NFL Exec Sounds Off on ‘Bad’ Steelers Trade

Getty Mike Tomlin coaches from the sideline.

The build-up has been incredible for the first Pittsburgh Steelers draft in 22 years sans general manager Kevin Colbert. His successor, Omar Khan, showed that he isn’t your grandpa’s general manager when, at the 2022 trade deadline, he jettisoned wide receiver Chase Claypool to the Chicago Bears in exchange for their second-round pick in 2023.

As we now know, that pick turned into the first of that round after Chicago finished with the worst record in the league (3-14). A string of 10 consecutive losses led them there, leaving Pittsburgh with the cream of the draft crop on day two, April 28.

The Bears will never admit it, but they’ve got to be kicking themselves every day for offering such a rich pick. It will haunt them for years to come unless Claypool miraculously turns his career around — something he’s failed to do since his freshman season.

Nearly six months later, Claypool continues to ruffle some feathers in the Windy City, with one NFL executive ripping the trade. “If I’m a Bears fan, I’m still really pissed that we lost the 32nd pick in the draft for Chase Claypool,” he told The Athletic. “How bad does that move look now that you had to include D.J. Moore in the No. 1 pick trade?”

Struggling with injuries and getting on the same page as Justin Fields, who was dealing with injuries of his own, Claypool’s first half-season in Chicago was underwhelming. He appeared in seven games with three starts registering 14 receptions on 29 targets for 140 yards and no scores.

Being the worst team in all of football also gets you the pick of all picks — first overall — the Bears used that precious top pick to gain more draft capital. They sent No. 1 to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for No. 9 overall and No. 61 (second round) in 2023, along with a first-round in 2024 and second in 2025.

To sweeten the pot, Carolina threw in wide receiver D.J. Moore, which makes the trade for Claypool all the more questionable. Certainly trading a second-round pick, a team would expect that player to be one of the team’s best — yet they were still compelled to get another pass-catcher.

Claypool, once and prematurely dubbed “Mapletron” (a play off Hall of Fame receiver Calvin Johnson’s Megatron), spent two-and-a-half seasons in the Black & Gold finishing with 2,044 yards and 14 touchdowns. His most productive season came as a rookie, with 873 yards and 11 total touchdowns. Whether it was Matt Canada’s abysmal playcalling or a flash-in-the-pan season, the former 49th overall draft pick hasn’t been the same since.

History of Steelers’ No. 32 NFL Draft Picks

The history of the Pittsburgh Steelers as 32nd in the pecking order isn’t very long. Since the 1999 NFL expansion, adding the Houston Texans to the pack, the team naturally picking 32nd was the Super Bowl champs. Since the NFL draft’s inception in 1939, Pittsburgh has only picked 32nd three times: Defensive lineman Evander “Ziggy” Hood (2009), guard Billy Krisher (1958) and defensive back Ernie Wheeler (1939).

The speculation for the Steelers’ first-round pick ends tonight (April 27, 2003). We might even know what they’ll do with pick 32 by the time day one wraps — if they trade that pick to get a second player in the first. You never really know what’ll happen. All the mock drafts in the world won’t matter once the real clock starts for the Panthers.