Steelers trading with Bears? Don’t believe everything you hear about the NFL Draft
Welcome to my weekly edition of “Overreactions from Steelers Nation” a weekly column where I poke fun at fans, reporters, and so-called experts while trying to figure out if some of these hot takes are real – or just for attention.
The 2023 NFL Draft is almost two weeks away and the rumor mills are firing up during a time period of which NFL Hall of Fame executive Gil Brandt calls “National Liar’s Month”.
Of course, Brandt is referring to the ways in which every organization attempts to throw other teams off of their scent in order to land their preferred player in the draft. The Steelers are no stranger to this concept – nor is any team for that matter – as Pittsburgh was heavily linked to Liberty’s Malik Willis in last year’s draft before they selected Pitt’s Kenny Pickett.
The proof of how ridiculous any “news” this time of the year spreads like wildfire is evident when a tidbit of info, factual or not, is put into the public spectrum. The latest example is that the Steelers have “spoke” to the Chicago Bears about moving up from pick 17 to 9.
This speculative information was dropped by E.J. Snyder, Co-Creator of The Bootleg Football Podcast and a Senior Draft Analyst with the Windy City Gridiron blog, which is under the SB Nation banner of sites and covers the Chicago Bears.
https://twitter.com/MgBlazer77/status/1645959963754242054
Within the referenced article, Snyder is quoted as saying on his podcast:
“Bears – Steelers is possible. They’ve talked about it. I know they’ve talked about it. It’s by no means assured… they have had that discussion.”
“The most likely connect the dots moment is that Pittsburgh needs an offensive tackle, and they go up for one because there’s one they like, and they’ll be gone by the time they pick at seventeen… (Chicago GM Ryan) Poles knows he needs a lot of players and moving down from nine to seventeen still gets him a good one plus additional picks.”
Seemingly, every other blog on the planet picked up on this quote and started to echo it across the Internet, solidifying this tidbit as more truth than fiction with their clickbait headlines.
And yes, if you know me and this Overreactions column, you know I loathe clickbait over actual journalism. In our social media spectrum, people are overwhelmingly going to read the sensational headline, and not the article, forming a public opinion regardless of what may or may not have happened.
What sometimes trickles down to those like myself or Snyder is akin to someone hearing a story from their best friend’s brother’s co-worker who spoke with the janitor that was outside a room where they may have heard something from a lower-level member of the staff: otherwise known as the “anonymous source” in most circles. Calling this second-hand information would be giving it too much credit in most cases.
In no way is this to say Snyder’s information is wrong or otherwise fabricated. Rather, he’s acting in good faith and appears to genuinely want no part of being in the breaking news “clickbait” segment of social media or sports coverage:
Let me say this one loud and clear: “Hell no.”
With all due professional respect to most of the people who do that job and do it well; it is one I actively do not want. Information is nice to have for sure, but breaking and trading scoops is NOT what I’m here for. https://t.co/vMLSp6ZMgc
— EJ Snyder (@FootballEJ) April 12, 2023
Regardless of the validity of what was said, we may never know whether or not these talks have transpired. It does appear facetious, however, to think the Steelers – or Bears – haven’t had these discussions with several other teams. Teams are doing their homework on how the draft board may rapidly change on Thursday, April 27th and need to know what it may take to make that quick phone call to move up, or down, accordingly. You can literally insert a name for “Steelers” or “Bears” this time of the year when it comes to these talks.
Then there’s the “meat” to what this story has spiraled into as it’s repeated, that centers around an old draft value chart. The chart is thought to have originated from former Dallas Cowboys and Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Jimmy Johnson, which places a numerical value on every pick in the NFL Draft, as a means to price what it will cost for a team to move up in a trade.
Also, the Steelers-Bears link is low-hanging fruit, in that Pittsburgh’s pick 17 is valued at 950 and pick 32 at 590. Those two figures total 1540, which makes Chicago’s pick 9 (valued at 1350) a potential target – meaning the Steelers would trade their first and second round picks for Bears first round selection.
To further solidify this speculation, sites are mentioning the Pittsburgh and Chicago trade for Chase Claypool last fall, which sent the Bears pick 32 to the Steelers for the wide receiver. Clearly the two teams have done business before, so they’ll do it again? Right?
Plus, the Steelers will do this all because they want to move up in the draft for a specific player. Some of those hot names include OT Paris Johnson Jr. from Ohio State and CB Christian Gonzalez from Oregon, neither of which are thought to be available outside of the top ten – or most importantly, when the Steelers are scheduled to go on the clock with pick 17.
What’s missing in context, even according to the antiquated draft value chart (which is more fan contrived than used in front office war rooms,) is that the Steelers first two picks are valued high enough to be able to trade up with the Atlanta Falcons at pick 8 (1400 points) or Las Vegas Raiders at pick 7 (1500 points).
Both of those teams are “in need of additional players” by moving back and acquiring more picks, yet, no one is thinking so do the Steelers! This is the first time since 1989 that Pittsburgh has three picks within the top 50 in the draft, and one of the few times in which they’re picking near the middle of the pack, due to usually finishing with a playoff appearance during the previous season which sees their selection ranked somewhere from pick 20 or lower in each round.
This is an opportune time for the Steelers to find more than one quality prospect in the draft themselves, and I have my doubts that they’d foolishly send their first two selections to move up eight spots for a single player. Don’t forget, the Miami Dolphins vacated their first round pick, so the Steelers first pick of the second round is actually the 32nd player chosen, rather than what should be the 33rd.
To that extent, moving up the board for the “calculated” cost of the chart seems like a risky proposition for a team that’s content with staying put and getting their guy, as they did by not selling the farm for their quarterback of the future, allowing Kenny Pickett to fall right to them at pick 20 last season.
So in closing, be careful Steelers Nation. While its fun to speculate on every angle of the NFL Draft, the “news” that’s being presented is mostly like fake. Even if what’s being told to the likes of an E.J. Snyder is from a credible source, I’m more likely to believe “The Godfather” Gil Brandt in thinking that information is being put out there to rattle the cages of other teams – by driving up the asking price of the Bears pick or to insinuate the Steelers are interested in a particular player, forcing the hand of another franchise to jump at the chance to get them instead.
It’s what makes the NFL Draft a spectacle.
