested in the quarterback position this draft cycle. Look no further than their current depth chart as to why, but they either held pre-draft visits or Pro Day meetings with nearly every top quarterback prospect.
For those reasons, this seems like a reasonable draft rumor. Though you always need to approach them with some level of skepticism during smokescreen season.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac said the team has first-round grades on Jaxson Dart and Shedeur Sanders. If Sanders falls to the Steelers at No. 21, would they trade down?
Opinions are mixed, but the majority seem to think they would stay put and select him. If Sanders isn’t available and they are dead set on getting a quarterback, could they trade down to select somebody like Dart or even a surprise pick like Jalen Milroe or Tyler Shough?
It’s hard to get past the idea that the Steelers have first-round grades on two quarterbacks and they wouldn’t be doing everything possible to get one of them. A first-round grade is a first-round grade, so there is no point in waiting until 2026 if they truly like one of the current QB prospects.
