Why Steelers should avoid taking a WR in first round of NFL Draft

Steelers # 1  (8th overall) 2000, Plaxico Burress

Probably the best overall number one receiver the Steelers have chosen since either Louis Lipps or Lynn Swann. At least in his first three seasons Certainly, he had the talent to be as good, if not better. Plus, they had a failure with the receiver they drafted one-year earlier.

Like other notable wide receivers for the Steelers, his first year was marginal at best. Then in 2001, he exploded for 1008 receiving yards, and in 2002 he had 1325 yards while having a moderate decline in receiving yardage the next two seasons; of course, as he declined, Hines Ward hit the prime of his career. So his exit from Pittsburgh had more to do with Hines Ward’s success.

When Plaxico moved on to the Giants, he, in the next two seasons, racked up another 3227 yards in three seasons which bolsters the fact Hines Ward made Plaxico expendable. Then his career inexplicably took a turn to the weird. Burress ended up in a nightclub incident where he discharged a firearm into his gluteus maximus. Following the incident, he faced a two-season suspension by the NFL.

That did not help his career. He signed with the Jets two years later and had an average season. He then came back to the Steelers for one final season in 2012 though he sat on the bench mostly before calling it quits.