The stories are coming out fast and furious about the Steelers officially calling teams at the top of the draft looking to move QB Ben Roethlisberger. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported today that Steelers would take a first-round pick of a team in the top 10 for their QB, but so far at least two teams have turned them down.
Those two teams are the St.Louis Rams, who of course have the first overall pick, and the Bufflao Bills, who could use a QB, but evidently have no interest in taking Roethlisberger off the Steelers hands.
The Steelers have reportedly contacted the Rams, 49ers, Raiders, Bills, Jaguars, Seahawks and Browns about Roethlisberger. The biggest shock on the list if Cleveland. One can only imagine what it would be like to see Roethlisberger wearing orange and brown trying to beat the Steelers twice a year.
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mark
April 21, 2010 at 3:14 pm
It sounds more and more like Ben is a goner! If the Steelers are actively seeking a trade,I imagine he will be somewhere else next season.
Tragic.
DrGeorge
April 21, 2010 at 3:15 pm
There is a basic rule of investing: don’t sell in a down market. The Steelers are trying to do just that by trading now. And by limiting their search to teams with a top 10 pick, the Steelers are apparently intent on picking up a possible franchise QB in 2010 (like Bradford or Clausen), a hard trade to make in the best of times and hardly a sure thing. This sounds to me more like window shopping rather than a serious interest in trading Ben.
If they really want to trade, the Steelers would be better advised to accept lower 1st round picks this year and next, in exchange for dumping Ben’s $65 million contract. They are not going to replace his talent through the draft in 2010 anyway. Better to use this year’s draft to rebuild the defense and O-line and find a franchise QB next year.
My guess is that the Steelers will abort the trade talks for now and keep Ben until someone comes begging for him after the draft, which they will. There is plenty of time to derive value from the trade, and when Ben returns, he will be playing to impress the other GMs around the NFL, which should redound to the Steelers benefit. There is no no need to do a fast deal before tomorrow’s draft. They might actually be able to work a better deal after the draft, as I’ve noted before.