First Call: Odds for Steelers’ draft favorite; Bears may keep 9th pick for specific target; Joe Burrow contract news

In Wednesday’s“First Call,” the guessing games are underway when it comes to trade options for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett revisits a sticking point about his draft experience. A predictable option lands as the favorite for gamblers when it comes to the Steelers’ first pick this year.

And the Pirates get some more help from some friends in Detroit.

Bear market?

A lot of Steelers fans are clinging to hope that reports are true surrounding the Black and Gold attempting to trade up to get the ninth pick in the NFL Draft from the Chicago Bears.

Hey, trading Chase Claypool to the Bears for pick No. 32 looks pretty good right now. Why not try to maneuver up the draft board with that pick from Chicago again?

During a recent “Football Morning in America” post, Peter King suggested that Georgia’s Jalen Carter would be the target of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and GM Omar Khan. The defensive lineman is perceived by many to be the best pick on the board this year. But after a shoddy pro day and some off-field problems, his stock has slipped.

Should he fall all the way to No. 9, though, the Bears may not deal that pick and just select Carter themselves. At least that is how ProFootballTalk.com is framing the situation after some comments from assistant general manager Ian Cunningham during a Tuesday press conference.

“The more time you spend around him, the more you realize he’s a good player, but you get to know him more as a person,” Cunningham said via the Chicago Sun-Times. “I think Jalen’s a really good player. There’s no denying the talent. …He’s one of those players you covet just in terms of you know being one of the better defensive tackles in the class.”

Well, “covet” is a strong word. If Carter is gone and the Bears do trade the pick to the Steelers, Pittsburgh may be interested in Ohio State offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. as another option.

Odds on Peezy

However, if the Steelers do stay at No. 17, the gambling favorite to wind up in Pittsburgh is no surprise.

Bookies.com has Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. ranked as the most likely player to be drafted by the Steelers at plus-400. That’s a 20% implied probability. Porter is the son of former Steelers linebacker Joey Porter Sr.

Georgia offensive tackle Broderick Jones is next at plus-425, followed by Maryland cornerback Deonte Banks at plus-500. Jones would be my choice if he is available.

The website did include one Pitt Pather as part of the odds. They’ve got defensive lineman Calijah Kancey on the board at plus-900. He’s an excellent player but might be a tweener in the Steelers system.

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Pickett’s palm

A year ago, a major talking point heading into the draft was Kenny Pickett’s hand size. Many believed that Pickett’s small hands could’ve made him undraftable.

Despite a standout college career at Pitt, Pickett declined to have his hands measured at the Senior Bowl, and then his measurement at the Combine was the smallest of any quarterback there.

During a recent edition of “The Pivot” podcast, Pickett confirmed some stories that we heard last year, that he was doing exercises and even sleeping with a splint to make his hands as big as possible during the pre-draft process.

“I stretched them out a little bit,” Pickett said. “I was doing some exercises. I was 8½ (inches) at the Combine. I got them to 8⅝ at Pro Day. I was trying everything I could. I was sleeping in a splint to stretch my hands out.”

Ultimately, the Steelers ended up taking Pickett at pick No. 20. Thus far, his hand size hasn’t appeared to be a major issue. As he pointed out on the podcast, he did some of his best work late in the season throughout a two-minute drive against the Las Vegas Raiders during one of the coldest games in the history of Acrisure Stadium.

Burrow’s bucks

No surprise out of Cincinnati. The Bengals franchise announced that it has picked up the fifth-year option for quarterback Joe Burrow. Via ESPN.com, the NFL has a May 2 deadline in place for teams to exercise that option for first-round picks from the 2020 draft class.

In a tweet from the organization’s account, the Bengals went so far as to call the fifth-year option a “mechanical step along the way” toward a second contract, and it insisted that management “will continue to work with Joe and his representatives to secure his long-term future as a Bengal.”

We have exercised QB Joe Burrow’s fifth-year option for the 2024 season.

This is a mechanical step along the way and we will continue to work with Joe and his representatives to secure his long-term future as a Bengal.

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) April 25, 2023

OverTheCap.com projects that Burrow’s fifth-year option will come in at $29.5 million in fully guaranteed money for 2024. Burrow was the first pick of that 2020 NFL draft class and has led the Bengals to the AFC title game two years in a row.

Another assist

For the second day in a row, the Detroit Tigers helped out the Pirates. On Monday, it was when the Bucs were idle. On Tuesday, it was when the Pirates were losing 8-7 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But while that was happening, Detroit was taking a second straight game from the Brewers in Milwaukee. After a 4-2 win on Monday, the Tigers won 4-3 on Tuesday, courtesy of a three-run homer from Kerry Carpenter.

Special delivery from Kerry Carpenter to his boys in the bullpen. pic.twitter.com/A07klxdGJu

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) April 26, 2023

That was Carpenter’s fourth homer of the year. Detroit scored all four of its runs in the second inning. That would hold up thanks to five innings of baseball featuring just one run from the Tigers bullpen.

As a result, the Brewers fall to 15-9 and remain a game back of the Pirates for first place in the National League Central Division.