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At the conclusion of each year’s NFL Draft, there’s a lot of focus on “Mr. Irrelevant,” the honor bestowed on the last player taken in the seventh round of the NFL Draft. Recent Mr. Irrelevants have included the likes of Tae Crowder (LB, New York Giants), Trey Quinn (WR, Washington Commanders), and notably Ryan Succop (K, Kansas City Chiefs). The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ last pick at the coveted selection was 1980’s 7th round pick, guard Tyrone Mcgriff. McGriff played with the Steelers from 1980-1982, before joining the Untied States Football League (USFL) for the 1983-1985 seasons.
It’s fair to say that “Mr. Irrelevant” is rarely ever relevant to the team that drafted him, and beyond a few notable examples, rarely has the staying power to make much of an impact on an NFL roster. Perhaps putting forth a rare example, the Pittsburgh Steelers kept both of their 2021 seventh round draft picks, safety Tre Norwood and punter Pressley Harvin III, on their official roster throughout the 2021 season. Both Norwood and Harvin had chances to make an impact on the 2021 season, with Norwood notably intercepting Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield in the final minutes of Ben Roethlisberger’s final home game, allowing the future Hall of Famer to take the field one last time in victory formation. Regardless of how the rest of his career goes, Norwood will always at least have that distinctive accomplishment on his resume.
The Steelers have been pretty adept at taking late round and/or undrafted free agents and turning them into starters in recent years. Mike Hilton, Ramon Foster, Vince Williams, the list goes on and on. Today, I want to take a look at all of the Steelers’ seventh round draft picks of the 21st century and see who is their best pick over that 22-year span. I think a couple of names might surprise you, and a couple will have you asking, “Who?” Here’s the list:
The jury is still out on a couple of the aforementioned guys like Harvin and Norwood, but I think that there are three main categories that these seventh round players fall into. The first, what I call the “who?” section is the largest, comprising the likes of Gerod Hollman and LeVar Glover. The second, is made up of players whose names you may remember, like DeMarcus Ayers, who never lived up to their potential, as well as role players such as David Johnson and Tyler Matakevich, who had multi-year NFL careers (in the case of Matakevich, a continuing NFL career).
The last section, which I label the standouts, includes the candidates for the Steelers’ best seventh round picks of the century. Setting aside the two 2021 draftees, the only two that can make an argument for the best seventh round pick in my view are 2002’s Brett Keisel and 2012’s Kelvin Beachum. Both names are likely immediately recognizable for Steelers fans, and both had robust NFL careers, with Keisel spending 13 seasons with the Steelers and Beachum spending three with the Steelers before continuing on elsewhere.
Ultimately, I think that there is no question that “Da Beard,” Brett Keisel, is bar none the best Steelers seventh round player of the 21st century, and arguably ever. His two Super Bowl rings outnumber many players’ with a higher pedigree, and the “Fear Da Beard” brand still looms large today in Yinzer Mythology. Keisel wracked up an impressive 30 sacks, 33 tackles-for-loss, 2 interceptions, and 9 fumble recoveries in his 13 year NFL career, making him one of the most productive Steelers defensive lineman in the last 40 years for the franchise. He’s a living legend, and the fact that he is a seventh round pick only adds to his intrigue.
What do Yinz think? Is it Beachum? Keisel? Or someone else? Comment below!
#SteelerNation
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
It’s fair to say that “Mr. Irrelevant” is rarely ever relevant to the team that drafted him, and beyond a few notable examples, rarely has the staying power to make much of an impact on an NFL roster. Perhaps putting forth a rare example, the Pittsburgh Steelers kept both of their 2021 seventh round draft picks, safety Tre Norwood and punter Pressley Harvin III, on their official roster throughout the 2021 season. Both Norwood and Harvin had chances to make an impact on the 2021 season, with Norwood notably intercepting Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield in the final minutes of Ben Roethlisberger’s final home game, allowing the future Hall of Famer to take the field one last time in victory formation. Regardless of how the rest of his career goes, Norwood will always at least have that distinctive accomplishment on his resume.
