Scott Brown reports that they will receive not none, not one, but three seventh-round compensatory picks in the 2012 NFL Draft.
Steelers awarded three compensatory picks in seventh round. That gives them four seventh-round picks in this year’s draft.
The Steelers were expected to get considerably fewer picks than that, with Brown himself reporting that the Steelers would likely get one or none. Of course, you can hardly blame him, since the formula that determines how many compensatory picks teams get isn’t publicly available.
Anyway, these picks are for the departures of Matt Spaeth, Nick Eason and Keyaron Fox. William Gay recently signed with the Cardinals, but the Steelers won’t be compensated for that until next year.
Seventh-round picks certainly aren’t any big deal, of course — it’s hard to get useful players in that round. It is, however, possible, and it’s better to have them than not to, especially since Spaeth, Eason and Fox haven’t exactly been badly missed.
For more on the Steelers, check out Behind The Steel Curtain. For more on the NFL Draft, check out SB Nation Pittsburgh’s 2012 NFL Draft StoryStream.