New trade scenario has Steelers sending big haul to Seahawks for a second first-round pick

Anything can happen in late April when the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to somehow use their 12 overall picks that they are projected to have in the 2026 NFL Draft. There are several different avenues general manager Omar Khan could take. The team may want to try to grab some capital for 2027, but there are other options, such as making an aggressive trade-up on night one. This will all depend on how everything is falling in terms of the board, but the franchise has not been afraid to take chances in recent years, specifically when certain opportunities pop up.

Pittsburgh did a nice job throughout the first wave of free agency in addressing a plethora of needs that the roster had. Now, Khan and Co. will have flexibility for the rest of the offseason. There are still questions at a couple of positions, but overall, the Steelers are in a very good spot, particularly because there is so much draft capital to work with.

There are teams with very few selections, but established rosters that don't need too much fine-tuning. The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks are among that group. While the franchise is only set to have four total selections in the 2026 NFL Draft, its first-rounder may not be as important because of the way the depth chart is set up. 

This led a fan to ask the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac what a deal would entail for the Steelers to offer Seattle extra draft capital for a second first-round pick. The reporter seems to believe that Seahawks general manager John Schneider would be looking for a pretty lucrative return for the 32nd overall pick in Round 1.

"Well, they would probably have to give up that 55th pick you reference for starters," Dulac wrote. "And at least one, if not two of the third-rounders."

Essentially, the insider thinks that the Steelers would have to part ways with their second-round selection and then give up one, or potentially two, of their third-round picks. Depending on the player, it might be worth the price for another rookie who will have a fifth-year option tied to his contract. Overall, it's not out of the realm of possibility because of how much Khan has to work with.

The Steelers and Seahawks are not strangers to one another. In 2025, the two teams made a blockbuster deal that sent DK Metcalf to Pittsburgh for the Steelers' 2025 second-round selection. General managers who get along with one another will always take each other's call, so it would be interesting to see if Khan did have interest in getting back into the first round when Seattle is on the clock.

Pittsburgh will be the host city for the draft, so it would be pretty exhilarating for the fan base if the team didn't just have one, but two first-round picks. At the very end of night one, Khan could make a massive move up the board to excite the home crowd just before the first round ending. Given the amount of capital at the Steelers' disposal and the organization's recent aggression, this can't be ruled out, and Dulac laid out a pretty realistic package for the pick.

Steelers will do whatever it takes to win sooner rather than later

Pittsburgh isn't going to rebuild. Ownership and the decision-makers seem to really believe that the team is a few solid additions away from competing for a Super Bowl championship. If there is a player available at the backend of Round 1 who really impressed the brass throughout the pre-draft process, then the large pool of selections that Khan has could absolutely be utilized. Time will tell, but something that Dulac didn't do was shut down the idea of it possibly happening.