3 trade-down scenarios for 49ers in Round 1 of 2020 NFL Draft

No. 3: 49ers Take Advantage of Steelers’ Desperation

Unlike the Bears, the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t need competition for their likely 2020 starter under center, Ben Roethlisberger. They need to find a long-term replacement, sooner than later.

And if 2019 was any suggestion, neither Mason Rudolph nor Devlin Hodges will be the answer.

But like the Bears, the Steelers don’t have a first-round NFL Draft pick. Pittsburgh is also hurting on the draft front, too, having dealt away a first rounder to the Miami Dolphins for defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick, then having dished off a Round 3 selection to the Denver Broncos to grab linebacker Devin Bush.

So, would the Steelers move up again, albeit from a lower stockpile?

Pittsburgh does own a Round 2 selection, No. 49 overall. And they’ll likely get possibly a third-round compensatory pick from losing running back Le’Veon Bell in free agency last year, although that’ll be determined at a later date and time.

Adding up the approximate trade value of those two day-two picks (assigning 40 points to the predicted comp pick in Round 3), the Steelers would be 160 points short of the 600-point total value of the 49ers’ Round 1 selection.

How would San Francisco take advantage for this? Well, simply by asking for the Steelers’ own Round 3 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Meanwhile, the Steelers find yet another hopeful long-term solution for Roethlisberger’s eventual retirement, no longer having to worry about Rudolph and/or Hodges being a less-than-desirable replacement.