{"id":236321,"date":"2026-07-06T00:14:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T00:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/236321\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T00:14:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T00:14:24","slug":"beat-writer-explains-why-one-of-pittsburghs-most-logical-internal-trade-candidates-wont-be-dealt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/236321\/","title":{"rendered":"Beat Writer Explains Why One Of Pittsburgh’s Most Logical Internal Trade Candidates Won’t Be Dealt"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the Pittsburgh Steelers opt to trade a player before the start of the regular season, the abundance of cornerback depth makes the position a logical choice. By process of elimination, Asante Samuel Jr. makes sense as a realistic candidate<\/a> if Pittsburgh wants to pick up a draft pick in the highly anticipated 2027 class. One team insider explained why that\u2019s unlikely to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing with him is he had that spinal fusion surgery, and I had heard that some were surprised that he was cleared at all to play football again,\u201d The Athletic\u2019s Mike DeFabo said about Samuel on his Yinziders podcast<\/a>. \u201cNot every team is going to clear Asante Samuel Jr. to play for them. The Steelers typically are more lenient. I don\u2019t know if the medical staff has more faith in itself. They also have a better understanding of it because the procedure was performed essentially by some of their doctors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [if you\u2019re] dealing him, that\u2019s a very complicating factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samuel received clearance to play in the middle of the 2025 season after surgery in April last year. While he says it\u2019s the best he has felt since entering the NFL, there were some concerns about whether the stability and longevity of his spine would withstand the rigorous NFL.<\/p>\n

Staff physician and neurosurgeon Dr. David Okonkwo performed the surgery, so Pittsburgh likely had more knowledge than any other team.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh has indeed been more lenient with high-risk players lately. Darnell Washington, Payton Wilson, and Cory Trice Jr. all had medical concerns, falling in the draft relative to their talent. Still, Pittsburgh was comfortable enough to draft them. That has mostly\u00a0worked out, though not perfectly.<\/p>\n

More teams would likely clear Samuel to play for them after he played 222 defensive snaps last season. But some medical staffs are risk-averse and could see things differently, especially with valuable draft capital on the line.<\/p>\n

This story also sheds some light on Samuel\u2019s injured teammate, Broderick Jones. Dr. Okonkwo performed Jones\u2019 spinal fusion surgery in December. Following Samuel\u2019s timeline, Jones should be ready by training camp. But there have already been reports of a setback<\/a>, and it\u2019s fair to wonder if he\u2019ll ever play again, especially at a physical position like offensive tackle.<\/p>\n

All it takes is one team in need of a corner to agree with Pittsburgh\u2019s medical staff, but this information certainly limits the number of potential trade partners on the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the Pittsburgh Steelers opt to trade a player before the start of the regular season, the abundance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[19975,44715,73,75,74,101800],"class_list":["post-236321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-asante-samuel-jr","tag-mike-defabo","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-the-yinziders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}