5 veterans the Steelers may trade and what they may get back

With the Steelers on their bye week and the trading deadline approaching, here are five veterans the team may deal and what they could get for them in a trade.

While calmer than most other sports trade deadlines, the NFL still can see some top talent depart midway through the year around this time. While never overly active, the Steelers should be players this season.

While a 3-3 record heading into their bye week looks ok on paper, this team is struggling on offense and feels like a long shot to be even in the playoff conversation. With that said, here are five players the Steelers could trade at the deadline and what they could realistically net the team.

What Steelers could get for Witherspoon

Projected compensation: 2023 7th round pick

One of the more curious moves this offseason, the Steelers sent the Seahawks a fifth-round pick late in the offseason to acquire Ahkello Witherspoon. Despite the fact that the Seahawks had signed him in the offseason, he appeared to have already fallen out of favor with the team. He hasn’t done much better so far in 2021, as he has only been active for two games and has played four defensive snaps, giving up a long touchdown on one of those snaps.

No, the Steelers aren’t going to get the value back that they invested in Witherspoon but dealing him does two things. For starters, it gets them some sort of guaranteed value back for the veteran. At this point, he will likely be playing for the minimum next year, so the odds that he qualifies for a compensatory pick seems unlikely.

As well, the Steelers essentially lost a fifth-round compensatory pick when they acquired him. Trading him doesn’t instantly get that projected pick back, but it would help in that process. With Witherspoon doing next to nothing on this roster, the team has to try and flip him at the deadline for whatever they can get. It would be for next to nothing, but at least the team could wash their hands of this mistake.