Anyone who watched the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2021 season knows that it was full of ups and downs, highs and lows. Ultimately, the team made the playoffs, but only as a result of a Jacksonville Jaguars upset win against the Indianapolis Colts, and Daniel Carlson’s field goal in the final seconds of the NFL regular season. Wild.
One obvious upside of the 2021 season for the Steelers was the contributions of the team’s rookie class. Eight of nine players ultimately made the team with Miami OLB Quincy Roche being the only player who did not make the 53-man roster coming out of camp.
But, if you’re like me, you probably thought to yourself at some point this season, “huh, these guys are on the field a lot as rookies.” When looking at this past year’s rookie class compared to the previous five years’ drafts, the 2021 class didn’t just play more snaps, they played waaaaay more snaps, and outperformed their counterparts in previous classes by nearly every metric.
First, let’s look at the past five draft classes and their rookie year stats:
| Year | Round | Player | Position | # of Snaps | % of Snaps | Key Stats |
| 2021 | ||||||
| 1 | Najee Harris | RB | 980 | 84% | 1,200 Rushing; 7 TDs Rushing | |
| 2 | Pat Freiermuth | TE | 683 | 62% | 497 Receiving, 7 TDs | |
| 3 | Kendrick Green | C/G | 977 | 96% | ||
| 4 | Dan Moore Jr | OT | 1080 | 99% | ||
| 4 | Buddy Johnson | MLB | 6 | 2% | ||
| 5 | Isaiahh Loudermilk | DE | 288 | 29% | 1 sack | |
| 6 | Quincy Roche | OLB | 0 | 0% | ||
| 7 | Tre Norwood | S | 388 | 33% | ||
| 7 | Pressley Harvin | P | 134 | 31% (all special teams snaps) | ||
| Overall: | 4,536 | 48.44% | ||||
| 2020 | ||||||
| 2 | Chase Claypool | WR | 692 | 63% | 873 Receiving, 11 TDs | |
| 3 | Alex Highsmith | OLB | 437 | 43% | 1 INT, 2 sacks | |
| 4 | Anthony McFarland | RB | 108 | 12% | 113 yards | |
| 4 | Kevin Dotson | G | 360 | 41% | ||
| 6 | Antoine Brooks | S | 29 | 11% | ||
| 7 | Carlos Davis | DE | 54 | 12% | ||
| Overall: | 1,680 | 30.33% | ||||
| 2019 | ||||||
| 1 | Devin Bush | MLB | 889 | 82% | 2 INT, 1 sack | |
| 3 | Dionte Johnson | WR | 652 | 65% | 680 receiving, 5 TDs | |
| 3 | Justin Layne | CB | 0 | 0% | ||
| 4 | Benny Snell | RB | 166 | 21% | 462 rushing, 2 TDs | |
| 5 | Zach Genty | TE | 49 | 21% | 4 receiving yds | |
| 6 | Sutton Smith | DE | 0 | 0% | ||
| 6 | Isaiah Buggs | DT | 75 | 13% | ||
| 6 | Uylsees Gilbert | MLB | 0 | 0% | ||
| 7 | Derwin Gray | OT | 0 | 0% | ||
| Overall: | 1,831 | 22.44% | ||||
| 2018 | ||||||
| 1 | Terrell Edmunds | S | 966 | 93% | 1 int, 1 FR, 1 sack | |
| 2 | James Washington | WR | 526 | 54% | 217 receiving, 1 TD | |
| 3 | Mason Rudolph | QB | 0 | 0% | ||
| 3 | Chuks Okorafor | OT | 155 | 18% | ||
| 5 | Marcus Allen | S | 18 | 16% | ||
| 5 | Jaylen Samuels | RB | 228 | 24% | 3 rec. TDs, 256 rushing yds | |
| 7 | Joshua Frazier | OT | 0 | 0% | ||
| Overall: | 1,893 | 29.29% | ||||
| 2017 | ||||||
| 1 | TJ Watt | OLB | 751 | 82% | 1 int, 7 sacks | |
| 2 | JuJu Smith- Schuster | WR | 704 | 75% | 917 receiving, 7 TDs | |
| 3 | Cam Sutton | CB | 113 | 37% | ||
| 3 | James Conner | RB | 68 | 7% | 144 rushing | |
| 4 | Josh Dobbs | QB | 30 | 9% | 43 passing yds | |
| 5 | Brian Allen | CB | 0 | 0% | ||
| 6 | Colin Holba | LS | 0 | 0% | ||
| 7 | Keion Adams | OLB | 0 | 0% | ||
| Overall: | 1,666 | 26.25% | ||||
| Year | Round | Name | Position | # of Snaps | % of Snaps | Key Stats |
While it’s worth noting that the 2021 class participated in an astonishing 4,536 snaps, sitting just below the 5,177 combined snaps that the 2020, 2019, and 2017 classes took in their rookie years, for the purposes of comparing an apple to an apple, we’ll be looking at just raw percentages of snaps played.
The Steelers’ 2021 draft class averaged out to taking 48.44% of all positional snaps last season (IE, offensive players with offensive snaps, defensive players with defensive snaps, etc). The next highest draft class, the 2020 class, had only a 30.33% snap average for the rookies. In fact, the 2021 class average percentage of snaps outmatches that of the 2019 and 2017 classes’ average percentages combined. Any way that you look at it, the 2021 class was able to get a hat on game day, with all but Buddy Johnson and Quincy Roche seeing the field for meaningful snaps.
Steelers LB Buddy Johnson | Steelers.com
Steelers Rookie Breakdown
Breaking it down round by round, the overall average snap count of the past five year’s first Steelers’ selections (All first round except for Chase Claypool who was the Steelers’ first pick in the 2020 draft), is 80.8%. Najee Harris played an above average 84% of all snaps, and beyond statistics, intangibly had the most overall impact of any first pick that the Steelers have taken in the past 5 years.
Looking at the Day Three 6th and 7th round picks, the average is 8.33% of snaps played for the twelve 6th and 7th round players. The 2021 class played an impressive 21.33% of snaps. And, while this can be perhaps discounted since the Steelers rarely have kept their 6th and 7th round picks in recent years (let alone let them take snaps), I think that that percentage speaks volumes about the Steelers’ quality of later round picks in 2021. Even removing Steelers Punter Pressley Harvin’s snaps from the equation, the overall percentage for the 2021 class actually increases to 50.62% overall with their only 6th/7th round pick aside from Harvin to make the team, Tre Norwood, logging an incredible 33% of all defensive snaps.
We all know that the Steelers’ cap situation in 2021 was incredibly dire, with the team scrambling to put quality starters and depth pieces into place, but the silver lining to that past difficulty is that they were able to give nearly their entire 2021 rookie class meaningful on-field experience. That kind of experience is nearly impossible for high-pedigree first year players to get in year one, let alone the later round guys. The Steelers did that for seven rookies this past year. As head coach Mike Tomlin brings in a new class of rookies, he can lean on the starting experience of the 2021 class and expect them to make a quicker and more substantial second year leap.
What do yinz think? Did the Steelers draft especially well in 2021? Will all this experience lead to the 2021 draft class having a big year two? Comment below!
#SteelerNation
