With Steelers candidates to deal on draft day, ex-NFL executives discuss strategies

Next week’s NFL draft is unlike any other over the past century for the Pittsburgh Steelers — and not just because of its virtual nature. After trading away their first- and third-round picks in separate deals for Devin Bush and Minkah Fitzpatrick, the Steelers own just one pick over the first 101 selections.

One school of thought is that this makes them more likely to trade up with that sole early-round pick (49^th overall). Another suggests general manager Kevin Colbert might look to trade down to accumulate an extra pick or two.

Either strategy is fraught with risks and rewards. A pair of former NFL general managers weighed in on the best ways to trade up or down during a draft.

To former Tampa Bay Buccaneers executive Mark Dominik, the primary lesson for moving up was targeting a specific player you want — and be willing to stick to the value associated with how much you want him.

“I am a big proponent of (trading up),” Dominik said as part of a conference call with media organized by SiriusXM NFL Radio. “But I think you have to stick to your guns and be consistent with how you do it. And for me, there are always ways to try to maneuver later in this draft to try to recoup the difference (of what was lost).”

Dominik talked about during his tenure with Tampa Bay once targeting a player in the late first round, and offering his high-second round pick and a fourth rounder to get him.

After a few teams declined his offer, the famed “draft chart” that assigns numerical value to all picks told Dominik that, now, the cost for moving from the high second-round pick to the current on-the-clock slot had dropped to a fifth-round pick.

“But I didn’t change my offer from the 2 and the 4,” said Dominik, who works for SiriusXM, “because I had been OK with what I was going to give up to make sure that I got a player that I coveted and I didn’t want to start to get clever and say, ‘Now it’s worth a 2 and a 5 so now I will ask for a 2 and a 5.’

“I was willing to give up the 4. And even though by the point chart I was maybe being a little too aggressive, I wanted the player — and I think if you have that kind of conviction towards a player, I think it’s hard to ever feel like you are going to lose in a deal — even though you may be, quote-unquote giving up a little more value for the player than what the point chart would suggest.”

The Steelers, in theory, might sit out the first round but during the 20-hour intermission before the start of Round 2 might target a player or two still on the board. Perhaps if that player falls, say, into the mid-30s, Colbert and coach Mike Tomlin could follow that philosophy in moving up from No. 49.

Conversely, maybe when they end up on the clock in the second round late next Friday night, no one stands out to enthrall them. Then, perhaps, the Steelers go for quantity over quality as a means for replenishing their capital during a draft in which they have only six picks.

Longtime Dallas Cowboys general manager Gil Brandt’s advice for that tact involves making sure that in looking at the next tier of players on your board, its numbers don’t run longer than the number of picks you are moving down.

“For trading down 10 spots, which one of these 10 players is going to be there when I make my pick?” said Brandt on the SiriusXM call. “And you if are pleased with those, I think then you trade down if you believe you are going to get a player that within the same capsule, so to speak.

“You don’t want to do trade down, and then jump down (in quality of player netted).”

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