As will be explained in an upcoming item (unless I forget to do it, which is entirely possible), the handwriting was written on the wall in permanent marker. The Steelers were trading receiver George Pickens.
So why didn’t they do it before or during the 2025 draft? It was a deep overall class, with plenty of receivers. The Steelers drafted not a single one. With an extra pick, they could have.
Common sense suggests that they tried, but that they couldn’t get what they wanted. Given the loose rule of thumb that a pick in the current year translates to a pick one round higher in the next, they might have only been able to get a fourth-round pick for Pickens before or during the 2025 draft.