Like finding colored eggs on Easter morning, the Steelers have had uncanny success unearthing wide receivers after the first couple rounds of the draft.
Since 1998, they have found Hines Ward, Mike Wallace and Emmanuel Sanders in the third round and Antonio Brown, the most productive receiver in NFL history in a six-year span, in the sixth round. All became 1,000-yard receivers, though Sanders did it after he left the Steelers and joined the Denver Broncos.
That is not to dismiss two other 1,000-yard receivers they drafted in the first round – Plaxico Burress in 2000 and Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes in 2006.
But did the Steelers just have a keen eye for discovering and evaluating wide-receiver talent in the draft, more than everyone else? Or did they develop them into the players they became in the NFL after drafting them? And was that because they were playing with a future Hall of Fame quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger?
Whatever the case, the Steelers have not had that kind of success with drafting cornerbacks.
Since Mike Tomlin became coach in 2007, the Steelers have selected 14 cornerbacks in the draft. Only one of those – Cortez Allen in 2014 – played well enough to receive a second multi-year contract. William Gay, the first cornerback Tomlin ever drafted, also received a second multi-year contract with the Steelers, but only after he was released by the Arizona Cardinals and returned to the team in 2013.
Here’s the quick breakdown of the 14: One never played because of injuries, three never made it past their first training camp, three lasted only one season, seven never started a game. That’s 50 percent of their picks in 13 years that basically did nothing.
Three of the 14 cornerbacks still remain on the team – Artie Burns, Cam Sutton and Brian Allen. But the Steelers’ inability to either evaluate college cornerbacks or develop them once they get to the NFL is the reason their two starting cornerbacks heading into 2019 – Joe Haden and Steve Nelson – have come from other teams at a steep price.
They get another crack at it Thursday when the three-day NFL draft begins, and it might not stop them from taking a cornerback in the first round. This time, though, the evaluation process has changed, representing something of a drastic change for an organization that has always valued big cornerbacks who can play the run.
“Our game has always been about getting physical players who can come off the edge and close off the edge and make a tackle,” general manager Kevin Colbert said at the NFL combine. “But are they doing that at the expense of not making plays on the football? We have to maybe try to find that balance and maybe be more open to the concept that the game is constantly changing, and if you want playmakers in the back end, then find someone who has done it.”
Since they drafted Chad Scott in the first round in 1997, the Steelers have used their No. 1 pick on a cornerback just once – Burns in 2016. In that same time, they have drafted a cornerback on the second round only three times – Ricardo Colclough in 2004, Bryant McFadden in 2005 and Senquez Golson in 2015.
Evaluating cornerbacks has always been one of the hardest jobs for any coach, general manager or NFL scout. As the Steelers have proven since Tomlin became coach in 2007, cornerback is one of the highest bust-rate positions in the league, in part because of how desperate teams are to find that shutdown player.
Scouts can easily evaluate what they call a player’s ability to “flip his hips,” whether on film or in person at the NFL combine or pro day. That demonstrates how seamlessly a defensive back can go from backpedaling to running at an angle.
The thing they cannot measure is how well a player can fit into a certain defensive scheme, or how they perform when there is little or no pass rush.
Typically, a good pass rush makes a team’s coverage better and increases the chance of creating turnovers. The Steelers were the converse of that in 2018. They tied for the league lead with 52 sacks, but ranked 28th with just 8 interceptions.
“We sacked the quarterback at a very good rate, but our takeaways are not very good at all,” Colbert said. “It’s really reflective on the players we have back there. What we want to look at, what we want to value looking forward, is let’s value the takeaway-capable guys who have shown they’ve been able to do that in college.”
The Steelers want to keep up with the times. In the pass-happy NFL, finding corners who can tackle and play the run has been replaced by finding corners who can run and make plays on the ball.
That’s why a player like LSU’s Greedy Williams, an effortless athlete who excels in man coverage, is so appealing to them. Same with Byron Murphy of Washington and Deandre Baker of Georgia. Like Williams, they make plays on the ball.
Coaches can teach technique once the player gets to the NFL. But it is not always easy to determine which cornerbacks can get better in certain schemes. Also, according to former Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik, it is difficult to gauge a cornerback’s ability to have a short memory – i.e., forget about a mistake and bounce back for the next play.
"The Number 1 thing you have to look at is their ability to overcome mistakes,” said Dominik, a host on NFL XM Sirius Radio. “How does his confidence level hold up the next play after he's beat? What happens on the next snap? It's all about that competitive drive.
“And corners ... you have to bring them into your building to find out. You have to find out about their swagger, their intelligence level. They have to have that competitive nature, and they have to have that pure athleticism.”
Former Dallas Cowboys personnel director Gil Brandt said that was one of the great qualities of former Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor.
“He would get beat, but he'd come back the next play like it never happened at all," Brandt said.
Here’s a look at the 14 cornerbacks the Steelers have drafted since 2007:
William Gay, 5th round, 2007 – First cornerback drafted by Tomlin and the one who lasted the longest. But he didn’t get a second multi-year contract until after he was released by the Arizona Cardinals in 2013 and the Steelers re-signed him.
Keenan Lewis, 3rd, 2009 – Was the corner they let get away in free agency after he started 16 games with 23 pass breakups in 2012. Lewis started 33 games with the New Orleans Saints before injuries ended his career.
Joe Burnett, 5th, 2009 – Showed a lot of promise as a rookie after a stellar preseason, but will always be remembered for a dropped interception in a 2009 loss in Oakland that would have ended the Raiders’ game-winning drive. Lasted one season with the Steelers.
Crezdon Butler, 5th, 2010 – Lasted one season with the Steelers before being cut at the end of his second training camp. Was a member of eight other teams over the next six seasons.
Curtis Brown, 3rd, 2011 – Lasted three seasons but finished each season on injured reserve. Appeared in 34 games, mainly on special teams, but never had an interception.
Cortez Allen, 4th, 2011 – The only cornerback to get a second multi-year contract in Tomlin’s 13 years with the Steelers. After signing a five-year, $24.6 million deal in 2014, Allen lost confidence and was benched by mid-October. He was released a year later.
Terrence Frederick, 7th, 2012 – The Steelers needed depth in their secondary after William Gay left in free agency. Frederick never made it past training camp.
Terry Hawthorne, 5th, 2013 – Never made it past his first training camp, in part because of a knee injury.
Shaq Richardson, 5th, 2014 – Made it to the Steelers’ practice squad after being waived at the end of training camp, but lasted just two months before he was released for good.
Senquez Golson, 2nd, 2015 – Second-highest corner drafted under Tomlin, he never got on the field because of injuries and was released after two seasons.
Doran Grant, 4th, 2015 – Some scouts thought he would have been a better safety than cornerback. He lasted one season with the Steelers then bounced around to four other teams.
Artie Burns, 1st, 2016 – Started 31 games in three seasons, but lost his starting position for good when he got beat for a long pass to set up a go-ahead TD in Cincinnati in Week 6 in 2018.
Cam Sutton, 3rd, 2017 – Steelers are still waiting to see if he can become the starting nickel back. Smart and athletic, but needs to do something.
Brian Allen, 5th, 2017 – It was the third time under Tomlin the Steelers took two cornerbacks in the same draft. Allen has mainly appeared on special teams.
First Published: April 19, 2019, 3:38 p.m.
