Rod Woodson should have remained a Steeler for life: Redrafting 1997

[Steeler Nation]

In this retrospective series, we’ll use 20/20 hindsight to play General Manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers to review past drafts – focusing primarily on top 2-3 selections – and personnel decisions year-by-year and redraft or implement trades based on the Steelers roster at the time.

General rule: Any “redrafted” pick will generally fall within a 15-pick range and trade propositions being realistic and attainable.



Steelers situation and needs:

• Bill Cowher knew Mike Tomczak wasn’t the QB he needed and they were committed to Kordell Stewart.
• The Steelers were raided again in free agency, losing Chad Brown, Rod Woodson, Ernie Mills, Deon Figures and Andre Hastings.
• Greg Lloyd was no longer the player he once was due to the ACL tear and staph infection that caused him to miss 1996.
• The Steelers defense would field six new starters, with three getting their first full-time starting role.
• Free agent CB Donnell Woolford was a signing to replace Woodson and Nolan Richardson was signed for the DE help.

Dan Rooney’s Final Regret​

Redrafting 1996: 1st Round – #24 Overall; 2nd Round – #53 Overall

Dan Rooney said he thought Woodson should be moved to free safety but its been reported that Bill Cowher and Tom Donahoe believed his knee and an injured shoulder would limit him there.

Dan Rooney, per My 75 Years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL:

One of my biggest regrets in the game was allowing Rod Woodson to leave.

Donahoe lowballed Woodson in negotiations and pulled a tactic: he offered the same deal to Woolford and Woodson and whoever signed first was the Steelers choice. You do not do that to a player of Woodson’s caliber. It backfired and at Rooney’s urging they tried to get a deal done all the way up to the NFL Draft, when the Steelers ultimately drafted CB Chad Scott. Woodson ultimately left for the San Francisco 49ers for less money. That one is on Donahoe.

Let’s be fair to Scott in that he wasn’t a bad player, but unfortunately he suffered an injury to his knee in 1998 and had reconstructive knee surgery. We’ll never know how drastically that effected him – similar to 1993 #1 pick Deon Figures. Scott managed 21 INTs with 4 returned for TDs in his career – that is more than Ike Taylor ever produced and nobody believes Taylor wasn’t a top notch CB. Scott was a Steeler all the way through 2004, just missing out on that Super Bowl XL ring, and that kind of sucks.

With the losses of Hastings and Mills, WR Will Blackwell was taken in the 2nd round and did not live up to the level of his predecessors or successors. After only 67 receptions in 5 years, he was out of the league.

Grade: F​

• The Steelers drafted LB Mike Vrabel in the 3rd round, who only went on to succeed with the New England Patriots and kill us.
• 3rd round pick OT Paul Wiggins couldn’t even beat out Jamain Stephens.
• Donnell Woolford was not a bad FA signing and was having a very good year with 4 INTs through 9 weeks, until he suffered a career ending knee injury.
• The guy that Donahoe thought was done (Woodson — went on to have 33 more INTs, 7 TDS, 4 Pro Bowls and an All Pro. Even with a chance to get Woodson back the following year (only to let him go to the Arch Rival Baltimore Ravens) – the “we don’t do reclamation projects” is not forgivable.

Redrafting 1997: Rod Woodson never leaves​

Starting with that premise, Rod Woodson is in a Steelers uniform period. That being said, I was okay with the signing of Woolford and it would have given the Steelers a solid secondary – might have even changed things enough to advance to the Super Bowl instead of falling short. They could have and should have pulled off both.

Regardless, Trevor Pryce is drafted at DT for the 3-4. He probably does not get 91 sacks in our system or the 3x All-Pro, but he’s not starting against us in the AFC Championship game either and the Steelers DL does not have anchors playing alongside Joel Steed.

In the 2nd round, Ronde Barber would have filled that CB spot nicely as he was a 3x All Pro, 2000s NFL All Decade team and should be in the Hall of Fame one day.



Comments or thoughts? Still angry at Donahoe for his reclamation comments? Share it below!

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[SteelerSask2]

If Bill Cowher coached under the same financial structure as Tomlin, they would have seven Super Bowls now. Especially once Cowher won the first. The first is the hardest.

 

[FSF]

If Bill Cowher coached under the same financial structure as Tomlin, they would have seven Super Bowls now. Especially once Cowher won the first. The first is the hardest.

I don’t know about 7.... but when you think that once he had a Hall of Fame true franchise QB: he went 15-1 only to get beat by a team that blatantly cheated and won Super Bowl the next year.

By 2006 he was checked out. Much like Noll was in 1991. But Cowher with Heinz Field, Big Ben and it’s 3-4 Super Bowls

 

[Punxsutawney]

I would not necessarily say Vrabel was a bad pick.

Time proved that he was a really good player, and he flashed talent as a rookie. The Steelers just seemed to have other players at the position like Jason Gildon, Carlos Emmons and Joey Porter that they liked more.

Vrabel's time with the Steelers was pretty much a victim of the Steelers wealth at LB

 

[SteelerSask2]

I don’t know about 7.... but when you think that once he had a Hall of Fame true franchise QB: he went 15-1 only to get beat by a team that blatantly cheated and won Super Bowl the next year.

By 2006 he was checked out. Much like Noll was in 1991. But Cowher with Heinz Field, Big Ben and it’s 3-4 Super Bowls

7 is only getting the '09 and one more. I'm confident that would have happened. Hell they would have had one before '05 if they would have kept those Greene, Lloyd, Brown defenses together.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I would not necessarily say Vrabel was a bad pick.

Time proved that he was a really good player, and he flashed talent as a rookie. The Steelers just seemed to have other players at the position like Jason Gildon, Carlos Emmons and Joey Porter that they liked more.

Vrabel's time with the Steelers was pretty much a victim of the Steelers wealth at LB

Beat me to it.

 

[FSF]

7 is only getting the '09 and one more. I'm confident that would have happened. Hell they would have had one before '05 if they would have kept those Greene, Lloyd, Brown defenses together.

The 1990s Cowher was a QB away regardless. Sadly Lloyd had his career end because of the ACL & Staph infection.

But Rod Woodson, Chad Brown, Leon Searcy, Yancey Thigpen, Kevin Greene, Carnell Lake were the biggest losses.

But soon as Cowher got a QB—title. Why they waited 24 years between drafting a QB in 1st I’ll never get. And it took Dan Rooney to maneuver to Roethlisberger. The rest were fixated on Rivers and thought they could win it with Maddox.

Dan never forgot 1983.