5 greatest Steelers wide receivers in franchise history
Hines Ward
It is utterly shocking that Hines Ward has yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He is a semi-finalist for the 2021 class, yet he may not make it in. However, there’s no doubt in my mind that he belongs.
Ward would play a 14-season career for the Steelers – winning 2 Super Bowls and accumulating 4 Pro Bowls in the process. He was so physical that the league had to change rules about how players were allowed to block downfield. He was the polar opposite of Antonio Brown in every way possible. Ward was never a freak athlete, and he never commanded attention towards himself. In a way, he resembled the city as much as any football player has at that position.
He is first among all Steelers in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns still to this day. He is the only player in franchise history with over 900 receptions, yet he has 1,000. The gap between him and Antonio Brown in that regard is astonishing. Ward was never awarded All-Pro which in and of itself was surprising looking at his career in hindsight. Yet he is one of the greatest possession receivers the NFL has ever seen. Not only would he almost never drop a pass, he rarely fumbled, had a nose for the endzone, and was the best blocker from the receiver position in NFL history.
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Of all the receivers in Steelers’ history, he is the best statistically over the span of an entire career. He also managed multiple Super Bowl victories and has made countless plays in big moments to help the Steelers do so. Needless to say, he is the greatest wide receiver the Steelers ever rostered.