The key to building a Super Bowl-caliber roster begins with the NFL Draft, and hitting on first-round picks is critical. In the early 2000s, the Pittsburgh Steelers struck gold in the first round on Troy Polamalu (2003) and Ben Roethlisberger (2004) in back-to-back years. These two players would spearhead the attack en route to three Super Bowl appearances and two wins.
It's been over 20 years since those players were drafted, and the results in the NFL Draft over the past two decades are met with a mixed bag of feelings. Some picks proved to be so good that they will soon claim Hall of Fame status, while others turned out to be some of the worst draft busts in Steelers history that set the franchise back.
Former General Manager Kevin Colbert had streaks where it felt like he was in a tier of his own among GMs and others that left fans scratching their heads. Now the torch has been passed to Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl to build the next Super Bowl roster. Here are my grades for every Pittsburgh Steelers first-round draft pick over the past 20 years.
Grading every Pittsburgh Steelers first-round NFL Draft pick over the past 20 years
2005: Heath Miller: A
Heath Miller was 'Old Reliable' and quickly became Ben Roethlisberger's security blanket one year after Big Ben was drafted by the Steelers. Miller never put up elite receiving numbers, but he was as well-rounded as they come at the position and had a long career in Pittsburgh that included two Pro Bowl appearances.
2006: Santonio Holmes: A
If we're only judging Santonio Holmes on what he did in the regular season, his grade would be underwhelming. However, Holmes had one of the greatest Super Bowl performances in Pittsburgh Steelers history, which was capped off with a game-winning toe-tap touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. This alone made Holmes well worth the first-round pick.
2007: Lawrence Timmons: B+
For my money, Lawrence Timmons was one of the most underrated Steelers players in my lifetime. Timmons possessed enough size, physicality, and athletic traits to be a starting linebacker for over a decade in the NFL. His performance was finally recognized with his lone Pro Bowl recognition in 2014.
2008: Rashard Mendenhall: C+
Rashard Mendenhall looked the part as a prototype every-down back in the NFL, but despite his burst and physicality, Mendenhall lacked vision and had ball security issues. Mendenhall was far from a bust, but his efficiency as a runner was only average. He played just six NFL seasons (five in Pittsburgh).
2009: Ziggy Hood: D
It's hard to blame Kevin Colbert for rolling the dice on a talent like Evander 'Ziggy' Hood. The Missouri product ran a 4.83 at 300 pounds and was drafted to be a developmental defensive lineman. Hood played just five years with the Steelers and bounced around the NFL, collecting just 14 sacks from 2009 to 2018.
2010: Maurkice Pouncey: A+
One of the best three-year streaks of first-round picks in Steelers history began in 2010 with Maurkice Pouncey. The Florida product quickly developed a reputation as an All-Pro center. He may have been overrated late in his career, but this was a fantastic selection by Pittsburgh.
2011: Cameron Heyward: A+
Cameron Heyward had a slow start to his career, but it makes sense when you realize he was being groomed behind Brett Keisel and Ziggy Hood. Though he didn't earn his first Pro Bowl until year seven in 2017, Heyward never slowed down since and eventually strung together a Hall of Fame resume.
2012: David DeCastro: A+
To cap off the remarkable three-year stretch from Kevin Colbert, the Pittsburgh Steelers couldn't pass on David DeCastro when the Stanford guard fell into their lap in the 2012 NFL Draft. DeCastro's career fizzled out quickly toward the end due to injuries, but at his peak, he was arguably the best guard in the NFL.
2013: Jarvis Jones: F
The Steelers should have seen the red flags a mile away with Jarvis Jones. The Georgia outside linebacker was undersized and a poor athlete on top of being flagged with spinal stenosis (which teams knew could lead to a short career). Jones never lived up to lofty expectations and proved to be one of the most disappointing draft picks in the NFL era for Pittsburgh.
