The Pittsburgh Steelers aren\u2019t expected to be active sellers anytime soon, but if they were, ESPN believes there are a handful of players who could fetch premium value in return. Bill Barnwell identified which players could fetch first-round picks from every team in the league, and the Steelers surprisingly had six on the list.<\/p>\n
According to Barnwell\u2019s estimation, here are the six most valuable Steelers on the trade market.<\/p>\n
\u2013 DT Keeanu Benton
\u2013 OT Troy Fautanu
\u2013 C Zach Frazier
\u2013 DT Derrick Harmon
\u2013 EDGE Nick Herbig
\u2013 CB Joey Porter Jr.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a heavy emphasis on trench players here, which is a direct reflection of where Pittsburgh\u2019s focus has been in the draft as of late.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Steelers are loaded with talented young linemen on both sides of the ball,\u201d Barnwell wrote via ESPN<\/a>. \u201cFautanu established himself as a very good right tackle in his first full season, and if he can hold up under the strain of a potential move to left tackle this year, he would be worth even more in a potential swap.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with Fautanu, Frazier is one good season away from being deemed arguably the best center in the NFL. With the way the center market is trending, he could probably fetch a first-round pick and then some. Derrick Harmon is on track to enter that category too, but is entering just his second season.<\/p>\n Herbig is an interesting conversation on this list. He certainly has potential to fetch first-round value at a premium position, but he just signed a massive contract which always plays into trade talks. His trade value would have been higher at this very moment had he not signed the extension yet. That being said, his deal could look like a bargain if he continues to make progress. He\u2019s one on the list who could be worth much more than just one first-round pick in the future if all goes according to plan.<\/p>\n Benton is easily the most controversial player to be included. While he\u2019s been solid for the Steelers, he hasn\u2019t quite put it all together entering Year 4. His pass-rush potential is evident, but he is extremely hot and cold as a run defefnder. With an expiring contract, there\u2019s no way somebody would give up a first-round pick to get him. To be fair to Benton, the Steelers have all but admitted they were playing him out of position at nose tackle<\/a>. Moving elsewhere could lead to a big 2026 season.<\/p>\n Porter is the lone skill-position player away from the line of scrimmage that Barnwell graded as first-round value on the trade market.<\/p>\n \u201cPorter has been excellent over his first three seasons, notably while allowing a 57.2 passer rating in coverage last season,\u201d Barnwell wrote. \u201cThe Steelers don\u2019t seem close to a new deal with their top cornerback, though, and as a second-round pick, Porter is only one year away from unrestricted free agency. Teams might want to wait and see if they can land Porter for free on the open market in 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n Right now, before any extension is signed, Porter could feasibly fetch a first-round pick. But if he gets a contract near the top of the market at $30 million per season, his trade value will drop. He will need to prove his top corner status with another strong season before his value rebounds to the first-round range.<\/p>\n Barnwell mentioned T.J. Watt and DK Metcalf on this list, but only to say he doesn\u2019t think they would return first-round value right now. With both coming off one of the weakest seasons of their respective careers and signed to contracts near the top of the market, I think he\u2019s spot on.<\/p>\n The Steelers stacked up well on this list overall. Only the Seahawks, Rams, Lions, Eagles, Cowboys, and Chiefs had more individual players that made Barnwell\u2019s cut. On the flipside, almost every team other than Pittsburgh had at least one player deemed worthy of multiple first-round picks.<\/p>\n More importantly, all of the players on Pittsburgh\u2019s list are either on rookie contracts or just past them. It\u2019s a testament to Omar Khan\u2019s recent success in the draft, and Pittsburgh\u2019s path toward a brighter future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers aren\u2019t expected to be active sellers anytime soon, but if they were, ESPN believes there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[21637,340,2870,12,7,7582,1500,6313,5226,12356,11462],"class_list":["post-947191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-bill-barnwell","tag-derrick-harmon","tag-dk-metcalf","tag-espn","tag-football","tag-joey-porter-jr","tag-keeanu-benton","tag-nick-herbig","tag-t-j-watt","tag-troy-fautanu","tag-zach-frazier"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116930398368335328","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947191","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=947191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}