Ineptitude of Steelers' recent draft classes prove Mike Tomlin might be getting a bad rap from fans

The Pittsburgh Steelers have not won a playoff game since 2016 when they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 18-16. Todd Haley was the offensive coordinator and the Steelers' high powered Killer B’s produced six Chris Boswell field goals and a playoff record 170 yards rushing for Le’Veon Bell.

After losing Bell early in the game the next week, the Steelers would fall behind the New England Patriots, 33-9 by the end of the third quarter and ultimately start their string of playoff losses by falling, 36-17. The Steelers have fallen behind by at least 21 points in every playoff game since.

One of my favorite movies is "Armageddon" and Steve Buscemi is particularly wonderful in this classic film. Buscemi’s character Rockhound utters an all-time classic line near the end of the film:

“It’s time to embrace the horror,” Rockhound quips when it looks like all is lost.

Steelers fans and the organization have long hung their hats on some of the best draft classes of the Super Bowl era. The legendary class of 1974 is the best draft in NFL history and won’t be topped by anyone. 

It is time that Steelers fans follow Rockhound's advice. The Steelers are in the midst of a playoff and draft class drought that frankly makes Mike Tomlin look like a genius and Ben Roethlisberger a miracle worker.

The Steelers, by their lofty standards, were downright horrible at picking players since 2016. The 2022 draft class, which looks promising, is not included in this evaluation.

In fact, you could make a credible argument that trading for Minkah Fitzpatrick and taking a break from selecting in the first round for a year, restarted the creative juices in the front office, because 2021 and 2022 have certainly looked better.

The last six Steelers draft classes are shown below. As you can see, Omar Khan has his work cut out for him, because Pittsburgh has missed a lot more than it has hit over the last few seasons and they are paying the price for it now.

Pittsburgh Steelers Draft Classes 2016-2021
								Pick	2016		Pick	2017		Pick	2018
25	Artie Burns		30	TJ Watt		28	Terrell Edmunds
58	Sean Davis		62	JuJu Smith-Schuster		60	James Washington
89	Javon Hargrave		94	Cam Sutton		76	Mason Rudolph
123	Jerald Hawkins		105	James Conner		92	Chukwuma Okorafor
220	Travis Feeney		135	Josh Dobbs		148	Marcus Allen
229	Demarcus Ayers		173	Brian Allen		165	Jaylen Samuels
246	Tyler Matakevich		213	Colin Holba		246	Joshua Frazier
			248	Keion Adams
Pick	2019		Pick	2020		Pick	2021
10	Devin Bush Jr		18	Traded To Miami		24	Najee Harris
66	Diontae Johnson		49	Chase Claypool		55	Pat Freiermuth
83	Justin Layne		102	Alex Highsmith		87	Kendrick Green
122	Benny Snell Jr		124	Anthony McFarland		128	Dan Moore
141	Zach Gentry		135	Kevin Dotson		140	Buddy Johnson
175	Sutton Smith		198	Antoine Brooks		156	Isaiahh Loudermilk
192	Isaiah Buggs		232	Carlos Davis		216	Quicny Roche
207	Ulysees Gilbert					245	Tre Norwood
219	Derwin Gray					254	Pressley Harvin

2016 NFL Draft Class

This just might be the worst class since Chuck Noll took the head coaching job in 1969. Javon Hargrave is a bonafide talent, but the Steelers let him walk in free agency and he has blossomed into a Pro Bowl player. He will be available this off-season, but the Steelers can’t afford the price tag on him.

The scary thing is that this group played 268 games for the Steelers and produced exactly zero Pro Bowls. The games this group did not play for the Steelers do not count, and neither does the one Pro Bowl Hargrave made in Philadelphia. Only four members of this group played a significant role while they were in Pittsburgh. Yikes!

2017 NFL Draft Class

Any group that includes TJ Watt is going to look great by comparison. He is a former Defensive Player of the Year and has made the Pro Bowl every season, but his rookie year. In fact, of the 10 Pro Bowls the last six rookie classes have combined, he has half with five.

