Football is a crazy sport, to begin with, but there are different factors that defy the odds throughout its history. You will see these amazing stories develop if you look through different stories in the NFL, let alone when you specify the history of football in Pittsburgh. The Steelers have had a ton of talent come and go throughout their 90 years of existence.
Sometimes the best choices are not made with the roster that they construct and players that depart the organization benefit from a change of scenery. Sometimes their best days were in the Steelers uniform during their careers. The football team in Pittsburgh has made mistakes in the past for not keeping certain players around and letting them walk when they would have been better off as a team if these players stuck around.
Rod Woodson should have been a member of the Steelers for life
It's more of an honorable mention here with Rod Woodson as most of his stellar seasons in the NFL were with the Steelers. He was a Hall of Famer with his long-standing performances in the Steel City and that proved to be an amazing run. The black and gold had Woodson on their team for most of his career, but they refused to keep him around for his entire years of playing in the NFL.
After no contract extension was agreed upon, Woodson would eventually go on to play for three other teams before retiring from football. His talent level warranted him as a franchise player, but the black and gold refused to make that happen. Woodson went on to have great seasons and even won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens back in 2001.
Emmanuel Sanders experienced a jolt in his career after leaving Pittsburgh
It has been a long time since the Steelers seemed to have a semblance of an effective offense. Back when Ben Roethlisberger was in his prime and the offense had a loaded room of weapons on offense that could attack any defense. Mike Wallace, Hines Ward, Antonio Brown, Heath Miller, and Emmanuel Sanders would line up on the field to try and score points for Pittsburgh.
As time went on and the top receivers on the team started to grow their portfolio, success and the need for the ball grew. There were not enough passing plays called to make everyone happy and that is when decisions started needing to be made. After three years of being anywhere from the second to fourth receiver option on offense, Sanders had enough.
The Steelers decided to move in a different direction and try to focus on keeping both Wallace and Brown as the main targets. That was not the worst decision made by the club initially, but it did have negative connotations when Wallace left for Miami via free agency. This divorce was not terrible for either side as Brown become a Hall of Fame caliber player on the field and Sanders would elevate his career elsewhere.
Perhaps keeping Sanders around and letting Wallace go would have been the right call in retrospect. Sanders was able to have a longer career and stayed affective for the most part throughout. Overall, moving on from Sanders was probably the best choice as it gave Brown the best opportunity to grow as a player in a bigger role on offense.
Kevin Greene had a Hall of Fame career but he should have been in Pittsburgh
Another Hall of Famer makes the list here for the Steelers as they were not able to find a way to keep Kevin Greene around for an extended period of time. Many remember Greene as a member of the Steelers, but he only played in Pittsburgh for three seasons throughout his historic career. He joined the club when he was in his low 30s and played good ball.
He helped create the iconic Blitzburgh defense that was able to help get this team some chances at Super Bowl dreams. Those victories on the grandest stage of them all were never able to materialize, but they made for some football moments. Greene was a part of the most exciting times during the 90s for the Steelers, but it was all short lived.
Three years is almost nothing normal in terms of a long career in the NFL like Greene had. Those three seasons were so great that many remember Greene in the black and gold over all other uniforms that he wore. He ended up playing for three other franchises during his 15-year career in the NFL.
Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes was when the Steelers gave up on Greene and his partner in crime, Greg Lloyd. They assumed that they were starting to age, and it would be irresponsible to give them lengthy contracts that cost a pretty penny. Lloyd would be let go and both he and Greene would regroup as a tandem for the Carolina Panthers where Greene excelled.
Santonio Holmes had a short leash after displaying Super Bowl heroics
It is still up for debate in Pittsburgh when it comes to who should have won MVP of Super Bowl 43. It seemed to be between either Roethlisberger or Santonio Holmes as the game wrapped up. Holmes would win the prestigious award and it is something that Roethlisberger was never able to add to his Hall of Fame resume.
Before the game at the Super Bowl, Holmes was starting to show progress in his improvement with each passing season. The Super Bowl performance that he showed, especially on the game winning drive made him into a sort of legend in Steelers lore. Both he and Roethlisberger will always be tied together with the game winning play in the back corner of the end zone.
2009 was a year where Holmes showed the Steelers and the rest of the NFL that he can play at a high level and be the number one guy. Unfortunately for him and the team, he got in trouble that following offseason and it put his future with the black and gold in jeopardy. The team would surprisingly trade him for some mid-round pick.
