5 players the Steelers regret passing on in the draft throughout history

Steelers pass on Joe Montana twice in the 1979 NFL Draft

It is tough to imagine Joe Montana in anything other than a San Francisco 49ers jersey, despite him playing for the Kansas City Chiefs for a little. He had such a storied career and many thought of him as the greatest until Tom Brady showed up. He led the 49ers to one of the best dynasties that the NFL has ever seen during the 80s and early 90s.

Some might not know but Montana grew up in the Pittsburgh area. He graduated high school at Ringgold before moving on to Notre Dame for his college career. The Steelers did not really imagine needing a quarterback in 1979, but Terry Bradshaw was getting older and was about to retire in four years.

The team just came off a Super Bowl win and was ready to go on another run. They were not thinking about the next signal-caller for the Black and Gold’s offense. They passed on Montana twice before he was selected with the last pick in the third round.

Getting someone like Montana and allowing him to sit behind Bradshaw until he retired would have been amazing. Handing the baton from one Hall of Fame quarterback to another would have been special. That would have led to a much more successful decade of football in the 80s than what reality actually brought the team.