Few teams can rival the Pittsburgh Steelers when it comes to success in the NFL Draft. After all, this is a franchise that can lay claim to the best draft year in the history of the sport. In 1974, four of the first five players the Steelers drafted went on to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Lynn Swann (Round 1), Jack Lambert (Round 2), John Stallworth (Round 4) and Mike Webster (Round 5). For a team that boasts six victories in eight Super Bowl appearances, the Steelers obviously have a rich draft history.
But even the Steelers have their clunkers from time to time. Here are the nine worst draft picks in Steelers history. For this exercise, we’re only looking at first-round picks. Expectations are much lower after that. Also, we won’t go back further than the 1960s. The draft has always been an inexact science, but scouting departments and draft prep were not a serious thing before then.
Worst draft picks in Steelers history
1/2. Bob Ferguson, FB, 1962 and Dick Leftridge, FB, 1966 (tie)
Football was very different in the 1960s, but it’s still odd that Pittsburgh used a top five pick on a fullback — not once but twice. In 1962, they drafted Ohio State’s Bob Ferguson fifth overall. He started two career games and was out of football after two seasons. In 1966, they drafted West Virginia fullback Dick Leftridge third overall. Leftridge does have a notable place in football history: He and Roger Alford were the first African-Americans to play football for West Virginia when they got there in 1963. As for his NFL career, however, Leftridge was utterly forgettable. He played all of four games in 1966, and that was it.
3. Jamain Stephens, OT, 1996
Jamain Stephens was the 29th pick out of North Carolina A&T. The 6-foot-6, 330-pounder didn’t play as a rookie, then started 19 games over the next two seasons with the Steelers. But in 1999, he showed up to training camp overweight and out of shape. After struggling to complete a series of 40-yard dashes, which had been a tradition for Pittsburgh’s first day of camp, head coach Bill Cowher cut Stephens. He would last three more seasons as a backup with the Cincinnati Bengals, then Stephens was done.
4. Tim Worley, RB, 1989
Well, the 1989 draft dropped off precipitously after the first five picks, which included Hall of Famers Troy Aikman, Deion Sanders, Derrick Thomas and Barry Sanders (the second overall pick, of course, was Tony Mandarich). The Steelers got Georgia’s Tim Worley with the seventh overall pick. Worley showed promise as a rookie, rushing for 770 yards and five touchdowns in 1989, but his career went downhill from there. He rushed for 418 yards in 1990, 117 yards in ’91 — and then he was suspended for all of ’92 after missing two mandatory drug tests. Worley was traded to the Chicago Bears for a fifth-round pick in 1993, and he retired after the ’94 season.
5. Kenny Pickett, QB, 2022
Soon-to-be Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger retired in 2021, and the Steelers reached to take Kenny Pickett with the 20th pick in 2022, hoping the University of Pittsburgh star could stay in town and be the next franchise QB. Nope. Pickett did start 12 games in each of his first two seasons with the Steelers, but that was enough for Pittsburgh to know he wasn’t the answer. Pickett is now officially a journeyman backup — he signed with the Carolina Panthers for 2026, his fourth team in the last four years.
6. Jarvis Jones, LB, 2013
The 17th overall pick out of Georgia, Jarvis Jones started 35 games over four years. He finished his career with six sacks and two interceptions.
7. Darryl Sims, DE, 1985
The 20th overall pick out of Wisconsin, Sims never started in two seasons with the Steelers. He played two more seasons with the Cleveland Browns and then was out of football. After recording 17 sacks in four years at Wisconsin, Sims had three career sacks in four NFL seasons.
8. Greg Hawthorne, RB, 1979
The 28th overall pick out of Baylor, Hawthorne did win a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers as a rookie. He started only 11 games in five seasons with Pittsburgh, though. Hawthorne was drafted as a running back, but he only rushed for 407 yards in his first three seasons. He was moved to wide receiver in 1982, but only caught 31 passes in two seasons, before finishing his career with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts.
9. Devin Bush Jr., LB, 2019
Devin Bush Jr. has had a fine career — he made the PFWA all-rookie team in 2019, and after seven seasons in the NFL, he signed a three-year deal last month to play for the Chicago Bears. But this pick is more about opportunity cost. The Steelers traded up to take Bush, a linebacker out of Michigan, with the 10th overall pick in the draft. They moved up 10 spots in the first round, trading away the 20th overall pick, a second-rounder (52nd overall) and a third-round pick in 2020. Had they not made the trade, players like Josh Jacobs and Montez Sweat were available at No. 20. DK Metcalf and Zach Allen were still on the board at No. 52.