Pittsburgh was known as a strict organization at that time and with the suspension of four games looming that following year, Holmes was out the door. He never had as much success as he did in 2009, but he was a quality receiver for the New York Jets. It was another situation where the player would have benefited more if he was able to stay with the club.
The Steelers lost out on Kelvin Beachum and his long career of stability
Kevin Colbert had some quality draft picks in the later rounds throughout his career as the Steelers General manager. Many will immediately point to Antonio Brown in the sixth round, and for good reason as he was one of the best receivers of all time. One player that gets overlooked often is Kelvin Beachum, who was a seventh-round pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
It was a slow start to Beachum's career in Pittsburgh, but he was able to develop and grow into a starting spot at left tackle. He was a quality starter there and the Steelers had to decide when he became eligible to become a free agent. Basically, it was either going to be him or Ramon Foster to be re-signed that offseason.
Pittsburgh decided to go with Foster as he was a leader and they believed that Alejandro Villanueva would be able to step in as the starter at left tackle. Things worked out for both sides as Beachum got paid handsomely by the Jets and is still having a long and productive career at tackle. Villanueva was able to be a solid starter on the left side for a handful of seasons.
Even though Villanueva was able to be a cheap option and fill out the offensive line, Beachum was still a better quality at the position. If the Steelers had to redo things and could make the decision again, it would seem like Beachum would be the wiser choice over Foster. It is harder to replace a starting left tackle in this league rather than a guard.
Barry Foster had some great seasons during his short time in the Steel City
Someone that is easily lost in the history of the franchise is Barry Foster. He is an unsung hero after producing a strong career during his short stint of playing time in the NFL. Even though he only played five seasons in the professional ranks, he still made an impact on the Steelers that is still felt to this day in the history books.
To this day, Foster holds the record for most rushing yards in a single season by a running back in Steelers history. That total was an eye popping 1,690 yards on the ground. That impressive feat is something that many fans might have forgotten about. The biggest issue that Foster and the team faced in the 90s was the lack of passing attack.
That caused the offense to heavily rely on their running game as their main source of points. Neil O'Donnell had a couple of respectable seasons that allowed for the offense to become more balanced than they were when Bubby Brister was at the helm. Another running back did take away some thunder from Foster in the 1994 season.
Bam Morris was someone that the Steelers used as a Robin to Fosters Batman when things started to happen with injuries. Foster struggled with that throughout his career, and it often hindered him, which ultimately led to his stunning retirement at a young age. Morris was able to produce good numbers in his absence, but you have to wonder what Foster could have been if he could have just stayed healthy.
Many forget how good Hardy Nickerson was after he left the Steelers
There were a lot of talented players that played on both sides of the ball for Pittsburgh during the 90s. Their defense was always the main target of the team when they looked to make their club better under Head Coach Bill Cowher at the time. Defense and a hard-nosed rushing attack is something that the club has always lived by.
With a high investment into specific positions, like linebacker, there are always going to be players that fly under the radar. Sometimes some people need a change of scenery to find a different way to excel. That is exactly what happened with Hardy Nickerson as he performed better after departing the Steelers organization.
After six seasons in Pittsburgh, it seemed like the perfect time for both parties to go in their own separate directions. Even though Nickerson was starting to show some promise with a growing role within the team, there seemed to be something not clicking. He would join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and immediately started getting Pro Bowl and All-pro nominations.
The year after he left Pittsburgh, he tallied over 200 total tackles that season. It makes you wonder if that kind of production would have carried over if the Steelers brought him back rather than letting the divorce process come to fruition. Nickerson was a talented linebacker stuck in a crowded room in Pittsburgh that just needed better opportunities elsewhere to make the most of his career.
Johnny Unitas had limited days in Pittsburgh that left many imagining what could have been
Hindsight is always much clearer than when you are looking at the task at hand. Back in 1955 when the Steelers drafted Johnny Unitas in the ninth round of the draft, the club was a laughingstock of the league. They had not won anything of importance and were struggling to keep players on their team and joining rival football leagues.
Their popularity in the city that they called home was non-existent, but there was slight hope of taking the local hometown quarterback in the draft. Sadly, for the Steelers, they gave up way too easily on Unitas and let him go and he would work construction and play in a semi-professional league for the time being.
