Which Pittsburgh Steelers in modern times that went elsewhere were very productive elsewhere?

Which Pittsburgh Steelers in modern times that went elsewhere were very productive elsewhere?

We all know about in the olden days, Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson, Earl Morrall all were former Steelers that did well after leaving Pittsburgh, but in modern times which Steelers went elsewhere and were productive?

Some that come to mind are: Rod Woodson, Gary Anderson, Frank Lewis, Preston Pearson, Chad Brown, Matt Bahr and Dwaine Board. Others?

 

Dave Brown. 1976 1st round pick and ended up 62 career interceptions for mostly Seattle who claimed him in the expansion draft.

 

The Eagles seem to know how to snipe the Steelers Draft picks.

Javon Hardgrave seemed to turn it up a notch when he got out of Pittsburgh. And I for one will be curious to see how Edmunds does this year as the Eagles starting Strong Safety.

 

Conversely, three players that did very well here after being elsewhere, Jerome Bettis, James Harrison and James Farrior. Great acquisitions.

 

Curious as to why you are claiming Harrison is not an original Steeler?

Pittsburgh Steelers
Harrison went undrafted in the 2002 NFL Draft, as teams feared he was too short (six feet) to play linebacker, and too light (240 pounds) to play on the defensive line. A few teams did send him training camp invites.[8] The Steelers signed Harrison as an undrafted rookie in 2002, making him the first Kent State alumnus to play at linebacker for the team since Hall of Famer Jack Lambert.
James Harrison (American football) - Wikipedia

 

jason simmons. chad brown. thomas everett < was one of my favorites.

 

Antonio Brown and Leveon Bell…NOT!!!

 

He was cut by Baltimore before sticking here

Maybe he meant that

 

Hardy Nickerson, Chad Brown and Emmanuel Sanders come time mind.

 

vrabel.

 

I was going to say Vrabel, but He was never really a starter Here.

 

Define "modern Times".

 

The Charlie Chaplin movie comes to mind but beyond that...good question

 

I was going with anything starting in 1776

 

June 17, 2004 the Baltimore Ravens waived James Harrison.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HarrJa23.htm

 

From the time of the Emperor Chas Noll.

 

Harrison was in other organizations before he finally caught on for good with the Steelers. If I remember correctly, both the Ravens and Bengals had him briefly but cut him. It took him a while to catch on, and even longer to go beyond quality backup and special teamer.

 

True, but he seems to fit in with what the OP is asking. Len Dawson barely played when he was with the Steelers. Unitas was cut in training camp. Dwaine Board never played a down for the Steelers. They drafted him in 1979, but they must have cut him loose because he played for the 49ers that year and all but a few games of his career.

The 49ers did a nice job poaching some excellent players that the Steelers drafted and cut. Brent Jones was another one.

 

Doug Kotar, not a star but had a decent career for the Giants. I think the Steelers traded him during camp for Leo Gaesenica, a QB who was not around for long. Probably few people remember that the Steelers ever had Kotar, a local product. It was gonna be very hard to crack the roster of the 1974 Steelers.
Mike Wallace had some OK years after leaving the Burg.
Frank Lewis was a really egregious example as they traded him to the Bills for Paul Seymour, another receiver, I think. I don’t know why you would trade two players at the same position, unless Lewis got in Noll’s doghouse. Seymour had an injury the Steelers did not know about, did not pass his physical, and never played a down for the Steelers. I think that is why trades are “pending a physical” now. They got nothing at all in return for Lewis.

If you go back to the prehistoric era, the 1957 Steelers had Jack Kemp, Earl Morrall, and Len Dawson on the roster and still could not figure out how to build a team around one of them.

 

In that case, I'll go with George Washington. He did pretty well for himself after leaving the Pittsburgh area!

 

We the question was who had a good career beyond here, I'd say Ed O'neill hit it out of the park when he decided to hang 'em up and go into acting. Al Bundy would have never been believeable if he had 4 SB rings. lol

 

A guy just came to mind, Preston Pearson signed with the Steelers after being released from the Colts. A couple of successful years here, then he went to the Cowboys. Was not necessarily a star, but was a nice part of a 3 teams that went to 5 SB's, and likely defined the role of '3rd down back'. Played for Shula, Noll, and Landry, that's a pretty nice career.

 

Hardy Nickerson. 5x Pro bowls, 2x All-Pro, Led league in tackles first year after leaving.

EDIT: The footage makes it seem so long ago.

 

We had Bill Nelson at QB back in the mid 1960's then traded him to the Browns for Dick Shiner. Nelson ended up being a Pro-Bowl QB for the Browns but the silver lining was that Shiner was so bad for the Steelers that we ended up with the #1 pick taking Bradshaw in 1970.

 

Nate Washington for one, James Conner has has a bit of success in AZ, Mike Hilton, Matt Feiler, Chris Hubbard, Emmanuel Sanders, Hargrave,