Steelers GM Kevin Colbert talks about the Steelers draft

Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert appeared on the NFL radio broadcast on Sirius XM radio earlier this week.

On Moving the Chains hosted by Jim Miller and Pat Kirwin, Colbert dissected Pittsburgh’s draft; he touched upon the Steelers’ strategy as to why they did not make any trades to go up in the draft and what they liked about the players they drafted this year.

Some thought perhaps Pittsburgh should have traded up to try to get specific players. They could have traded for Atlanta’s early 2nd round selection or perhaps made a trade with someone else. The Steelers did not do that. It’s not entirely surprising; it felt like that was the attitude they had heading into the draft.

According to Colbert, they had nine selections headed into the 2021 draft. They had an extra 4th round selection and an extra 7th round selection. As Colbert explained with the salary cap issues and the decisions they had to make there, it made more sense for the Steelers to get as many selections as they could since they were available instead of trading any away in lieu of one slightly higher ranking selection.

With their nine choices, they managed to address several needs.  They got one running back, one tight end, two offensive linemen, two linebackers, a defensive end, a safety, and a punter. Now whether these picks solve all of Pittsburgh’s problems remains to be seen. From the Steelers’ perspective, they have high hopes for their 2021 draft class.  From here, Kevin Colbert went on to explain why the Steelers made some of the selections they did.