The Steelers own 10 picks in this year’s draft after dealing wide receiver Antonio Brown and tackle Marcus Gilbert this offseason and some might wonder if that will make them likelier to package some picks in order to move up the board for a player they covet in April.
General Manager Kevin Colbert fielded that question during a Sunday session with reporters from the league meetings and predictably did not rule out anything with the draft a month away. He also pointed out trades to move up in the first round that netted safety Troy Polamalu and wide receiver Santonio Holmes as signs of the Steelers’ willingness to pull the trigger when the moment suits them.
Colbert also provided the flip side of that by pointing out that a late pick thrown into a package could turn out to be a player as valuable as Brown.
“Anytime you’re talking about trading draft picks, I never just use, it’s a three and a six, because that six might be Antonio Brown,” Colbert said, via the team’s website. “You say, just throw in a seventh. Well, that seventh might have been Brett Keisel. So you never just want to say, it’s a pick. You try to associate a player you could get with those picks. And you go back in history and look at what you got with certain picks, but then you also project who you might be turning away from in a given draft.”
The Steelers have two picks in the third round and three in the sixth along with one selection in each of the other five rounds.