Scouting Team ...

I used brains when I was younger, now I rely on bitterness

 

Yeah, look at the obvious picks! You would've done better with Brown, keisel, foote, ARE... but, even with your list ... these past drafts classes hasn't been stellar ... for a team that used to build through the draft. Go back to what works. A Gm and coach can't evaluate diamonds in the rough like a good scout team

 

Lets go Bucs!

 

Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.

Plus, as I get older, “Life in prison” progressively means less.

Have a nice day everyone.

 

Seriously, have you seen all of Noll's drafts? Not stellar.

 

Yeah, there was that whole passing (no pun intended or implied) on some kid from Pittsburgh named Dan Marino. His last first rounder was Huey Richardson. Every HC has regrettable draft picks and some whole draft years. Then, there are good players chosen that either mature later with another team, or simply don't fit with the team that drafted them. The draft is a crap shoot. These are not machines with a predictable performance and a programmable interface. The trick is to get as many serviceable players as possible. I think the Steelers have consistently been in the top quarter of the league at drafting. When you consider that they are generally one of the least active teams in free agency but still manage to be competitive season to season far more often than not, that alone should indicate how well they perform at drafting and signing undrafted free agents. Of course the disclaimer is that none of the above will prevent me or anyone else from criticizing some of their picks, lol.

 

I'd argue that the Steelers are the most successful team dealing with drafting & developing NFL caliber journeymen. I'm also using a post 60s viewpoint, my lifetime.

 

As I remember the early 70's the draft came a lot closer to the end of the NFL year I believe. At that point the teams with the best scouts in the field held the upper hand. Now technology and the longer time until the draft has kind of evened out the scouting part. The Steeler have usually done a good job with the draft. There have been misses but for the most part they do a good job of drafting their own players and developing them in house. In the last couple of years they've done a pretty good job bringing in affordable free agents that seem to contribute as well.

 

And there was some fans trying to argue the Steelers weren't that good at drafting WRs .

 

I just say if it wasn't 4 Ben some of those wouldn't be so good.
Example...Plex B. When we 1st drafted him and Kordell was our Qb....a lot of people thought he sucked. It wasn't until T. Maddox came in before anybody thought he was good.
Also how well have those players on that list really done outside of Ben(Steelers).
You can name 1 that had an ok year, and another that's been a pretty good number 2 Wrs on teams.
The others ....whoop ....just disappeared.

 

The rest of the league caught up quickly. After the 74 draft we had some talent emerge, but few pro bowlers and fewer all pros, plus we were drafting much later. The 80's had very few bright spots, one quote I remember was they knew they were in trouble when they used to have to decide who to cut, but then then wondered when they should stop cutting, lol.

 

Way back in the beginning of the 70's powerhouse the Steelers did a much better job of finding and scouting the smaller black colleges. Luck and a few games were played that helped land some of those players. Back then teams had to ask for film and I mean real film. The film would be mailed from one team to the next team that requested the film on a particular player. The story goes that Stallworth's film neve got past Pittsburg it might have gotten lost in the mail ( few people believe that ) that's how the Steelers were able to wait deeper into the draft to take JS. Lambert was almost an accident that fell into their lap , apparently the Steeler's scouts went to Kent State to look at a RB or WR .After a heavy rain washed out the practice field the team scrimmaged in a packing lot and some tall skinny LB diving into the gravel for a loose ball caught their attention. That LB was none other then Jack Lambert.
Of course the Steelers were victims of some of the games played back then. The word was that Marino was a party guy and a pothead, hard to imagine a good looking starting QB not enjoying his college experience . Anyways those rumors and a focus on rebuilding the defense steered the Steelers away from Marino.