2014: Ryan Shazier: A
Nobody could have predicted that Ryan Shazier would suffer a career-ending spinal injury. Before all of this, Shazier was an electrifying Pro Bowl linebacker with amazing speed and splash play ability. His playoff performance against the Bengals is still considered one of the best showings from a linebacker in history.
2015 Bud Dupree: B-
Bud Dupree had a respectable career in Pittsburgh and even produced good numbers in his final two seasons with the Steelers, but the big edge rusher never developed his pass rush moves and won solely on speed and burst off the edge. In an underwhelming draft class, this proved to be a solid selection but not an amazing pick by any stretch of the imagination.
2016: Artie Burns: F
I'm still convinced the Pittsburgh Steelers panicked in the 2016 NFL Draft when William Jackson III went off the board one pick earlier in the first round to the Cincinnati Bengals. Artie Burns was a third-round prospect that Colbert reached for in Round 1, and it went about as well as we thought it would. Burns was ultimately demoted and benched before the end of his rookie contract in Pittsburgh.
2017: T.J. Watt: A+
There's not much to argue about here. With the 30th overall pick, the Pittsburgh Steelers landed a player that could go down as one of the top five players this franchise ever drafted. T.J. Watt quickly shattered records—including tying Michael Strahan for the NFL's all-time single-season sack record in 2021. Watt will have a bust in Canton when it's all said and done.
2018: Terrell Edmunds: D-
Much like the Artie Burns selection two years prior, the Steelers reached for positional need in the secondary. I had a third-round grade on Edmunds, and the big safety offered limited takeaway-worthy plays in his career. Edmunds was at least a respectable starter at times, but this was still a major reach pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
2019: Devin Bush: F
And here it is: the worst pick of Kevin Colbert's career as General Manager. Though you could argue other players Colbert drafted were worse than Bush, the decision to move up to pick number 10 to draft him cost the Steelers a combined first-, second-, and third-round pick. Bush's on-field performance was a disaster, and his rookie contract couldn't expire fast enough.
2020: TRADE for Minkah Fitzpatrick: A
This isn't technically a first-round selection, as the Steelers traded their 2020 first-round pick to the Dolphins for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. However, Fitzpatrick quickly turned into a perennial All-Pro defensive back in Pittsburgh. With Ben Roethlisberger near the end of his career, this capital may have been better used to get a quarterback, but the trade for Minkah resulted in some outstanding Steelers defenses in 2019 and 2020.
2021: Najee Harris: C-
Many fans wouldn't be so harsh with their grade for Najee Harris in the 2021 NFL Draft, but the philosophy was all wrong here by the Steelers' front office. Needing to assemble an entire offensive line, Pittsburgh opted for a quick fix with a plodding running back. Harris proved to be a solid starter, but the efficiency and lack of explosive plays were never there. He never busted off a run longer than 37 yards on 1,097 carries for the Steelers while averaging 3.9 yards per carry.
2022: Kenny Pickett: F
This selection upsets me every time I think about it. During the 2022 pre-draft process, Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert had one-track minds. Their sole focus was on finding a quarterback to replace Ben Roethlisberger. But everyone could see this was a pitiful quarterback class, and many draft experts didn't even view Kenny Pickett as the top QB in the class. Pickett offered the Steelers nothing they couldn't have gotten from a backup off the street.
2023: Broderick Jones: C
Apart from trading up a few spots for a non-quarterback, the process was right there. In Omar Khan and Andy Weidl's first NFL Draft running the front office, the Pittsburgh Steelers swung for the fences with Broderick Jones—a raw offensive tackle with elite traits. Mike Tomlin didn't do Broderick any favors by flipping him around early in his career. The sample of play has been rough so far, but the jury is still out.
2024: Troy Fautanu: B
Troy Fautanu was the 10th overall player on the NFL Draft Expert Consensus Board, but the Steelers landed him with the 20th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Fautanu was an older prospect with some injury red flags. Unfortunately, he played just one game as a rookie before suffering a season-ending knee injury in practice. Put an asterisk next to this grade for now until we see how this unfolds.