Pittsburgh Steelers: All-time top-five draft busts

[mesaSteeler]

(Since this is about players we have already drafted rather than those we are going to draft I put this here. - mesa)
http://sportshaze.com/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-steelers/pittsburgh-steelers-all-time-top-five-draft-busts-2484
Pittsburgh Steelers: All-time top-five draft busts
by: Jason Harding. Updated March 28, 2011 12:06 PM EST

Even though the NFL’s future is uncertain, the NFL Draft is just a mere month away. This is one of the most intriguing times for NFL teams because of the lockout. Teams will be forced to reconsider picks because of free agency.

Every year during the draft people talk about the biggest busts. Usually you hear the big names that really missed the boat. In the realm of quarterbacks alone you will hear names like Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch and most recently JaMarcus Russell.

What we don’t get to hear about are the guys that were projected to produce well for their individual team, not just the league.

Here is a top-five list of all-time Pittsburgh Steelers draft busts:

5. OT Kris Farris – UCLA – 74th Overall, 1999
Kris was an Outland Trophy winner at UCLA, but he played in only three games in the NFL. The Steelers had back-to-back picks at Nos. 73 and 74. Maybe they were still excited from getting Joey Porter at No. 73; they simply just missed at No. 74.

4. WR Troy Edwards – Louisiana Tech – 13th Overall, 1999
Hailing from Terry Bradshaw’s alma mater, Edwards led the nation in his senior year with 1,996 receiving yards. He spent three seasons in Pittsburgh before being traded. Jevon Kearse was taken three picks later in the ’99 draft.

3. LB Alonzo Jackson – Florida State – 59th Overall, 2003
Jackson transitioned from a defensive end to an outside linebacker. He only recorded eight tackles during the two years in Pittsburgh

2. DE Huey Richardson – Florida – 15th Overall, 1991
Richardson was Chuck Noll’s final first round pick. He was expected to aid the pass rush in the 3-4 system. One year later Bill Cowher traded him to the Redskins for a seventh-round pick during camp

1. RB Tim Worley – Georgia – Seventh Overall, 1989
The 1989 Draft was considered one of the best draft classes with Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders and Deion Sanders all taken in the top five. Worley played two seasons before being suspended for missing mandatory drug tests. He was traded to the Bears in 1993 for a fifthround pick.

And of course there has to be an honorable mention section for the guys the potentially could be on the list:

S Scott Shields – Weber State – 59th Overall, 1999
The 1999 draft class looks worse and worse for Pittsburgh.

WR Limas Sweed – Texas – 53rd Overall, 2008
Maybe just not enough time has passed to put him officially on the list.

OT Chris Conrad – Fresno State – 66th Overall, 1998
Played for two seasons and was out of the league.

[ricardisimo]

All-Time? I don't think so. I'm sure there are some real doozies over the past 78 years. But even just focusing on recent years, you've got to talk about Deon Figures, Darryl Sims, Aaron Jones, Walter Abercrombie, etc., etc. For every Hall-of-Famer we've selected, we've got three or four stinkers in there.

Colbert deserves major kudos for his first round record.

[pancake]

We had an OT taken in the first round that was a bust too. I think his name was Stevenson or something like that?

[lipps83]

All-Time? I don't think so. I'm sure there are some real doozies over the past 78 years. But even just focusing on recent years, you've got to talk about Deon Figures, Darryl Sims, Aaron Jones, Walter Abercrombie, etc., etc. For every Hall-of-Famer we've selected, we've got three or four stinkers in there.

Colbert deserves major kudos for his first round record.

I hate it when people add Deon Figures. The guy got shot in the knee and he was never the same. To expect him to be a superstar after that is just absurd. In my eyes, that is not a bust. He had a good rookie season, after getting shot he wasn't the same. But hey, he is a first round pick football player and the expectation is to be superhuman.

"Figures drove himself to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in west L.A. It was there that an emergency-room doctor gave him a local anesthetic and pulled the bullet out—intact—with a forceps. But the slug had already done plenty of damage. A week after the shooting Figures had bone chips removed from the knee and surgery to repair a tear in the tendon associated with holding the kneecap in place. "They told me that 25 percent of the tendon was blown away and 50 percent damaged," says Figures. "They repaired the tendon using the 50 percent that was left."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1006937/index.htm#ixzz1IJwrf7Jk

[kirklandrules]

We had an OT taken in the first round that was a bust too. I think his name was Stevenson or something like that?

Jermaine Stephens ... he was the 1st round pick for the Steelers in '96. He sucked and should have made this list. In fact you will find several busts under the infamous Tom Donahoe. I swear, that guy must have been a closet Browns fan the way he screwed the Steelers time and again.

[zulater]

All-Time? I don't think so. I'm sure there are some real doozies over the past 78 years. But even just focusing on recent years, you've got to talk about Deon Figures, Darryl Sims, Aaron Jones, Walter Abercrombie, etc., etc. For every Hall-of-Famer we've selected, we've got three or four stinkers in there.

Colbert deserves major kudos for his first round record.

Ambercrombie was a decent player for several years, he wouldn't be on my list and neither would figures.

Aaron Jones and Darryl Simms are good ones for a bad list though.

I might add Keith Gary who could just as well have stayed in Montreal as much good as he did the Steelers.

[zulater]

Greg Hawthorne was much more of a bust than Walter Ambercrombie.

[Fire Arians]

a bust list without jamain stephens?

[eafratitpm3]

I just saw a report on ESPN on Tom Brady, the Steelers picked Tee Martin for the 63rd pick in the 3rd round the year the Pats drafted Brady at 199.

[SteelBlaze1]

I saw that too...made me sick.

[kirklandrules]

I just saw a report on ESPN on Tom Brady, the Steelers picked Tee Martin for the 63rd pick in the 3rd round the year the Pats drafted Brady at 199.

Makes me wonder how "great" Tee Martin would have been had he been in a scheme that involved cheating like Marcia Brady. Remember, Marcia and her sugar daddy William Belicheat haven't won a championship since getting the slap on the wrist for cheating.

[Fire Arians]

i remember when fans were clamoring for tee martin to start over kordell stewart lol

[DanRooney]

Kraig Urbik (terrible)
Keenan Lewis (dumb)
Joe Burnett (midget)
Frank Summers (fat piece of shit)
A.Q. Shipley (alligator arms)

Oh nevermind that was just the Steelers 2009 draft :noidea: