{"id":848954,"date":"2026-04-02T09:59:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/848954\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T09:59:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:59:28","slug":"armed-with-a-dozen-draft-picks-omar-khan-not-opposed-to-trading-down-for-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/848954\/","title":{"rendered":"Armed With A Dozen Draft Picks, Omar Khan ‘Not Opposed’ To Trading Down For More"},"content":{"rendered":"

On paper, it seems unlikely the Pittsburgh Steelers will make a dozen draft picks come this month\u2019s NFL Draft. A haul unusual for any team and especially for the Steelers, conventional wisdom says trade some of those picks to be aggressive and move up in the draft. Omar Khan might do that. However, he\u2019s also open to trading down to collect even more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to have [12 picks],\u201d Khan told Steelers analyst Max Starks in a video shared on the team\u2019s YouTube channel Wednesday.<\/a> \u201d There\u2019s some good players in this draft, guys that can help us early and later in the draft.\u00a0 There\u2019s opportunities to move up, obviously, if there\u2019s a player we like.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not opposed to moving back if the opportunity\u2019s there and getting more picks. That\u2019s how good I feel about the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be sure, Khan mentions a trade-up scenario. One he\u2019s done before. In 2023, he climbed three spots to jump the New York Jets and select Georgia OT Broderick Jones. It\u2019s possible he makes a similar and potentially even more aggressive move this year. One beat writer guarantees the team<\/a> won\u2019t make all three of its current third-round selections. Packaging one of those with No. 53 to move up high into the second round is a plausible scenario. As is Pittsburgh dealing multiple third-rounders to get back into the second round and make a pair of selections at No. 53 and the trade spot.<\/p>\n

But Khan is leaving open the idea of moving down. He could trade for more 2026 capital, expressing, as he often does, how good the draft class is. Pittsburgh making more than 12 selections is difficult to imagine, with several selections unlikely to make the 53-man roster. But it would offer a rare chance to infuse youth into the roster and stockpile early-round picks. A move similar to the Seattle Seahawks\u2019 recent classes. In 2023, Seattle made four picks in the top-52. That group, which included CB Devon Witherspoon and WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, comprised critical components of 2025\u2019s Super Bowl run.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also possible the Steelers trade for 2027 capital. However, most teams, especially quarterback-needy ones, will hold onto those selections for what could be a great \u201927 class.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr we end up with 12 picks. Happy to have \u2019em,\u201d Khan said.<\/p>\n

In a roundabout way, Omar Khan is keeping all options on the table. Trading up wouldn\u2019t be a surprise. It\u2019s now an expectation. Standing pat with all 12 isn\u2019t likely, but the Steelers may want to take advantage of the chance to turn an old roster into a young one. And Khan is keeping the door open to trade down, which, in turn, could give him even greater flexibility to trade up later.<\/p>\n

When it comes to trading during the draft, plans only mean so much. Once the picks start being made, the board changes, and trade offers are exchanged, it\u2019s impossible, even for general managers, to know exactly how it\u2019ll all shake out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On paper, it seems unlikely the Pittsburgh Steelers will make a dozen draft picks come this month\u2019s NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,24573,6,1256,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-848954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-max-starks","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-omar-khan","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116334530614415898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}