It’s that time of year where every armchair quarterback (including myself) tends to criticize the decision makers within the Steelers franchise. We want to tell the team who to take and when to take them as if we not only know better but can control the outcome of the draft and those new players’ careers.

Since we can control neither, and because Kevin Colbert has done a tremendous job as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I thought it was important to revisit the picks that “K.C.” has made over the years. A few important notes heading into this article.

First: Hindsight is always (always) 20/20. We can examine these picks till the cows come home, but it won’t change the fact we don’t know who will end up having a Hall of Fame career right now. (At least not until my Magic 8-ball starts functioning properly!)

I often hear criticism of why “Player A” wasn’t taken when “Player B” was on the board. Some of those answers boil down to “A” playing a position of need, such as cornerback, and “B” playing running back (where the Steelers already have a darn good one). They’re going to take players to make their team better. Luxury picks (like having 18 awesome wide receivers) aren’t going to win you many games!

It’s human nature to question, and it’s pride and passion to want the best for your team. I understand that. But we must also understand the nature of the business that is pro football. It’s a volatile game of shuffling roster spots to provide the best team possible. Doing so is an estimated guess.

Every single draft pick doesn’t have to be a slam dunk. So what if the first round pick taken in two-thousand-and-whatever didn’t work out? More often than not, they don’t. (More on that below.) Take solace in the fact that the Steelers organization finds solid contributors more often than not.

Life’s Short: Play Ball

It’s typical to see the average lifespan of an NFL player is short. Real short.

According to the NFL Players Association, the average career length is about 3.3 years. The NFL claims that the average career is about 6 years (for players who make a club’s opening day roster in their rookie season).

If a team gets three productive years out of any pick, it should be considered a success, regardless of how that player is utilized (backup, special teams, etc.) based on how short most careers are.

Round	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5
1	99.70%	93.50%	83.90%	77.40%	71.00%
2	96.80%	96.10%	83.90%	74.20%	41.90%
3	96.90%	75.10%	62.50%	37.50%	18.80%
4	91.40%	74.30%	54.30%	34.30%	17.20%
5	81.10%	56.80%	37.80%	24.30%	16.20%
6	70.20%	57.50%	35.30%	20.90%	10.60%
7	58.30%	45.80%	31.30%	21.70%	16.70%

First Round Picks

In that regard, we must consider the picks that have panned out. We have about 15 years of data that we can examine since Kevin Colbert joined the Steelers in 2000 (and became the team’s first General Manager in 2010.) His track record has been pretty darn good overall.

Let’s first take a look the first round picks that Kevin Colbert has made since he took the helm:

• Plaxico Burress
• Casey Hampton
• Kendall Simmons
• Troy Polamalu
• Ben Roethlisberger
• Heath Miller
• Santonio Holmes
• Lawrence Timmons
• Rashard Mendenhall
• Ziggy Hood
• Cameron Heyward
• David DeCastro
• Jarvis Jones
• Ryan Shazier
• Bud Dupree
• Artie Burns

That’s a pretty good list, which includes at least two future Hall of Famers in Polamalu and Roethlisberger. That alone should give Colbert a pass.

Colbert’s first few years were stocked with great first round picks, including Troy and Ben, plus quite a few other solid players. There were selections such as WR Plaxico Burress (who had a very solid NFL career) and NT Casey Hampton (a perennial Pro Bowler) who were all cornerstones of the franchise for years.

Then there were some that didn’t work out too. Kendall Simmons had the worst luck of anyone, constantly finding himself on the IR for a variety of reasons (including frostbite from a cooling pad.) He was, however, a key contributor to the Steelers Super Bowl XL win, starting all 20 games in that season, and he lasted with the franchise for six years, twice the average from the chart above.

Colbert had good fortune with the next few drafts as well, selecting Heath Miller (who holds practically all of the team’s TE records) Santonio Holmes (Super Bowl XLIII MVP) and Lawrence Timmons (a defensive mainstay for three Super Bowl appearances). His record gets blemished some with the Mendenhall and Hood picks. Neither ever rose to the superstardom of their predecessors but were still decent contributors for their time with the team. Mendenhall, especially, was a player ready to break out; I believe he was Le’Veon Bell before there was Bell, before crashing and burning his way out of Pittsburgh following injuries, choice tweets and no-showing a game.

After those picks, Cameron Heyward became a defensive captain and David DeCastro anchors the line as a Pro Bowler. Jarvis Jones never amounted to the first round billing he received, but Ryan Shazier and Bud Dupree look like incredibly gifted athletes whose story is only starting.

Beyond The First Round

Needless to say, Colbert has a good track record based on his first round picks. However, he hasn’t been one of the longest tenured GM’s in the league solely based on one round.

Here are some of the players Colbert has found after the first round (later round selections noted in parentheses.)

• Kendrell Bell
• Anthony Chickillo (6th)
• Sammie Coates
• Willie Colon (4th)
• Larry Foote (4th)
• William Gay (5th)
• Clark Haggans (5th)
• Chris Hope
• Jesse James (5th)
• Landry Jones (4th)
• Chris Kemoeatu (6th)
• Brett Keisel (7th)
• Antwaan Randle El
• Matt Spaeth
• Max Starks
• Ike Taylor (4th)
• Mike Wallace
• Letterius Walton (6th)
• LaMarr Woodley

The accomplishments of each player are far too numerous to list here. And while some of these players left Pittsburgh during their career, that should not discount their value to the Steelers or another franchise, nor should it be a blemish on the front office’s ability to evaluate talent. (And yes, I realize that I listed a few “questionable” picks such as LT Walton and Landry Jones, but make no mistake that those players have had moments, whereas starters and/or key contributors have secured Pittsburgh wins as well.)

The Guys They Didn’t Draft

The front office should also get credit for the long list of undrafted players they have brought in as well. Players like Willie Parker, James Harrison, Steve McClendon, Eli Rogers, Alejandro Villanueva, Ramon Foster, and many others were starters at one time or another. Nevermind the fact that Parker and Harrison share some of the greatest moments in Super Bowl history!

Not So Bad, Is It?

In conclusion, very few front offices have the sort of resume the Pittsburgh Steelers (and Kevin Colbert, etc.) have had when you start comparing against other teams. As I may have said above, they get it right more often than they get it wrong. Finding starters at the bottom of the draft is a nod to the hard work the scouting department does each season.

Colbert is one of the longest tenured General Managers in the NFL because of his consistency and ability to build winning franchises. When you consider only three other GMs have been around as long as Colbert (Bill Belichick, Jerry Jones, and Ozzie Newsome) it’s then you realize that he is not only in good company, but why the Steelers have been so good, for so long.

(Because of course, Jerry Jones isn’t going to fire himself!)