Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

[Lonbull]

Recently saw an article on yahoo about Aaron Maybin being the worst player in the NFL.

[url]http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Is-Bills-linebacker-Aaron-Maybin-the-worst-playe?urn=nfl-280632[/url]

And it got me thinking about the Steelers draft picks and how they've developed both on the field and off the field - and when you consider the 70's Steelers, their lives after football count as well.

Overall I'm interested in knowing which one player you're most proud the Steelers drafted (or picked up as a UDFA) and developed.

As a seperate concept you could also add a player the Steelers aquired in Free Agency as well (seems almost a crime to discount Jerome Bettis just because we didn't draft him).

Or you could break down per coaching era - Noll, Cowher and Tomlin.

L.B.

[D Rock]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

just off the top of my head, Mel Blount has a youth home of something along those lines at his ranch, correct?

That's something to be proud of.

[flippy]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

I'll go Hines Ward.

Born in South Korea. Leveraged SuperBowl MVP to support biracial kids in Korea.

Overcame great odds. Mother doesn't speak English as first language. He doesn't have an ACL. He's slow and undersized as a WR.

And he revolutionized and changed the rules of the game.


Runner up - Mike Webster

It never became clear the beating he took for our Steelers until after his football career. Yet he always played and was one of the best ever at his position.

The NFL should be protecting guys like Webby.

It's a shame that he went from SuperStar to homeless and then dead so young.

He gave us his all....literally.

[StarSpangledSteeler]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Troy Polamalu.

Mostly because we took a huge risk/cost/gamble to go up and get him, and he turned out better than we ever could've hoped. He is called by many the best defensive player in football yet he is also one of the humblest. He leads by example, by hard work, and is a model citizen off the field. He makes spectacular plays (ex. all out diving to pick INT's off the ground, diving over the LOS, chasing down/torpedoing Chris Johnson in the backfield) that almost no one else in the game can make. And when the game is on the line he raises his level of performance/execution. He is a devout Christian, a family man, and is well liked by nearly all who meet him.

[papillon]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Mel Blount, Dermontti Dawson and Troy Polamalu come to mind immediately. At the end of the day and when his career is complete and this past summer's foibles are behind him I will be proud that the Steelers drafted Ben Roethlisberger as well.

Pappy

[stlrz d]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Ben.

[Chadman]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Scott Shields.

His drafting proved that the Steelers will give anyone a shot.

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Scott Shields.

His drafting proved that the Steelers will give anyone a shot.

Sean Mahan and Duce Staley.

their FA signings proved that even the Steelers are wrong sometimes...

[steelblood]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Blount
Stallworth
Polamalu
Dawson
Aaron Smith
Merril Hoge

I like the guys who are exceptional players and people with no drama, and they give back to the community.

[papillon]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Blount
Stallworth
Polamalu
Dawson
Aaron Smith
Merril Hoge

I like the guys who are exceptional players and people with no drama, and they give back to the community.

I love the Hodge and Smith additions; it's difficult to remember them all when you begin thinking about things like this.

Pappy

[Oviedo]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Blount
Stallworth
Polamalu
Dawson
Aaron Smith
Merril Hoge

I like the guys who are exceptional players and people with no drama, and they give back to the community.

Stallworth has become a very successful businessman and his company did lots of work here in the Orlando area for the Government before he sold it. Actually got to see him here a couple of times.

In 1986, he founded Madison Research Corporation (MRC), which specialized in providing engineering and information technology services to government and commercial clients. Under Stallworth's leadership, MRC grew to more than 650 employees and $69.5 million in revenues(FY03). MRC manages six regional offices: Huntsville, Alabama (headquarters); Warner Robins, Georgia; Orlando, Florida and Shalimar, Florida; Montgomery, Alabama; Houston, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio. In October 2006, the sale of MRC to Wireless Facilities Inc. was completed, and at that time it was announced that Stallworth would pursue other interests

[steelblood]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Blount
Stallworth
Polamalu
Dawson
Aaron Smith
Merril Hoge

I like the guys who are exceptional players and people with no drama, and they give back to the community.

I love the Hodge and Smith additions; it's difficult to remember them all when you begin thinking about things like this.

Pappy

Thanks.

I really like Stallworth too. He is such a humble guy. He was a clutch player, good citizen, and now he's a part of our ownership team. I can still remember him laying out to catch sideline passes and dragging his feet.

[anger 82&95]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Which one doesn’t belong? (a) John Stallworth; 4th round steal; (b), L.C. Greenwood, 10th round gem, (c) Tim Worley (tasered pee-test dodger)

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

After retiring from football, Dwayne Woodruff obtained his Juris Doctor from Duquesne University, subsequently becoming a founding member of the law firm Woodruff, Flaherty & Fardo, LLC out of Shadyside. Woodruff was elected in 2005 to be a Judge in the Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.



Going back even further (and looking at a much higher court), Byron "Whizzer" White signed with the NFL's Pittsburgh Pirates (now Steelers) after graduation, playing there during the 1938 season. He led the league in rushing in his rookie season and became the game's highest-paid player. He then left for Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. He came back to play a couple of year with the Lions before serving in the Navy during World War II. After the war, he attended Yale Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1946. In 1962, he was appointed to be a Supreme Court Justice by President John F. Kennedy.

[Oviedo]

Re: Players you're proud the Steelers Drafted?

Woodruff is a great choice. Always liked him as a player.