Steelers News: Draft, Brown, Ward

The Steelers players head into the offseason for recovery and the coaches head out to prepare for free agency and the draft.

Steelers season never truly ends for Steeler Nation so while the offseason starts to heat up we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Tuesday, Feb. 9^th.

Steelers on the clock

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Now that the confetti for the Super Bowl has been all cleaned up the NFL will switch gears towards their next big event. The 2016 NFL Draft will be held in Chicago on April 28-30.

Teresa Varley reminds us

that the Steelers have the 25

th

overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.

In addition to the 25^th overall pick the Steelers also have picks in the second, third and fourth round and two seventh round picks. Their fifth-round pick was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for cornerback Brandon Boykin. Their sixth-round pick was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for kicker Josh Scobee. Apparently they couldn’t get a refund on that last one.

There will be 31 selections in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft. The New England Patriots lost their pick because of Tom Brady’s balls. So there’s that.

As if there is any doubt

The ESPN NFL Nation writers for the AFC North have decided that Steelers receiver Antonio Brown was the AFC North offensive player of the year. The runner-up was Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert.

In twelve games with Ben Roethlisberger this season Brown averaged almost 10 receptions per game. He also averaged 133.3 yards and 0.83 touchdowns per game. The Denver Broncos “No Fly Zone” secondary defense featuring cornerback Chris Harris who just carried their team to a Super Bowl victory was carved up like a turkey by Roethlisberger and Brown in a Week 15 win.

First Ballot HOF’er?

The NFL is always looking around the corner to what is coming up next. The busts for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2016 aren’t even constructed yet but we’re already looking forward to who will be eligible next year.

Curt Popejoy of Steelers Wire debates whether former Steelers receiver and Super Bowl XL MVP Hines Ward is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. The Hall currently has a backlog at the receiver position.

Next: Is this the year to trade down in the draft?

Ward is in a group of only 13 receivers to have hit the 1,000-reception mark but after watching players with more career receptions than him wait to get in and watching Terrell Owens not get in on his first year of eligibility I’d have to think that Ward is unfortunately going to have to wait.