Steeler Busts vs a Discovery

I was curious of what is your opinion of Steeler players that were the biggest bust vs a discovery where there was a UDFA or 4th round or lowerpick that turned into a diamond find.

It gets complicated even defining a bust but the obvious metric in weighted value would be where picked in the draft vs production. Even this could be debated forever without a defined universal metric.

For me I would say Jamain Stephens as a bust. Cowher even tried him on the D line.

The greatest discover for lack of a better term must have been James H.

What I also found interesting is that Mike Vrabel was probably the only major FA loss that still was on the ascension side of his career.

What are your personal choices for bust and discovery?

 

Jarvis Jones= bust
Willie Parker = discovery

 

Artie Burns was a huge bust.

Rocky Bleier was a great surprise considering his foot injury in vietnam.

 

Agreed...Stephens=Bust...
Pre losing his mind discovery=AB

 

Jarvis Jones = Bust
James Harrison = Discovery

 

Huey Richardson.

Donnie Shell

 

Artie Burns and Jarvis Jones are the worst busts in the past decade

They have done well with discovering or developing undrafted guys, Villanueva, Foster, Feiler, Hilton, and late round guys like Vince, Beachum and the infamous AB

 

This.



Artie was bad but Huey was infamous.

 

Greg Lloyd was a nice discovery.

 

One of the last of Chuck's guys. Unprepared front office. Did you know his Wiki says he was in the WTC when the plane hit? He was supposed to be on one of the upper floors but was delayed in the lobby and was able to leave after the hit.

 

senquez golsen, bust never saw the field.

mike hilton, the guy he played with in college discovery.

 

Shoulder(Torn Labrum), Lisfranc and a hamstring. Horrible luck, never played a snap in any games...Pre-season or regular.

 

Chuck Noll = Bust

Mike Tomlin = Discovery

Just goofing!

 

Agreed. Burns at least showed some competence at times. Richardson was an utter failure in every way.

They had so many lousy first-round picks in the '80s. Daryl Sims was terrible. Aaron Jones was only marginally better.

Here is a piece the P-G ran on Richardson, with info on some other busts.

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports...rs-most-confounding-flop/stories/200504190165

 

1999

Troy Edwards/Bust

Aaron Smith/4th round/Discovery

 

AB was both. Discovered, busted by Burfict, and then busted his career.

 

Limas Sweed = bust

James Harrison = discovery

 

Interesting, I will give my take by decades 80's...7 1st round busts, 1 unknown Gabe Rivera, 1 very good Louis Lipps, 1 HOF and all time great Rod Woodson.

There might be some 80's discoveries, but that decade was so polluted it pains me to think about it.

 

I’m sure he would like to have the opportunity to start healthy again, but he did make $2MM.

 

I know you are just goofing, but I will agree with a slight edit: Noll = Bust in Canton

 

I remember the first time I heard of Hoge was reading about him in Mel Kiper, Jr's draft preview. Yes, I read his stuff in the '80s. That was my serious football junkie phase and nobody put out comprehensive draft information like that back then. Kiper nailed it on Hoge. He not only projected the move to fullback, he even mentioned that Hoge would be a good fit for the Steelers.

 

Agree with Artie.
Man, you got me thinking about the good old days of Smith, Hampton, and Keisel. A 1st, a 4th and a 7th, and they were the best D-line combo for what, 3-4 years?

 

Everyone points to Artie Burns but when I look back on that draft he was exactly what the scouting report said.
Strengths Height length speed decent man on man coverage
Weakness's Not very good in zone coverage and poor ball skills

Steelers played him in zone and he got lost out there, in man coverage he could stay with anyone but when the ball arrived he would lose track of it and ran into his receiver and drew the PI call.

He didn t look terrible as a raw rookie but deteriorated each year after that. I think our coaching especially if they are asked to coach up a DB sucks. Sean Davis was the same not bad as a rookie and gradually got worse.

Sorry way off topic

Bust Javis Jones never have I seen a NFL LB with out and visible biceps he looked and played like he wasn't strong enough.

Discovery tie between James Harrison and AB in the early years before their heads swelled.