Last April, Kevin Colbert did his best to leave the Pittsburgh Steelers organization in good hands with his final offseason. In the 2022 NFL Draft, the former general manager picked a player he believes will be the quarterback of the future and paired him with a talented wide receiver. So far, things are looking up.
Oftentimes, it takes years before we can truly see the results of a particular draft class. However, we certainly saw flashes from Pittsburgh's 2022 draft class during their rookie season. Here's how I would grade each selection one year later.
Steelers QB Kenny Pickett
At first, fans had a reason to be very worried. After being thrown to the wolves at halftime against the New York Jets, Kenny Pickett proceeded to struggle to score points and take care of the football. Following the bye week, however, he managed the game quite well and had one of the lowest interception rates in the league from that point on.
This improvement helped the Pittsburgh Steelers to an impressive 7-2 record following the bye week (albeit against a pedestrian schedule). Still, Pickett struggled to put up big offensive performances and relied on his defense to do the heavy lifting in the second half of the season.
While the four comeback wins were certainly nice, Pickett finished his rookie season with 7 passing touchdowns and 9 interceptions while managing a dismal 5.5 adjusted yards per attempt, per ESPN stats. Knowing there was a loaded quarterback class on the horizon the following year, fans had a right to wonder whether or not the Steelers should have waited one more offseason to find their franchise quarterback.
Grade: B-
Steelers WR George Pickens
Looking back on it, it's remarkable that 10 wide receivers were taken ahead of George Pickens in the 2022 NFL Draft. Last year's class was loaded at the WR position, and the Pittsburgh Steelers were incredibly fortunate to be able to land a player as talented as Pickens with the 52nd overall pick in the second round.
Pickens was electrifying right out of the gate as he turned heads with some remarkable plays at Steelers training camp. This was followed up by a strong preseason and a good start to his rookie year. Despite being targeted just 84 times, Pickens managed 801 receiving yards. His 9.5 yards per target ranked 13th among all NFL receivers.
Despite shaky quarterback play at times from both Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett, Steelers QBs had an impressive 109.3 passer rating when targetting Pickens -- making the rookie the most efficient receiver on the team.
Pickens showed us during his rookie season that the sky is the limit of his potential. He still has plenty of work to do as a route-runner and separator, but he seemed to come down with nearly everything thrown his direction and he has WR1 upside written all over him. They knocked this one out of the park.
Grade: A+
Steelers DL DeMarvin Leal
I was really excited about DeMarvin Leal when the Steelers were able to land him with the 84th overall pick in round three last April. The former five-star recruit was the number two overall defensive tackle in the nation coming out of high school, according to 247 Sports. My hope was that Pittsburgh would be able to unlock the potential of the 21-year-old and find a role for him on defense.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned during his rookie season. Leal was a bit of a tweener in a negative way coming out of college in that he didn't have enough speed to stick as an edge defender in the NFL, but he was undersized compared to interior pass rushers.
Leal landed on IR for much of his rookie season. When he did see the field, Pittsburgh would oftentimes have him lined up on the edge as their depth was greatly lacking with T.J. Watt out and Malik Reed struggling.
I'm not giving up on Leal yet, and it's hard to take much from his rookie season, but he's going to need to take a big step forward in year two. Leal played just 175 defensive snaps during his first year and graded out poorly.
Grade: D+
Steelers WR Calvin Austin III
I was really excited when Pittsburgh was able to land Calvin Austin III with a compensatory fourth-round pick last April. Austin was extremely productive at Memphis and I thought his 4.3 speed could certainly give this team a spark. Sadly, Austin's season was over before it ever began.
The speedster was injured fairly early in training camp and never even played so much as a preseason game for the Steelers during his rookie year. This was a big disappointment and a pretty substantial setback for his career path.
Instead of potentially proving his worth as a future slot receiver for Pittsburgh, the team is now going to have a hard time trusting his ability to stay healthy or what he might be able to contribute in the future. At just 5'7 3/4'' and 170 pounds, it's hard to get expectations too high for Austin in what he will do for this team in the future.
Tiny wide receivers are known to struggle with injury concerns. The fact that he was a late fourth-round pick means he won't be afforded as many opportunities as players drafted early. It's obviously not too late for Austin to give this team a spark in 2023, but his rookie season was completely wiped out because of injuries.
Grade: D-
Steelers TE Connor Heyward
I have to admit that I was pretty skeptical when the Steelers spent a sixth-round pick on Connor Heyward. Obviously, the first thought many of us had was that he was selected because his older Brother Cameron is one of the most important players on the team. This might not have been the case.
Though the Steelers do value strong family ties and bloodlines as much as any organization, it's looking like they certainly made the right decision with Heyward. Despite having the body of a full-back and the look of a player who might be stuck in between positions, the rookie tight end was fantastic during his rookie year.
Though his usage was very limited, Heyward snagged 12 of 17 targets for 151 yards and a touchdown. His 8.9 yards per target trailed only George Pickens on the team last season. Again, this is a very small sample size, but Heyward made the most of every opportunity.
With a strong rookie season in which Heyward displayed his football intelligence and willingness to wear multiple hats, Pittsburgh could look for him to serve a bigger role in 2023. This is a pick I would want the team to make again, and for a sixth-rounder, this is all you could ask for.
Grade: A-
Steelers LB Mark Robinson
At this point in the draft, you are simply looking for players who can make your roster and possibly contribute down the road in some fashion. As a seventh-round pick, Mark Robinson was able to stick around. A severe lack of talent at the off-ball linebacker position last year probably helped.
Many fans quickly got excited about this player when they put on his Ole Miss tape and saw him lighting up ball carriers in the hole. Robinson got a late start to his college career. Like Alex Highsmith, Robinson was a former walk-on in college, but he actually started his college career as a running back before making the move to the defensive side of the ball.
Robinson failed to earn a helmet for most of his rookie year. He was first activated against the Buccaneers in Week 6, but didn't see a single defensive snap and only played 5 snaps on special teams. However, Robinson would get his shot late in the year as Devin Bush and Myles Jack were essentially demoted.
Robinson is a wild, reckless linebacker who can really deliver a blow, but his lack of lateral quickness and coverage ability was notable in the small sample that we witnessed. Still, he was able to make the team as the 225th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. This is what you ask for this late.
Grade: C+
I understand what the Pittsburgh Steelers were trying to do here, but the philosophy of taking a second quarterback when you are short on draft selections is questionable in itself. It makes it far worse when the QB you draft isn't good enough to even earn reps in training camp or preseason.
Chris Oladokun was a small-school player out of South Dakota State that certainly didn't have notable size, traits, or athletic skills. If they insisted on going QB here, Brock Purdy would have obviously been a much better option. Even Nevada's Carson Strong ended up going undrafted.
This decision was so questionable as the QB room already consisted of Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph with Kenny Pickett joining the team as a first-round pick. There was never a shot that Oladokun could make Pittsburgh's roster and the team simply hoped to have him as a scout-team quarterback.
However, this was a very questionable judgment call on their part. Seventh-round picks aren't expected to make the roster, but they at least could have drafted somebody who stood a chance. Oladokun was certainly a player they could have signed as an undrafted free agent if they really wanted him that badly.