By G.Stryker
SteelerNation.com
There are drafts when the Pittsburgh Steelers move, make trades, and acquire players. There are also times when they just barely miss out on players due to the moves of other teams. As we revisit different Steelers drafts, we will take a look inside into what made those moments both special and memorable.
My thoughts on the 2009 NFL Draft are well documented, as I believe it is one of the worst draft classes for talent in NFL History. Plus it didn’t help that the Steelers were drafting dead last each round since they won the previous Super Bowl. One interesting thing that they did was move out of the 2nd round and trade their 4th rounder to pick up two 3rd round picks. Denver was the trade partner and jumped up into the 2nd round to get their tight end, Richard Quinn. Sadly, Quinn’s career would be plagued with injuries and only managed one catch for nine yards in his five years of NFL experience. The 4th round pick ended up being offensive tackle Seth Olson, who only managed five starts playing for three teams in four years.
The Steelers hit a mini jackpot (by this draft’s standards) by finding some decent players in the 3rd round. The first was guard Kraig Urbik out of Wisconsin. He wasn’t active for the Steelers in his only year there, and lost his backup guard role to Ramon Foster, who was an undrafted rookie this exact same season. Kraig would go on to have a decent NFL career starting in Buffalo where he played in 100 games and started 63 of them. The next pick by the Steelers was wide receiver Mike Wallace from the University of Mississippi. Mike had four productive years in Pittsburgh before leaving for Miami on a lucrative free agent deal. He would go on to play for five teams in his 10 year career before retiring for good in 2018. Wallace would finish with more yardage and touchdowns than any other receiver in this draft class.
Not that bad of a haul for the Steelers, getting the best receiver in the draft at pick #84. Picking up Foster and Dan McCullers as undrafted rookie free agents helped fill some holes in Pittsburgh for a decade.
How did the Steelers do? Who would you have taken? Leave your thoughts below.
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