There’s a widely held and much-discussed national (read: New York City area) narrative surrounding the draft-day trade between the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. But if the Patriots swapped first-round picks for the sake of sticking it to their rivals, they apparently did so on something of an educated leap of faith.
Steelers general manager Omar Khan said during a radio appearance Wednesday morning that in engineering the trade of a fourth-round pick and selection No. 17 to New England for the 14th pick, he did not inform Patriots management of his intentions for how he would use it.
The Steelers jumped over the New York Jets — New England’s longtime AFC East rivals — who were picking 15th. It widely was reported the Jets needed an offensive tackle and had interest in Georgia’s Broderick Jones.
The Steelers, of course, took Jones. Reports out of New York suggest this upended the Jets’ plans. The Patriots, after the pick, subtly seemed to take satisfaction in that.
But Khan said that when negotiating the trade, he made no guarantees.
“We did not relay, we did not tell them who we were planning on picking,” Khan said on 102.5 FM. “It was just one of those things where we all study what the needs are of the teams around us. But, no, we did not say, ‘Hey, we want to make this trade and we want to take, you know, Player X.’ ”
Now up on #BreakfastWithBenz--For the #Steelers, the pick of Broderick Jones was great. https://t.co/pZ0AEL5zBq The trade to get him was even better. @TribLIVE @TribSports
— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) April 28, 2023
The Patriots and Bill Belichick are nothing if not calculated. And while if it’s true Khan gave them no assurances, as Khan suggested they also surely were aware the Steelers were after a tackle. And seemingly everyone knew the Jets wanted a tackle in the wake of acquiring Aaron Rodgers.
The Jets have been grilled for letting their guy get away — by way of their hated rivals, no less. But according to Khan, if New England did it for the sole purpose of foiling the Jets they did it based on assumptions.
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New York ended up with Iowa State edge defender Will McDonald.
The Patriots, by all indications, did well for themselves in the first round, grabbing Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez. Gonzalez was considered a top-10-worthy pick, a player New England probably would have been more than happy with at No. 14. So, they got their guy and picked up an extra fourth-rounder in the process.
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