Two Steelers shamefully high on the list of biggest Georgia Bulldog NFL Draft busts

Like every team, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had some notable draft busts over the years -- several of which came in the past decade under the direction of former GM Kevin Colbert. When you think of NFL Draft busts, there's no doubt you had a few names that instantly came to mind.

Recently, Michael Collins of FanSided wrote about the 10 biggest draft busts in Georgia Bulldog history on Dawn of the Dog. Sadly, not one, but two Pittsburgh Steelers draft choices claimed the top two stops on his list. These belonged to Tim Worley and Jarvis Jones, respectively.

Worley was a bit before my time. As the 7th overall pick in the 1989 NFL Draft, expectations were high. The former Georgia running back started for Pittsburgh from the gate; however, he churned his way for just 775 rushing yards on 3.9 yards per carry -- despite a significant workload.

In year two in 1990, things didn't get much better for the 6'2'', 228-pound running back as he managed just 418 rushing yards on 3.8 yards per carry in 11 games. Injuries then set in in 1991, and Worley would miss the entire 1992 season after violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. He suited up for only five more games for the Steelers after that.

While Worley claimed the top spot on this infamous list, Jarvis Jones was just as bad. After putting up insane sack and tackle for loss numbers during his Georgia career, Jones was a colossal disappointment in the NFL. During his four years with the Steelers, Jones never managed more than 2.0 sacks in a single season, and his 6.0 total sacks in 50 games (35 starts) is a cringeworthy number to this day.

Steelers can learn from past mistakes

The lesson here obviously isn't to stop taking Georgia players. Rather, Pittsburgh needs to do a better job of eliminating risks. That's what the NFL Draft should be about, really: finding the best players at the most important positions and minimizing risk in the process.

In the case of Jarvis Jones, the red flags were everywhere. In addition to being undersized for an edge defender by NFL standards, Jones tested as a 25th percentile athlete, according to Relative Athletic Score, and had nearly 4.9 speed as a 6'2'' 245-pound pass rusher.

In addition to awful testing numbers and an undersized frame, Jones was diagnosed with spinal stenosis (which is a narrowing of the spine) prior to entering the NFL Draft. The Georgia product was also very old coming out of college, which didn't help in terms of upside at the next level, and much of his production was fabricated due to a scheme that had him blitzing untouched off the edge.

Fast forward ten years and several bad picks later, the Pittsburgh Steelers have learned from many of their mistakes, and the hope is that -- under the new management of Omar Khan and Andy Weidl -- these types of red flags won't be ignored.

The Steelers have made some terrible selections taking Georgia players in the first round, but it shouldn't deter them from dipping their feet into the best talent pool in the nation. They just need to be wiser when it comes to eliminating risks in the NFL Draft.