The Pittsburgh Steelers lost out on a potential fifth-round compensatory draft pick by starting Joe Haeg at left tackle against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18.
The Steelers signed Haeg to a two-year free agent contract this offseason, which qualifies him as part of the compensatory draft pick formula as long as he plays at least 25% of the team’s snaps in his first season.
The Steelers played 1,173 snaps in 2022, and Haeg was on the field for 307 of them, for 26.17% of the team’s snaps. He started against the Ravens due to an injury to usual left tackle Dan Moore Jr. Haeg also started one game at right tackle this season when Chukwuma Okorafor was in the concussion protocol.
Haeg’s addition to the formula will likely eliminate the Steelers from being able to glean compensation for the departure of Matt Feiler to the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Steelers have three countable departures on the ledger: Feiler, Bud Dupree and Mike Hilton. Haeg and Ahkello Witherspoon, who was signed as a countable free agent by the Seattle Seahawks before being traded to the Steelers, count against the team.
Team can only get one countable free agent for every excess departure, so even though Feiler and Hilton were graded as higher-rated departures than Haeg and Witherspoon were acquisitions, the team can only get one draft pick in compensation. That pick is projected to be a fourth-round pick, according to Dupree’s rating.