While Omar Khan said that the Pittsburgh Steelers are more likely to trade back or stay put than they are to trade up in the 2025 NFL Draft, that doesn’t mean they would prioritize trading back just for the sake of picking up more draft capital. In order to feel comfortable, they would have to have a number of players already off the board by the time they select at No. 21 in the first round.
Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin were asked how many players they would not want to trade away from during their pre-draft press conference on the Steelers’ YouTube page.
“Several,” Tomlin said. “It’s a nice group at a variety of positions. We still got more work to do in terms of identifying that select group as you outlined, but this is a nice class.”
Former Steelers GM Kevin Colbert often talked about only trading back as many slots as they were positive they’d be able to get a player they highly coveted. If they move back three spots, they need to have three guys on their board that they like at their new pick to ensure they can draft one of them.
Omar Khan operates in a very similar manner.
“The way I look at it is, you never really wanna trade away from a really good player that can help you and the right guy for us,” Khan said. “By the time we get to Thursday, we’ll have identified certain guys that we will not trade away from.”
While Khan said at the top of the press conference that a trade up was less likely, Tomlin added they are open to both.
Who would the several guys be on that list? Do they include guys like Cam Ward, who is obviously going at No. 1 overall? If so, is the realistic list much shorter? It’s hard to label something as realistic or not as we sit here right now. This time last year it was assumed that Troy Fautanu would be off the board by the time the Steelers picked at No. 20, and they ended up being able to stay put and draft him.
“We’re always open, but because we do our due diligence, oftentimes there’s somebody available that we’re really excited about,” Tomlin said. “I think it remains the same this year.”
All the Steelers can do is set their board, work through as many scenarios with their team as possible and then let the board fall how it may. Khan will be working the phones as always and sometimes that leads to trade action if the right opportunity arises.