The Steelers have been pretty adept at taking late round and/or undrafted free agents and turning them into starters in recent years. Mike Hilton, Ramon Foster, Vince Williams, the list goes on and on. Today, I want to take a look at all of the Steelers’ seventh round draft picks of the 21st century and see who is their best pick over that 22-year span. I think a couple of names might surprise you, and a couple will have you asking, “Who?” Here’s the list:
| Year | Name | Position | School |
| 2000 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2001 | Chris Taylor | WR | Texas A&M |
| 2002a | LaVar Glover | CB | Cincinnati |
| 2002b | Brett Keisel | DE | BYU |
| 2003 | JT Wall | FB | Georgia |
| 2004 | Eric Taylor | DE | Memphis |
| 2005a | Shaun Nua | DE | BYU |
| 2005b | Noah Herron | RB | Northwestern |
| 2006 | Cedric Humes | RB | Virginia Tech |
| 2007 | Dallas Baker | WR | Florida |
| 2008 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2009a | A.Q. Shipley | C | Penn State |
| 2009b | David Johnson | TE | Arkansas State |
| 2010 | Doug Worthington | DT | Ohio State |
| 2011 | Baron Batch | RB | Texas Tech |
| 2012a | Toney Clemons | WR | Colorado |
| 2012b | David Paulson | TE | Oregon |
| 2012c | Terrence Frederick | CB | Texas A&M |
| 2012d | Kelvin Beachum | OG | SMU |
| 2013 | Nick Williams | DT | Samford |
| 2014 | Rob Blanchflower | TE | Massachusetts |
| 2015 | Gerod Hollman | S | Louisville |
| 2016a | Demarcus Ayers | WR | Houston |
| 2016b | Tyler Matakevich | LB | Temple |
| 2017 | Keion Adams | LB | Western Michigan |
| 2018 | Joshua Frazier | DL | Alabama |
| 2019 | Derwin Gray | OT | Maryland |
| 2020 | Carlos Davis | DT | Nebraska |
| 2021a | Tre Norwood | S | Oklahoma |
| 2021 b | Pressley Harvin III | P | Georgia Tech |
The jury is still out on a couple of the aforementioned guys like Harvin and Norwood, but I think that there are three main categories that these seventh round players fall into. The first, what I call the “who?” section is the largest, comprising the likes of Gerod Hollman and LeVar Glover. The second, is made up of players whose names you may remember, like DeMarcus Ayers, who never lived up to their potential, as well as role players such as David Johnson and Tyler Matakevich, who had multi-year NFL careers (in the case of Matakevich, a continuing NFL career).
The last section, which I label the standouts, includes the candidates for the Steelers’ best seventh round picks of the century. Setting aside the two 2021 draftees, the only two that can make an argument for the best seventh round pick in my view are 2002’s Brett Keisel and 2012’s Kelvin Beachum. Both names are likely immediately recognizable for Steelers fans, and both had robust NFL careers, with Keisel spending 13 seasons with the Steelers and Beachum spending three with the Steelers before continuing on elsewhere.
Ultimately, I think that there is no question that “Da Beard,” Brett Keisel, is bar none the best Steelers seventh round player of the 21st century, and arguably ever. His two Super Bowl rings outnumber many players’ with a higher pedigree, and the “Fear Da Beard” brand still looms large today in Yinzer Mythology. Keisel wracked up an impressive 30 sacks, 33 tackles-for-loss, 2 interceptions, and 9 fumble recoveries in his 13 year NFL career, making him one of the most productive Steelers defensive lineman in the last 40 years for the franchise. He’s a living legend, and the fact that he is a seventh round pick only adds to his intrigue.
What do Yinz think? Is it Beachum? Keisel? Or someone else? Comment below!
#SteelerNation
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
