Steelers Won’t Get Compensatory Pick in 2025 NFL Draft

It’s been shaping up that way for quite some time, but now that the deadline for NFL free agent signings to count toward the compensatory draft pick formula has passed, it’s official: the Pittsburgh Steelers will not be getting a compensatory pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The NFL’s compensatory draft pick formula compares players lost to players gained in free agency, using contracts that are signed before April 30.

The Steelers lost just one player that qualifies for the formula: defensive tackle Armon Watts, who would have netted the team a seventh-round comp pick, according to Over the Cap’s usually prescient estimate. 

But the Steelers signed four countable free agents, including linebacker Patrick Queen, who carries a fourth-round grade, and punter Cameron Johnston, safety DeShon Elliott and running back Cordarrelle Patterson, who all carry seventh-round grades. So even if the Steelers had lost three other free agents this offseason, they may not have gotten a compensatory pick.

Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker Patrick Queen celebrates against the Pittsburgh Steelers during an NFL football game at Heinz Field, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021 in Pittsburgh. (Winslow Townson/AP Images for Panini)

The biggest reason for that is that the rest of the NFL has had a pretty lukewarm approach to the Steelers’ free agents this offseason.

Beside Watts, Mason Rudolph (Tennessee Titans), Miles Boykin (New York Giants), Levi Wallace (Denver Broncos), Mykal Walker and James Pierre (Washington Commanders) were the only other Steelers unrestricted free agents to sign with other teams before the end of the period. None of them signed a contract large enough to qualify.

A number of the team’s top UFAs remain unsigned, including outside linebacker Markus Golden, inside linebacker Kwon Alexander, and Chandon Sullivan, all of whom started games for the Steelers last season.

Furthermore, several former Steelers that have inked bigger contracts this offseason, like Chuks Okorafor and Mitch Trubisky, were released before their contracts expired, meaning they also do not quality for the formula.

The Steelers also did not have any compensatory picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. They last earned a compensatory pick in 2022, when they got a fourth-round pick after losing Bud Dupree, Matt Feiler and Mike Hilton in free agency.

The Steelers do have an extra fifth-round pick from the Kevin Dotson trade in 2025, will likely not have a sixth-round pick thanks to the Justin Fields trade, and have two extra seventh-round picks from the Kenny Pickett trade.

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