The Pittsburgh Steelers spent the majority of their offseason getting linked to legendary quarterback Aaron Rodgers in free agency. Sure enough, they finally managed to sign him to a new deal last week, agreeing to terms on a one-year, $13.65 million deal that will make him their starting quarterback for at least the 2025 season.
While Rodgers appears to be a temporary stopgap at the quarterback position, Pittsburgh still needs to work on finding their quarterback of the future. With that in mind, could the team potentially explore a trade with the Cleveland Browns that would see them acquire a quarterback they just passed on several times during the 2025 NFL draft? Let’s take a closer look at this trade pitch that would bring Shedeur Sanders to town.
Steelers’ Shedeur Sanders Trade Pitch
Steelers receive: Shedeur Sanders
Browns receive: 2026 third-round pick
Sanders entered the 2025 draft with expectations of being a first-round pick. Instead, he fell all the way to the fifth round, where the Browns eventually traded up to select him with the No. 144 pick. Sanders finds himself in a quarterback room consisting of Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, who was selected by the team in the third round of the draft.
With Watson re-rupturing his Achilles back in January, Cleveland’s starting quarterback job is wide open. Sanders has reportedly impressed Browns coaches early on, and he appears to have as good of a shot as everyone else at becoming the Week 1 starter. However, it’s worth noting that there’s a bit of a logjam at the position.
Given that they selected Gabriel before Sanders, it’s clear that Cleveland believes more in the former Oregon Ducks passer to become their quarterback of the future. That could lead them to capitalize off of the positive buzz surrounding Sanders and attempt to move him to a team like the Steelers that has a weaker quarterback depth chart.
Behind Rodgers, Pittsburgh has Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, and Skylar Thompson. The problem is that if Rodgers gets injured or regresses, the Steelers don’t really have anywhere to turn, which could make them a landing spot for Sanders in a potential trade, even though they passed on him just over a month ago in the draft. The Browns would happily take a 2026 third-round pick in exchange for Sanders considering they just used a fifth rounder on him in April.
Would Steelers, Browns Be Interested in This Shedeur Sanders Trade?
The concept of Cleveland trading Sanders is admittedly a bit far-fetched since they only drafted him back in April. However, if they get a third-round pick like Pittsburgh is tentatively offering here, why wouldn’t they accept this trade? They have another rookie in Gabriel at their disposal, and they would essentially be flipping a fifth-round pick for a third-round pick.
On the other side of things, the deal makes less sense for the Steelers. They had every opportunity to draft Sanders, but they didn’t, as they instead waited until the sixth round to select Howard. Sanders is a first-round talent in some evaluator’s eyes, which could make giving up a third-round pick for him a steal, but with Rodgers on board, there isn’t an immediate need for Sanders, which makes this deal unlikely to happen.
