Steelers really, really wanted DeCastro

[LLT]

Steelers really, really wanted DeCastro
May, 8, 2012
By Jamison Hensley
ESPN.com

Steelers Had Planned To Trade Up For Stanford Guard:

It's not a newsflash that the Pittsburgh Steelers wanted David DeCastro. Pittsburgh selected the Stanford guard with the 24th overall pick, taking him over Alabama inside linebacker Dont'a Hightower.

But how much the Steelers coveted DeCastro will probably surprise you. According to NFL Network, the Steelers had a draft-day trade in place with the New York Jets to move up to No. 16, one spot ahead of the Bengals, and take DeCastro.

The Jets were reportedly willing to fall back to the Steelers' spot at No. 24 to get pass-rushing defensive linemen Bruce Irvin or Quinton Coples. Once the Seahawks surprisingly chose Irvin at No. 15, the Jets backed out of the trade with the Steelers and drafted Coples, NFL Network reported.

On April 26, the night of the first round, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert was asked if the team had attempted to trade up for DeCastro after selecting him. "I’ll leave that to the imagination," Colbert said last month. "I’ll just say again, we identified several guys that we thought we would entertain trading up to get, and this kid was one of them."

Read More: http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/po...anted-decastro

[steelerdude15]

And just to think, the Seahawks could have screwed this all up....

[ShutDown24]

It's amazing things worked out the way they did.

[86WARD]

So did I...so did I!

[suitanim]

And just to think, the Seahawks could have screwed this all up....

Amazingly, the Squaks and the Jets were both in a race to reach for a second round pick with massive off-field issues and giant character flaws. Thanks, Seasquaks, for once again being dumbasses!

[steelreserve]

Amazingly, the Squaks and the Jets were both in a race to reach for a second round pick with massive off-field issues and giant character flaws. Thanks, Seasquaks, for once again being dumbasses!

You know they only did it because the Stealers payed da refs.

[7willBheaven]

If they did trade who knows what they would give up and what players they could have lost out on (Adams, Ta'amu, etc). Glad they didnt have to trade up!

[Pristas]

If they did trade who knows what they would give up and what players they could have lost out on (Adams, Ta'amu, etc). Glad they didnt have to trade up!

I think that would have cost them the trade in position plus number 4 and 5. No Rainey and no Ta'amu, unless they packaged another trade later in the draft... of course then we would have looked like the patriots.

[steelreserve]

According to the draft point-value chart, moving from 24th to 16th would've taken at least a third-rounder. Maybe a second, or maybe a third and next year's third or something like that. We still would've been able to get Taamu, but probably would've had to give up somebody else good. Suffice to say I'm glad other teams decided to help us out.

http://walterfootball.com/draftchart.php

[GBMelBlount]

It's amazing things worked out the way they did.

Absolutely. I have never been nearly as pleased as I am with our draft this year.

Absolute A's in both need and value.....and then picking a solid ILB in the third and STILL getting Taamu in the 4th...brilliant.

[Godfather]

Why didn't the Jets go ahead with the trade? That would have given them more time to figure out what they wanted to do, and they could have traded back a second time if necessary...or used the extra pick to trade back up and get a player.

[Chidi29]

Why didn't the Jets go ahead with the trade? That would have given them more time to figure out what they wanted to do, and they could have traded back a second time if necessary...or used the extra pick to trade back up and get a player.

Coples could have been BPA for them. Given the upside, it wouldn't surprise me and they probably didn't expect him to last to 24.