This week the Pittsburgh Steelers had a very special visitor. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders can to down for a Top 30 visit ahead of the 2025 NFL draft and this has had a chain reaction among the NFL draft community. Every NFL draft pundit has now tried to find a way to squeeze Sanders in to the Steelers, no matter what.
The most aggressive attempt we've seen so far is from The Draft Network. In their newest seven-round mock draft they have the Steelers sending the No. 21 and No. 83 overall picks in the 2025 NFL draft as well as the team's first-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft to the New York Jets for their No. 7 overall pick.
No. Just no. While the cost to move up this far seems fair, there's no way the Steelers should do this for Sanders. If in five years, Sanders is a top five quarterback in the NFL, I'll eat my words but for now, this is a hill I'm willing to die on. If Sanders slides into the mid-teens, by all means make a small move up to get him but mortgaging the future isn't the move.
Here's how the remainder of the Steelers picks worked out.
Fourth round - RB Damien Martinez - Miami
Fifth round - DT Rylie Mills - Notre Dame
Sixth round - OT Ajani Cornelius - Oregon
Seventh round - CB Jermari Harris - Iowa
In this scenario, the Steelers threw the farm at Sanders and still didn't fill their most significant draft need on defense. Mills is not a run stopper on the inside and projects as a 3-4 defensive end in the NFL. Martinez is more of the same at running back for the Steelers and both Cornelius and Harris are developmental prospects.
The Steelers should have stayed put and opted for Jaxson Dart if they wanted to pick a quarterback and then opted for a player like Josh Farmer and Omar Norman-Lott to fill the void at defensive tackle.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: 2025 NFL draft: Steelers made huge trade up to pick QB Shedeur Sanders