He eventually got a chance to play for the Baltimore Colts and the rest is history. He would go on to have a Hall of Fame career that included winning three NFL Championships, a Super Bowl, and three league MVPs. With all that success, it makes you wonder what could have changed with the Steelers as an organization if they kept the hometown kid at that training camp.
Perhaps Unitas turns out to be nothing in Pittsburgh and maybe he needed to be elsewhere to succeed. Or maybe he helps to turn the organization around and makes them championship material for the nation to see. He could have popularized football in the Steel City, but that reality is one we do not live, and the world will never know what Unitas as a Steeler would have looked like.
Mike Vrabel left the Steelers and had a profound career elsewhere
Most see Mike Vrabel as a successful top coach in the NFL nowadays, but he also had a great playing career in the league too. He was drafted by the Steelers in 1997 as a linebacker, and as described earlier, there was a lot of talent in that room. Even as the 90s turned into the early 2000s, Vrabel was struggling to find playing time.
There were some talented linebackers in the city of Pittsburgh during Vrabel's stay. Those names included the likes of Joey Porter, Jason Gildon, Levon Kirkland, and Earl Holmes. All of those players presented some talents, and it would have been difficult for Vrabel to earn playing time with the Steelers and that is what caused for a divorce to be set in motion.
After four years of being primarily a backup with the team that drafted him, Vrabel would join the New England Patriots as a starter. He was an instant leader for a group that seemed to be missing some of that experience on their team. The divorce with the black and gold surely worked out in the favor of Vrabel as he won three Super Bowls during his time there.
You never know what a player would have been like if he played for another team, but the Steelers would have loved Vrabel's intensity on some teams. Gildon and Porter would become a solid duo that got the club into contention multiple times. Many will not remember Vrabel's days in Pittsburgh, but he could have been so much more if given a fair shot.
Sometimes you need two to tango and Yancy Thigpen learned that the hard way
Not everything works out when it comes to a player finding a way to stick with a team throughout his entire career. Yancy Thigpen was a good example of that as he posted up some fantastic years with the Steelers before he ultimately departed for the Tennessee Titans. Quarterback play was still relatively scarce for the black and gold during Thigpen's playing days too.
Kordell Stewart was one of the main quarterbacks that threw Thigpen the ball on offense. It allowed for a dynamic connection that created a good number of points for Pittsburgh. Thigpen was the top receiver in Pittsburgh for a long stint before leaving. When he left after the conclusion of the 1997 NFL season, the Steelers were left without many receiving options.
One positive that did result from Thigpen's departure was the 1998 draft that saw Hines Ward be selected in the third round. That created for a whole new set of opportunities for Ward and his potential as a receiver. Thigpen did go on to have a respectable couple of years with the Titans, but nothing that matched his top years with the Steelers.
It was impressive the kind of numbers that Thigpen put up considering the type of quarterback play that he had to work with. It would have been better if both parties stuck together as Thigpen would have been the top guy still, even if Ward was drafted in 1998. Ultimately things just did not work out that way, but it is a wonder what could have been if Thigpen did stick around.
Javon Hargrave would have been a great piece to keep around with Tuitt's retirement
Back when the Steelers selected Javon Hargrave in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Steelers had a talented duo across the defensive line. Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt were in their prime and were one of the best defensive tackle duos in the NFL. Hargrave came into the league in a smaller role and quickly grew into more snaps with each passing year in Pittsburgh.
It is always difficult to project a future for any football player, especially when it comes to a guy that played a role on your team. Kevin Colbert and the Steelers had to decide to either move Tuitt in some fashion, who was already locked into an affordable extension or let Hargrave walk in free agency once the 2019 season came to a close.
Pittsburgh ultimately decided as a club to roll with Tuitt as Hargrave seemed to be on a path to gain a hefty pay raise on his next contract. He would sign a lucrative contract to jump to the other side of the state by joining the Philadelphia Eagles. He was paired with Fletcher Cox and started off his career as an Eagle a little slow.
After his first year seemed to be a little disappointing, Hargrave was able to make that contract worthwhile for the Eagles. He continues to be one of the underdogs when it comes to being a dominant defensive tackle in the NFL and getting little notoriety. He will never be the top guy on his team, but he is having a great career.
Bam Morris could not last long in the NFL but he would have been better off in Pittsburgh
As stated earlier in the article, Barry Foster was only a part of the running back tandem of the Steelers in 1994. He would eventually retire, and the other half of that tandem would get more opportunities to become the main horse in the stable. Bam Morris is an interesting story for the history of the running back position for the Steelers.
