The Steelers have identified their man, and they're doing everything they can to get him.
Club personnel men spent the past few days calling teams around the NFL, offering trades so they can move higher in the first round of the draft Saturday. The Steelers want a better chance to pick safety Troy Polamalu of Southern California, who might not be available if they stay at No. 27.
The Steelers also offered backup linebacker John Fiala in a separate trade to pick up another late-round draft choice.
How far they would have to move up and what they might have to spend to get there is unknown, but so far they have offered their No. 27 pick and their third-round choice to switch places with a team above them.
Several teams from around No. 20 down reportedly are interested in making trades to move down in the draft.
Kevin Colbert, the Steelers' director of football operations, said Monday that the team would call others this week to lay the groundwork for possible trades, either higher or lower in the draft. He made such trades in 2001, acquiring extra picks to move down three spots and draft Casey Hampton in the first round and then using one of those picks to move higher in the second round to draft Kendrell Bell.
Colbert has said in the past that offering a third-round choice can usually move a team up about four or five spots in the first round.
"We will contact every team like we do every year as to who is interested in going up, who is interested in going down, are there any players that you are trying to shop?" Colbert said. "It is general. We will touch base with every team."
Some mock drafts done by the media the past week had Polamalu available when the Steelers' turn arrived at No. 27; others had him gone.
New Orleans, which likely will lose safety Sammy Knight to free agency, last week acquired safety Tebucky Jones from New England in a trade. Saints Coach Jim Haslett reportedly would like to get another safety. New Orleans has consecutive picks in the first round at Nos. 17 and 18 and could take Polamalu with one of those.
Polamalu, a Samoan, is rated the top safety in the draft. He is 5 feet 10, 206 pounds and has the kind of speed and hitting ability the Steelers covet. He has been timed at 4.38 in the 40.
"I'm very passionate about what I do and I like to hit," Polamalu said. "A lot of football players lose their passion as they get older, but mine is growing."
He comes from a long line of great safeties at USC.
"Oh, yes," Polamalu said. "Ronnie Lott, Mark Carrier, Joey Browner, Dennis Smith, Dennis Thurman. Great ones ... it's an honor to play where they all played."
USC Coach Pete Carroll has said Polamalu is one of the best players he has seen.
"He's as good a safety as I've ever coached," Carroll has said. "He's a brilliant football player. He's just as effective as those NFL guys I've coached."
The Steelers made a bid to replace free agent Lee Flowers by offering Super Bowl MVP Dexter Jackson $12 million over five years, but he signed with Arizona for $14 million. They also have talked to Knight but will wait until after the draft before they decide whether to pursue him.
Starting free safety Brent Alexander returns as do backups Mike Logan and Chris Hope, who played mostly on special teams as a rookie. Logan is still recuperating from knee surgery. The Steelers need depth at the position, and they'd like to find a starter.
"We will address it with the draft or the other options that we have in the upcoming, subsequent weeks," Coach Bill Cowher said.
Fiala, a five-year veteran, is the Steelers' special teams captain. They signed him last year to a three-year, $3.2 million contract with a $575,000 signing bonus and gave him a chance to compete for departed Earl Holmes' job at inside linebacker. James Farrior, signed as a free agent last year, won that job, and Fiala eventually slipped behind rookie Larry Foote. His season ended Nov. 24 -- the day of his only start, against Cincinnati -- with a sprained knee, and they placed him on injured reserve. He is to earn a salary of $800,000 this year.
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NOTES -- Among those prospects who have reportedly visited the Steelers in the month of April are Penn State running back Larry Johnson and Pitt linebacker Gerald Hayes and cornerback Torrie Cox. Others: Kyle Boller, Rex Grossman, Seneca Wallace, Antwan Peek, Terrence Kiel, Artose Pinner, Calvin Pace, Sammy Davis, Jarrett Johnson, Dallas Clark, Joe Iorio, Sam Williams, Osi Umenyiora, Sean McNicholas, Ernie Andria and, on their campus, Alex Jackson and Kareem Marshall. ... Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox is scheduled to be in NBC's New York studios Sunday to talk in the pregame and halftime Arena Football shows about his experience in the indoor league. The network is slated to air the Los Angeles-Dallas game locally at 3 p.m.
Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3878.
NFL Draft Preview: It's safety first for Steelers; USC's Polamalu prime choice 
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