3 trade candidates Steelers could ship away before the NFL trade deadline
The Steelers are rarely active in trades during the season, but here are three players that I think would cause the Steelers to be sellers at the deadline.
When you think about the past Steelers trades there isn’t much to see. The Minkah Fitzpatrick and 2019 draft-day trade-up with the Denver Broncos are the most recent splashes the Steelers have made in the trade game. But as history shows the Steelers do more smaller trades than big trades.
The most recent example is the addition of CB Ahkello Witherspoon from Seattle in exchange for a 2023 5th-round draft pick. The trade candidates below will help the Steelers gain more draft capital and hopefully propel their rebuild with those draft picks.
QB Josh Dobbs
Josh Dobbs has been the odd man out since Mason Rudolph was drafted. Dobbs is still the third QB on the depth chart and was even traded to Jacksonville because of that. Now that Dwayne Haskins is here and Mason Rudolph is valued as a first-round pick by the organization, Dobbs could realistically be traded for the second time by the Steelers.
When Josh Dobbs has played he has shown up. The most recent example is the week 17 game against Cleveland where Mason and he were splitting snaps and Josh was running the football. Dobbs is also a mobile quarterback and that seems to be the direction the NFL is heading in.
Dobbs could be traded to a team that either wants a potential new starting quarterback or a team that wants depth. He could be headed back to Jacksonville or maybe even Detriot if you think about teams with little depth at the position. He can also surprise you through the air. He doesn’t have much-passing stats but the throws he made against the Raiders in 2018 were good and he helped keep the game close while Ben was out for a few plays.
Dobbs will probably not get a chance to be more than a backup on the Steelers because the team already has a plan behind Ben Roethlisberger, so Josh might be off the Steelers books once more.