The Pittsburgh Steelers’ stockpile of 12 projected draft picks has fueled plenty of trade chatter. But NFL Network’s top draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah poured some cold water on the idea—at least when it comes to trading up in the first round.
“It’s a good day 2,” Jeremiah said of the mid-round value in this year’s draft during his pre-combine conference call. “I would not anticipate the Steelers parting with those picks to move up in this draft. First of all, I think they’ve done a really good job of investing in bigs, and usually you move up for quarterbacks or bigs. They’ve invested in the offensive and defensive lines, and there’s not a quarterback that’s gonna be worth chasing, so I don’t really see them moving up for any of these other guys.”
It’s rare for the Steelers to have the flexibility to move up for a true blue-chip talent. The temptation to spend draft capital on players like Caleb Downs, Jeremiyah Love, or one of the draft’s top wide receivers is understandable. But Pittsburgh may find greater value by letting the board come to them. This is especially true with four projected Day 2 selections.
After focusing on trench play over the last few drafts, Jeremiah sees them focusing on perimeter play this time around.
“The perimeter needs that they have, wide receiver, there’ll be good options for them. If they wanna go in the corner department, there’s gonna be ways they can go there as well, or anywhere in the secondary. Safety could be in the mix as well,” he said.
He didn’t acknowledge the difficulty of fitting 12 draft picks on the roster, but he offered a solution when answering another Steelers-related question. He suggested they could trade a third-round pick for a veteran starting receiver. That takes some of the guesswork out at a position they can’t afford to miss, and makes one less rookie to worry about fitting on the 53-man roster.
As far as the first round goes, he sees a trade back more likely than a trade up.
“If anything, just because of the uncertainty of the quarterback position going off into the future, I would think that they’d be more likely to put that car in reverse than to go forward just to get some extra assets either this year or next year,” Jeremiah said.
The idea of trading 2026 assets for 2027 draft capital should be interesting to all Steelers fans, given how much quarterback talent should be available next year. But every other team in the league knows that as well, and picking up premium 2027 draft capital won’t come cheap in a 2026 class lacking blue-chip talent in the first round.
The media will certainly ask Omar Khan about these possibilities during his several media appearances at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine next week. With 12 draft picks and plenty of cap space to work with, Khan and the rest of the personnel department have a massive opportunity to transform the roster.
Thinking back to the last couple of draft classes, the Steelers have let the board fall to them, and it’s worked out very well. Very few thought Troy Fautanu or Derrick Harmon would be available without a trade-up in their respective classes, and even fewer thought Zach Frazier would make it to the Steelers in the third round.
Sometimes the smartest move is doing nothing at all—and the Steelers have already shown they’re pretty good at that.
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