Cam Sutton is a player that the Steelers hope to retain, and he is a very good piece for the black and gold, but he is unlikely to ever get a chance to play in the Pro Bowl. JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner are both solid NFL players and they combined to bring the class total to seven Pro Bowls. The remaining five classes have combined for three if you count Alex Highsmith’s alternate status.

2018 Draft Class

This class boils down to how you feel about Terrell Edmunds and Chukwuma Okorafor. Both players might have had their best seasons in 2022 and if the Pittsburgh can retain Edmunds at a reasonable price, they should be in the Steel City for the foreseeable future.

Jaylen Samuels should hold a special place in every Steelers fan’s hearts for the regular season performance against the Patriots in 2018. It was the game of his life, but he is currently bouncing around the league and isn’t likely to become a feature back anywhere.

Mason Rudolph and Marcus Allen are both well known for what happened while they were on the field, rather than what they produced while playing on it. James Washington demonstrated flashes of brilliance, but after departing the Steelers for the Dallas Cowboys, he couldn’t stay healthy and never really contributed to them.

2019 Draft Class

Devin Bush may be the most controversial Steelers player in recent memory. They traded up to get him in 2019, thinking he was the next Ryan Shazier. Instead, he turned into the first version of himself and will be plying his trade elsewhere next season. In fairness, you could say his knee injury derailed a promising career. If you did, we would know you don’t watch the team play every week.

Diontae Johnson is the saving grace of this class. No matter how you feel about the extension, Johnson has proven he is a top NFL talent. Johnson was ranked by ESPN as the fifth best at getting open in the NFL this season. He has made a Pro Bowl and caught 100 passes in a season.

Zach Gentry will hopefully be retained by the Steelers as a blocking tight end, but he is not a top end talent. The rest of the class will be playing somewhere else next season, unless Benny Snell, who is a special teams ace, takes an extremely reasonable contract.

2020 Draft Class

The Steelers may have finally found an exit from the wilderness they wandered in for four seasons. They made an unprecedented decision to trade their first round pick in this draft for Fitzpatrick, who is an All-Pro safety and is likely to be the next defensive captain of the Steelers at some point. He doesn’t count as part of the draft class, but it is a big win.

Highsmith, who was snubbed by the Pro Bowl despite 14.5 sacks, is only getting better in Pittsburgh and should be part of the long-term plans for the black and gold. Highsmith and Watt aren’t Greg Lloyd and Kevin Greene until they win a playoff game, but they aren’t lacking the talent to do it.

Kevin Dotson is a starter and Chase Claypool’s colorful tenure netted back the first pick in the second round of the upcoming draft. Watt is not in this class, so by definition, they will have to settle for runner up.

2021 Draft Class

Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth are very promising playmakers and should be at the center of the offensive game plan over the next few seasons. Harris has been berated by Pro Football Focus and Greg Cosell as a feature back, but the addition of Jaylen Warren has helped him immensely.

Dan Moore is not a great left tackle, but he did win the job. Moore also destroyed Myles Garrett whenever he faced him. Despite his probable move to guard or right tackle, the fact that Garrett struggles against him should endear him to Steelers fans who hate the Cleveland Browns. So that includes all of Steeler Nation, right?

Tre Norwood and Isaiahh Loudermilk have demonstrated they can provide quality depth when called upon and the return of Quincy Roche for a second chance with the Steelers could yield the same for the black and gold.

Conclusion

The Steelers have selected 46 players in the previous six drafts prior to 2022. Those players combined to play 1,572 games, which works out to 98 combined seasons for that group. Watt made five Pro Bowls and the remaining 92 combined seasons produced an additional five Pro Bowl appearances. That is counting Highsmith’s alternate selection and two players no longer on the team.

The last three draft classes are an uptick, but the 2016-2019 drafts are why the Steelers struggled this season and it will take yeoman-like work from Khan to rebuild the depth chart in Pittsburgh. The Steelers essentially have four years of holes to fill and precious little time to do it. Kenny Pickett’s contract clock is ticking and maybe we should rethink this Mike Tomlin is an underachiever thing.