Morris was a back that ran like a tank and was able to use his size to his advantage. He was never able to fully become a top back for Pittsburgh, but he was able to put up some mind-boggling numbers. He only started ten games over two seasons with the black and gold which allowed him to total nearly 1,400 rushing yards and tally 16 touchdowns on the ground.
It was a promising start for Morris and his role with the Steelers during his first two seasons in the league. Unfortunately for all involved, Morris had some off the field concerns that led to his release by Pittsburgh. He would sign with the Baltimore Ravens, where he started to earn more starts. He was never able to get over 1,000 rushing yards in a season, but he could never become a top starter either.
Morris is a story that could have been much better if he was able to stay away from issues off the field in Pittsburgh. He was a promising back that put up fantastic numbers in a reduced role on offense. It is another story that makes you wonder what could have been if the black and gold decided to hang onto him rather than let him go after the incident.
Eric Greene was a stable piece on the Steelers offense at tight end before leaving
The 1980s were overall a terrible decade for the Steelers after they saw a decade of domination in the 70s. It was hopefully time to turn a new leaf when the 1990s came around and the black and gold had hope that Eric Greene would be a part of the solution. They used their first-round pick on him as they wanted to implement a talented tight end to their offense.
Sadly, for the Steelers, Greene was not able to become the only way to fix any offensive woes. It was not Greene's fault by any sense of imagination as he was a bright spot during the early 90s for Pittsburgh. He did not tally large amounts of yardage during his first couple of years, but he was a monster when it came to finding the end zone.
As time progressed, the offense of the black and gold were able to start making progress in fixing their issues. Greene was a big part of the solution on offense and was relied on heavily. Not all stories work out in a fairytale ending and Greene was not able to win anything of significance during his time in Pittsburgh.
A new contract was not worked out and Greene found himself a new home the Miami Dolphins before moving on to the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets before calling it a career. His best days were with the Steelers, and it might have made the most sense to keep him around if a contract could have been ironed out. He was a good tight end for a position that was starting to develop into a passing threat.
Chad Brown was another linebacker in the 90s that was better after leaving the Steelers
The black and gold used to have a very strict set of rules for their rookies coming into the league. Most did not find a ton of playing time during their rookie years when it came to their actual positions. That was the same outcome for Chad Brown as he had to earn his starting snaps. He would start games during his rookie year and become the starter in year two.
His second year in Pittsburgh was his best while being under the employment of the Steelers. Brown would struggle some with the following couple of seasons. There was a lot of new talent coming into the fold during the last year with Pittsburgh and the writing was on the wall. Free agency was becoming more evident during the 90s in the NFL and Brown took that route.
After a couple of strong seasons to start his career in the Steel City, Brown quickly started to slow down in production. That seemed to make him on the way out the door but the 1996 season was a great year for Brown before he left the team. He totaled 13 sacks and added over 80 tackles on to his stat sheet. A contract seemed impossible as Pittsburgh was not well known for shelling out major bucks.
That is a shame but the black and gold were seen as cheap at certain points when free agency started to become popularized. Brown went on to play ten more seasons in the NFL, primarily with the Seattle Seahawks and a few years with the New England Patriots. Pittsburgh would have been wise to keep this linebacker around with the quality play that he produced throughout his career.
Len Dawson might have been the biggest miss by the organization in their early days
Other than Johnny Unitas, the biggest miss in draft history by the Steelers is Len Dawson. He was drafted fifth overall by Pittsburgh during the 1955 NFL Draft. He was given few chances to start for the club during his time in the Steel City. You would imagine that being the fifth overall pick would have warranted a shot, but the team did not see it that way.
Other than some relief work and coming in when certain players got hurt, Dawson was never out there on the field for the Steelers. After years of being a laughingstock in the league, Pittsburgh became desperate to become somewhat noticeable. They would trade Dawson away only two years after drafting him for Hall of Fame quarterback, Bobby Lane.
Lane did play for the black and gold for a handful of years, but he could not drag the team to any semblance of a championship. Dawson would not become an immediate success story that worked against the Steelers. It would take almost another four years until Dawson ended up with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Most of his success in the NFL came with the Chiefs and he was able to win MVP of the Super Bowl there. It might have taken nearly six seasons for Dawson to finally become a quality starting quarterback in the NFL, but he was able to get to that point. The Steelers showed desperation be trading away Dawson and never giving him a shot as a starter and that was another missed opportunity.