With the start of the 2025 NFL Draft now just a couple of days away, the Steelers are finalizing their plans to acquire some young talent for their roster.
And Steelers general manager Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin like what is available to them this year.
"(There are) a lot of good players, players that can help us," Khan said Tuesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "We have six picks. I don't know how realistic it is that we move up, but you never know about staying put or moving back, is probably a better, bigger option for us. But there are good players that can help us. And (I'm) really excited. A lot of work has gone into this, and I think we would probably say we're 95 percent of the way going through scenarios, just like everyone at home is doing our mocks, trying to figure out what the other 20 teams ahead of us are trying to do. But (I) feel good about it and excited."
The Steelers own six picks in the upcoming draft, which begins with the first round Thursday night, continues with rounds two and three on Friday and concludes with rounds four through seven on Saturday. The Steelers do not have a second-round pick, having traded it to Seattle along with a seventh-round selection in exchange for wide receiver DK Metcalf and a sixth-round pick.
That leaves them with their first-round selection (21st overall), a third-round pick (83), a fourth-round selection (123), a fifth-round pick (156), a sixth-rounder (185) and a seventh-round selection (229).
Much of the focus of the offseason has revolved around the Steelers perhaps acquiring a quarterback of the future in this draft, and the Steelers have done their homework on this quarterback class. Where the team might select a quarterback, however, remains up in the air.
The Steelers remain in contact with veteran free agent Aaron Rodgers, but as Khan noted, the team always takes four quarterbacks to training camp in July and currently has just two – veterans Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson – on the roster.
Tomlin said what happens in the draft and where the team might select a quarterback could affect the team's moves in acquiring a veteran starter, not just at that position, but others, as well.
"I think what you do in a draft oftentimes affects some talent acquisition that happens after," Tomlin said. "We'll see how the acquisition goes this weekend."
The Steelers have done their homework on the 2025 quarterback class, bringing four to Pittsburgh for pre-draft and attending the pro days of several others. Their 30 pre-draft visits also leaned heavily into the running back and defensive line positions, which accounted for more than half of the prospects they brought in.
"I think that's a credit to how deep maybe those positions are," said Khan. "And for us, it's important to get to get to know those guys as much as possible and really sort out how we would stack those guys and take those guys. But I think that's a reflection of how deep those positions are.
"It gives you options, knowing that there's good players you know at those positions. You know there's options at different points in the draft where you can acquire those guys."
While acknowledging that there is depth at quarterback, defensive line and running back in this draft – perhaps the team's biggest needs – both Khan and Tomlin also said that even though the team has some interest in trading back, it won't do so if there's a player still available the team has a strong desire to acquire.
"You never really want to trade away from a really good player that can help you and is 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. And it's just that's sort of how it's worked out. You know, a couple years ago, we traded up to get Broderick (Jones). He was the guy we wanted, and you know, now we're open to it."
But, without a second-round pick this year, moving up this year, as Khan mentioned, might not be a realistic endeavor.
"We're always open," Tomlin said. "But because we do our due diligence, oftentimes there's somebody available that we're really excited about. And so I think it remains the same this year. We're open to moving up. We're open to moving back. We've done our mocks about beyond 21 for such scenarios, but particularly in recent years, if my memory serves me correct, it's just always been people that we're really excited about when we're on the clock, and it's easy to get excited about prospects when you've done the work."
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast Pittonline@iheartmedia.com
It's been a long and sometimes grueling process to get to this point, with plenty of travel, meetings and watching of video. But it's now nearly complete.
And once the draft is over, the Steelers and the other 31 NFL teams will move onto the business of preparing to play in 2025.
"As we kind of bring our preparation to a close, I'm just really appreciative of the work that our scouting department, under the leadership of Omar and (assistant GM) Andy Weidl, the work that they do over the course of a 12-month calendar," Tomlin said. "We as coaches kind of get on the move and train, and are highly involved in information gathering and talent evaluation through the winter and spring. But man, we got a really good foundation in terms of our knowledge of this group.
"There's some challenges in today's information, gathering the number of transfers and so forth, getting background information is a little bit more challenging in today's climate and medical information as kids move around, and so I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the quality work, particularly the foundational work that our scouting department does over a 12-month calendar, and teeing all of this up for us."
