Some potentially weighty news broke over the weekend with Derek Carr set to have shoulder surgery. His 2025 availability is firmly in question and that obviously bumps quarterback up the New Orleans Saints’ list of priorities. If the Pittsburgh Steelers (or any other team) want to secure the second quarterback off the board, it might be necessary to trade up ahead of the Saints. That pick is held by their division rival, the Carolina Panthers, and it sounds like they are open for business.
“Panthers GM Dan Morgan said his phone didn’t go nuts after the news broke on Derek Carr’s shoulder injury,” NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport wrote on X. “Despite holding the No. 8 pick right before the Saints. But he sounds like a guy open to offers.”
“We’ll be waiting if somebody wants to come up,” Morgan said, according to Rapoport.
It would be an incredibly pricey trade for the Steelers to move up 13 picks into the top 10 of the first round. I struggle to see how it would even be possible given the Steelers lack of draft capital this year. They have the third-worst value in the league as is. Even if they packaged together every pick in their draft, it wouldn’t add up according to draft value charts.
This time of year is difficult to parse through all of the reports and opinions, and there are smokescreens at play to make it even more challenging. For what it’s worth, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said he would be really surprised if the Steelers trade up in the first round for a quarterback. On the other hand, Ryan Clark, Chase Daniel, and others have been calling for a potential trade up for Shedeur Sanders for the last week or two.
Todd McShay reported that Mike Tomlin really likes Shedeur Sanders. We all know how much influence he has in the decision making process. If he’s banging the table for Sanders, could they entertain the idea of trading up to No. 8? It would almost certainly require trading away 2026 value, but they could also look at trading away a current player like George Pickens, for example.
It doesn’t sound like those calls have started happening for the Panthers quite yet, but that could change if a player like Sanders slides past the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants at picks two and three. Other teams could also trade up for non-quarterbacks if someone unexpectedly falls.
