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

Steelers # 1 (25th overall) 2006, Santonio Holmes

Talk about a wide receiver that could have potentially made the Hall of Fame if he had decided to stay with the Steelers. With the Steelers, he amassed 3835 yards 20 touchdowns with 16.3 yards per reception. Holmes was hitting his prime and in 2009 had 1248 receiving yards. Plus, he had one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks throwing him the ball in his prime as well.

Then the Jets came along after his fourth season, giving Holmes a $50 million contract with $23million guaranteed. Holmes may have had the better of the deal. Arguably you could say what happened to him after the fact is the difference from going from a good team to a lousy team. He went from 1248 yards with Pittsburgh in 2009 to only 746 yards in, and his production declined from there.

Holmes’s career could leave some to speculate if he was a marginal receiver who thrived from being on a good team or legitimately good and floundered on a bad team. The Jets had just Mark Sanchez on the 5th pick. Perhaps if they had invested in some younger offensive linemen instead of adding defensive players in the draft and throwing money at Holmes, perhaps Sanchez might have thrived or had a chance to succeed.

Still, comparatively, Homes was the 2nd best, at least statistically, of the last four number one wide receiver draft choices taken by the Steelers.