Two former Badgers DL considered to be worth 1st round pick in trade value
· Yahoo Sports
We’ve seen a ton of blockbuster trades in the NFL in recent years, including this offseason, where several first-round picks were shipped out for star players. Those trades included Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie, A.J. Brown, and Dexter Lawrence over the last few months.
Trades for superstars have remained prevalent in the NFL, with major moves happening both at the trade deadline and in the offseason. That led ESPN’s Bill Barnwell to create his NFL trade value guide and assess which players in the NFL would be worth at least one first round pick if they were to be traded.
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Unsurprisingly, some of the top quarterbacks in the NFL dominated the list. Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes were deemed to be worth seven first round picks, while several others were worth multiple as well.
But, there were a few former Wisconsin Badgers who were among the group worth at least one first round pick: Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Keeanu Benton and edge rusher Nick Herbig.
Benton, a second-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, had the best year of his career in 2025, recording 51 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. According to PFF, Benton recorded 33 pressures last season, the most of his career, while having 33 stops as well, which was third on the Steelers to only Cameron Heyward (43) and Patrick Queen (34). He’s become one of the key players on that Steelers defense, while being extremely durable throughout his career.
Playing a premium position, it’s no surprise he’s worth a first-round pick in perceived trade value.
Herbig, on the other hand, just landed a major four-year, $100 million extension this offseason after a big 2025 campaign where he had 30 tackles, 7.5 sacks, and three forced fumbles. Herbig played 60 percent of the defensive snaps this season, a career high, and was extremely effective as a pass rusher.
He had 48 pressures and a team-high 17.1 percent pass-rush win rate, according to PFF, which jumped to 22.4 percent in true passing sets. He was Pittsburgh’s highest-graded defender by PFF in 2025.
Now, a third former Badger, T.J. Watt, was a part of the “Missing Out” group.
“Watt’s a future Hall of Famer, but after a 19-sack season in 2023, he has 18.5 sacks over the past two seasons combined,” Barnwell wrote. “As an extremely expensive player who turns 32 in October, Watt would only make sense for a handful of teams that see him as the last piece of a Super Bowl puzzle.
“Remember that the Broncos only got second- and third-round picks for Von Miller when they dealt their legendary edge rusher to the Rams, and that was with Denver paying down the rest of Miller’s salary in the process.”
Watt will be 32 in 2026 and is coming off a year where he had 55 tackles, seven sacks, and three forced fumbles. The pass rusher did have 49 pressures this season, but was not nearly as effective as in year’s past, recording a pass-rush win rate of 12.4 percent.
With his contract exceeding $40 million annually, it makes sense that he likely wouldn’t fetch a first-round pick in return, given his age.