The Jig Is Up: Steelers Offseason, Vol. 14, NFL Draft Eve

Recently I was thinking about my time writing about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Throughout my career doing so, I’ve essentially done it all.

Commentary, news, breaking stories, features and even took a stab at simple film room breakdowns.

The one thing I’ve never done is work on just a random thought type format.

I can’t speak for you, the reader, but I am always thinking about writing and the Steelers. Thinking about different aspects of the team and game. Thanks to reading Myron Cope’s biography I decided to put a unique spin on this type of feature.

Now, for the name of the article, anyone who is familiar with the Styx song “Renegade” should know where it came from. If not, this is where it came from…

The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Nevermore to go astray
This’ll be the end today of the wanted man

The jig is up…time for some randomness.

T-Minus 6 Days…

It is hard to believe, but the 2025 NFL Draft is just six days away, and I always ask myself at this juncture of the offseason, “Am I ready?”

That’s difficult to answer for me, as someone who doesn’t closely follow college football. For some, they are so in-tuned with the prospects entering the draft, the offseason stuff like all-star games and workouts numbers just validate their previous thoughts. For me, I’m just learning the majority of these players, and I’m cramming like I have a final in six days.

Don’t worry, I’ll be ready…

A-Rod Breaks His Silence

For those who don’t live under a rock, Aaron Rodgers broke his offseason silence Thursday with his appearance on the Pat McAfee show. If you were waiting for Rodgers to break news on the program, you were wrong. More on that later. But Rodgers did give some insight into some of the things he’s thinking about during the offseason.

He spoke about having to get some personal things in order before deciding if it he wants to play in 2025, how it isn’t about the money, in fact he said he’s play for $10 million dollars this season, and how he isn’t trying to hold any team hostage.

Ultimately, the Steelers seem determined to let Rodgers come to a conclusion on his own timeline.

“I don’t have sources and I speak for myself..

I just laid out where I’m at and there’s nothing else to report” ~ @AaronRodgers12 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/8pG58g4bDq

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 17, 2025

Did you think Rodgers would break the news on McAfee??

I’ll be honest, when I was turning on the Pat McAfee show to watch Aaron Rodgers segment, I had a “fan boy” moment for a bit. I thought there was a chance he would break some news on the show. Then I actually thought about it for a second and realized there was no chance the Steelers were going to be okay with him doing that.

If he chose another team, maybe, but the Steelers? I don’t think so.

The Steelers are going to want to do this the right way, and by that I mean they break the news, they have him come to the facility for photos, he meets the Pittsburgh media, and then, only then, does he go on another show to talk about it. Once I thought about it that way, I knew he wasn’t going to break any real news on the show, and I was right in my line of thinking.

Hello Swannie!

Every year at the NFL Draft the league puts legends on stage to announce a team’s pick. Some teams get multiple players, while others just have one. For the Steelers, they would fall into the latter category.

To announce the Steelers 1st Round pick, it will be former wide receiver, and Hall of Famer, Lynn Swann announcing the Steelers 1st Round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Check out the full list below:

A look at the former and active players now scheduled to announce their teams’ picks next Friday night for rounds 2 and 3 of the NFL draft: pic.twitter.com/HpMkPz5mPY

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 17, 2025

Give credit where it’s due

When Rodgers was on the McAfee show, he talked about how he was trying to go to Pittsburgh and be as low-key as possible. He flew into a different airport, rented a chevy Malibu, and was even escorted into the facility in the back door.

Rodgers did say he heard there was one photographer who was able to snap a photo or two of him, and you have to give credit where it’s due. Ed Thompson of SteelersNow was the man with the photos…so shout out to Ed for his incredible sleuthing on that day in Pittsburgh!

OK #SteelersNation, it’s time to play “You Be The Judge”. I spent the day waiting for @AaronRodgers12 to come out the front door of the #Steelers facilty for @PghSteelersNow which he never did. While waiting, I caught a vehicle coming from the dead end portion of South Water… pic.twitter.com/iAv9MAASHa

— Ed Thompson (@ThompsonFoto12) March 22, 2025

About 2026…

The city of Pittsburgh will host the 2026 NFL Draft, and many people have wondered exactly how the city will hold all those people. How many people are we talking about? Green Bay, who hosts the 2025 draft, is expected to host 250k to 300k people next weekend.

It’s estimated that 250,000 to 300,000 people will attend the draft next week. https://t.co/xEGmkMkkBs

— KDKA (@KDKA) April 17, 2025

Where exactly will the stage be? Where will all the people be? I’m sure those discussions are happening as we speak, but anyone who has been to Pittsburgh and the North Shore are knows there isn’t a ton of room. This will be interesting, to say the least.

The who, and when, at Quarterback

I plan on expounding on this in a separate article, but we talked about when we feel comfortable with the Steelers taking a quarterback in the upcoming draft, and also who we would be okay with them taking in that Round.

Here is a brief synopsis of the who, and when, in regards to what I would like to see at the quarterback position for the Steelers:

• Round 1: None
• Round 2: Tyler Shough
• Round 3: Will Howard/Jalen Milroe/Jaxson Dart
• Round 4: Kyle McCord
• Round 5: Quinn Ewers
• Round 6-7: All others

As I said earlier, I’ll expound on this in a separate article, but let me know what you think about this question in the comments!

Player Spotlight

I wanted to start doing a spotlight segment every week during the offseason of a lesser known player who donned the black-and-gold for a time.

This week’s player: Jerame Tuman

Tuman was selected with the third pick of the fifth round of the 1999 NFL Draft out of Michigan. He spent from 1999-2008 with the Steelers as a second tight end and special teams player. During his time with the Steelers he racked up 46 catches for 541 yards and 7 touchdowns.

After he was released by the Steelers in 2008, he was signed by the Arizona Cardinals, who now had Ken Whisenhunt as their head coach, and stayed there for just three games before he was released and his NFL career ended.

Tuman was a very accomplished player at every level. He was a member of the Steelers Super Bowl XL team, won a national championship at Michigan, was an All-American in 1999 and was a 3-time 1st Team Big Ten player.

Check out the latest “Let’s Ride” podcast in the player below:

That does it…the jig is up, they’ve finally found me. This renegade is outta here…be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the rest of free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft.