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Over the next three weeks, we are going to be taking a deep dive into the draft history of the Pittsburgh Steelers legendary general manager, Kevin Colbert. Colbert informed the team earlier this year that he was planning on stepping away from football after the 2022 NFL Draft, so we thought what better time to look back at Colbert’s historic career and attempt to rank his best picks from all three days of the draft.
Colbert grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and has been the general manager of the Steelers since 2000. The Steelers never officially gave him the “general manager” title until 2010, but he has been scouting and drafting players well before then. For arguments sake, we are going to use the 2001 NFL Draft as Colbert’s “official” first year of drafting players and will go all the way up to last year. This gives us 20 years of draft picks to comb through and pick out Colbert’s best selections.
For those unfamiliar with the NFL Draft, it is broken into three days. Day one consists of just the first round. Every team is given a selection at the beginning of the year and they have the ability to do whatever they want with this pick. Day two includes the second and third round and is typically where a lot of value has been found by C0lbert over the years. Day three is the longest day of the draft and encompasses rounds 4-7.
In the first addition of our series, we are just going to look at day one draft picks, or first rounders. In Colbert’s reign as GM, he has had a first round pick in all but one year. In 2020, the Steelers traded away their first round pick for perennial All-Pro talent Minkah Fitzpatrick. Colbert has also only traded up in the first round twice – in 2003 for first ballot Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu and again in 2019 for inside linebacker Devin Bush.
Below are my top 3 Colbert day one draft picks:
Coming out of school, Watt was a bit of a question mark. A converted tight end who spent most of his college career injured, Watt had only played one full season at the University of Wisconsin before declaring for the NFL Draft in 2017. The Steelers were coming off a loss in the AFC Championship game the prior season and had multiple holes on the defensive side of the ball to fill. After seeing seven edge rushers selected in the first round, Colbert turned in his card when the Steelers got to pick #30 and selected Watt.
Watt has quickly become the best defensive player in the entire NFL and is coming off his first Defensive Player of the Year Award. After tying the NFL single-season sack record in 2022, Watt has 72 sacks in his first five seasons. Watt also has been named to the Pro Bowl in four straight years and has been named First Team All-Pro in three straight years. Watt could potentially leapfrog all the other day one picks by Colbert and be number one on this list one day, but right now, it’s hard to put him above the next two guys. However, the fact that Colbert was able to land him at #30 in the 2017 NFL Draft just goes to show how great he is at drafting. Watt is on a path two being a first ballot Hall of Famer and 29 other teams passed on him lending the Steelers to draft one of the best edge rushers we’ve ever seen.
Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin (left), Steelers LB TJ Watt (middle), and Steelers President Art Rooney II (right). Photo via Lake Fong / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
As previously mentioned, Colbert has only traded up in the first round two times in his entire career and this was his first — and boy, could it not have worked out any better. Polamalu was selected 16th overall by the Steelers in the 2003 NFL Draft and ended up spending his entire 12 year career with the black and gold.
During his historic Hall of Fame career, Polamalu was selected to the Pro Bowl eight times, was named All-Pro four times, won the 2010 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award and won two Super Bowls in 2005 and 2008. Polamalu was named to the 2000 NFL Hall of Fame All-Decade Team and cemented himself as one of the best safeties to play the game. This historic career would never have been possible if Colbert wouldn’t have traded up in the first round and brought Polamalu to Pittsburgh. Once again, half the NFL passed on Polamalu and Colbert selected a sure fire Hall of Famer halfway through the first round.
During Colbert’s astonishing 20+ year run as GM, he only selected a quarterback once in the first round and what a pick it was. Colbert once again showed his wizardry by selecting future first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback Big Ben Roethlisberger in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft. Colbert selected Roethlisberger as the third quarterback in the draft that year at #11 overall and proved how great his scouting techniques are as Roethlisberger clearly proved to be the best quarterback in that draft.
Roethlisberger retired this year after an 18 year career that saw him collect multiple accolades and set numerous records. We could write an entire article chronically how great Roethlisberger was, and we have, but we will let his two Super Bowl rings and career winning percentage of over 65% speak for itself. Roethlisberger ended up being the longest tenured quarterback in NFL history to play for one team, spending 18 seasons in Pittsburgh and setting every franchise passing and game record. Roethlisberger will go down as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game and Colbert’s ability to see Roethlisberger’s talent and bring him to the Steelers will be something fans will be forever grateful for.
Colbert’s reign as general manager of the Steelers was one that will be extremely hard to top. Likely a future Hall of Famer, Colbert’s calm demeanor and excellent scouting eye propelled the Steelers to two Super Bowl championships and kept them competitive his entire time in Pittsburgh.
Most GMs must go through multiple rebuilding periods if they’re lucky enough to stay two decades with one team, but Colbert never has. His ability to consistently draft well and add necessary pieces through free agency have kept the Steelers competitive every season he has been GM and the Steelers will forever be grateful for Colbert.
Check beck next week as we chronical Colbert’s best day two and three draft picks!
#SteelerNation
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
Colbert grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and has been the general manager of the Steelers since 2000. The Steelers never officially gave him the “general manager” title until 2010, but he has been scouting and drafting players well before then. For arguments sake, we are going to use the 2001 NFL Draft as Colbert’s “official” first year of drafting players and will go all the way up to last year. This gives us 20 years of draft picks to comb through and pick out Colbert’s best selections.
For those unfamiliar with the NFL Draft, it is broken into three days. Day one consists of just the first round. Every team is given a selection at the beginning of the year and they have the ability to do whatever they want with this pick. Day two includes the second and third round and is typically where a lot of value has been found by C0lbert over the years. Day three is the longest day of the draft and encompasses rounds 4-7.
In the first addition of our series, we are just going to look at day one draft picks, or first rounders. In Colbert’s reign as GM, he has had a first round pick in all but one year. In 2020, the Steelers traded away their first round pick for perennial All-Pro talent Minkah Fitzpatrick. Colbert has also only traded up in the first round twice – in 2003 for first ballot Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu and again in 2019 for inside linebacker Devin Bush.
Below are my top 3 Colbert day one draft picks:
#3. Steelers LB, TJ Watt
Coming out of school, Watt was a bit of a question mark. A converted tight end who spent most of his college career injured, Watt had only played one full season at the University of Wisconsin before declaring for the NFL Draft in 2017. The Steelers were coming off a loss in the AFC Championship game the prior season and had multiple holes on the defensive side of the ball to fill. After seeing seven edge rushers selected in the first round, Colbert turned in his card when the Steelers got to pick #30 and selected Watt.
Watt has quickly become the best defensive player in the entire NFL and is coming off his first Defensive Player of the Year Award. After tying the NFL single-season sack record in 2022, Watt has 72 sacks in his first five seasons. Watt also has been named to the Pro Bowl in four straight years and has been named First Team All-Pro in three straight years. Watt could potentially leapfrog all the other day one picks by Colbert and be number one on this list one day, but right now, it’s hard to put him above the next two guys. However, the fact that Colbert was able to land him at #30 in the 2017 NFL Draft just goes to show how great he is at drafting. Watt is on a path two being a first ballot Hall of Famer and 29 other teams passed on him lending the Steelers to draft one of the best edge rushers we’ve ever seen.
Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin (left), Steelers LB TJ Watt (middle), and Steelers President Art Rooney II (right). Photo via Lake Fong / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
#2. Steelers SS, Troy Polamalu
As previously mentioned, Colbert has only traded up in the first round two times in his entire career and this was his first — and boy, could it not have worked out any better. Polamalu was selected 16th overall by the Steelers in the 2003 NFL Draft and ended up spending his entire 12 year career with the black and gold.
During his historic Hall of Fame career, Polamalu was selected to the Pro Bowl eight times, was named All-Pro four times, won the 2010 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award and won two Super Bowls in 2005 and 2008. Polamalu was named to the 2000 NFL Hall of Fame All-Decade Team and cemented himself as one of the best safeties to play the game. This historic career would never have been possible if Colbert wouldn’t have traded up in the first round and brought Polamalu to Pittsburgh. Once again, half the NFL passed on Polamalu and Colbert selected a sure fire Hall of Famer halfway through the first round.
#1. Steelers QB, Ben Roethlisberger
During Colbert’s astonishing 20+ year run as GM, he only selected a quarterback once in the first round and what a pick it was. Colbert once again showed his wizardry by selecting future first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback Big Ben Roethlisberger in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft. Colbert selected Roethlisberger as the third quarterback in the draft that year at #11 overall and proved how great his scouting techniques are as Roethlisberger clearly proved to be the best quarterback in that draft.
Roethlisberger retired this year after an 18 year career that saw him collect multiple accolades and set numerous records. We could write an entire article chronically how great Roethlisberger was, and we have, but we will let his two Super Bowl rings and career winning percentage of over 65% speak for itself. Roethlisberger ended up being the longest tenured quarterback in NFL history to play for one team, spending 18 seasons in Pittsburgh and setting every franchise passing and game record. Roethlisberger will go down as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game and Colbert’s ability to see Roethlisberger’s talent and bring him to the Steelers will be something fans will be forever grateful for.
Colbert’s reign as general manager of the Steelers was one that will be extremely hard to top. Likely a future Hall of Famer, Colbert’s calm demeanor and excellent scouting eye propelled the Steelers to two Super Bowl championships and kept them competitive his entire time in Pittsburgh.
Most GMs must go through multiple rebuilding periods if they’re lucky enough to stay two decades with one team, but Colbert never has. His ability to consistently draft well and add necessary pieces through free agency have kept the Steelers competitive every season he has been GM and the Steelers will forever be grateful for Colbert.
Check beck next week as we chronical Colbert’s best day two and three draft picks!
#SteelerNation
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
