An organization will always have dud draft picks that don’t succeed in the NFL. The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted several players since 2011 that didn’t pan out. Some names include Mike Adams, Curtis Brown, Alameda Ta’amu, and some might argue Shamarko Thomas.
When Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com was asked to give his opinion on who was the worst draft pick for the Steelers, he picked Dri Archer who struggled greatly in his time with Pittsburgh.
Archer was selected in the 3rd round of the 2014 NFL draft and never lived up to expectations. He had an insane 40 yard dash time in which teams really were eager to see how he would perform in the NFL. Despite being very quick, Fowler went on and described why he was the worst pick in the last five years.
Fowler on Pittsburgh Steelers Worst Draft Pick:
Dri Archer seemed like an ideal pick for Pittsburgh in the third round of the 2014 draft. He had brilliant speed and ran a 4.26-second 40 at the NFL combine. The Steelers needed a kick returner, and Archer could have been a versatile weapon in the Steelers’ passing offense. But Archer’s career in Pittsburgh lasted less than two seasons, with 67 offensive yards to show for it. He was a hesitant returner and couldn’t overcome his size (5-foot-8, 173 pounds). The team released Archer, who was a free agent until the Jets signed him this offseason. The Steelers don’t miss this badly in the first three rounds very often, but Archer was easily the franchise’s worst pick from 2011 to ’15. — Jeremy Fowler
While Archer’s time in Pittsburgh will never be forgotten, I would have to say the worst draft pick since 2011 is Mike Adams. The team took Adams in the second-round of the 2012 NFL draft and expected him to be the starting left tackle. After Adams couldn’t play that position, he was shuffled around quite a bit before being the team’s backup swing tackle. It’s kind of exciting when you draft a player named Kelvin Beachum in the seventh-round, who is arguably one of the best young left tackles in the game. It’s kind of crazy how the NFL draft works. Anything is certainly possible when your team is on the clock.
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DaveB.
April 13, 2016 at 7:25 pm
That doesnt say much for the Colbert/Tomlin brain trust thats pulling the trigger on these draft picks .
DrGeorge
April 13, 2016 at 7:27 pm
As much as fans didn’t like the Archer pick or the Adams pick (and I am one of them), it is hard to fault Colbert and Tomlin for taking a chance on what looked like value at the time. Every team has busts, and no personnel director is psychic. Our lucky picks late, like Beachum, average out the bad ones.
My beef at the time (and still is) that both picks should have been used to shore up the defense instead. Even if Archer and Adams had been all Tomlin thought they were, we would still have had a mediocre record because our defensive needs were ignored, a point fans on this site made loud and often then and over the last four years.
Jon Weimer
April 13, 2016 at 9:02 pm
Although Adams hasn’t lived up to his full potential, it’s tough to argue the pick at the time—possible 1st round talent at the end of the 2nd round. He fell for a reason but it was worth the risk, particularly considering how bad the o-line had been. In that draft we needed o-line help more than defensive help IMO. And Adams did have a fill-in stretch a couple years back where he played OK, so i find it difficult to call him the worst pick. Archer, on the other hand, was terrible for so so many reasons. First, he did as close to nothing as perhaps was humanly possible. He was brought in to return kicks, but was so tentative and unable to break tackles that he almost never made a semi-exciting play. Same goes for his “contribution” to the offense. He was picked in the 3rd round, which to me is a round where you should be picking someone you expect to be a starter, and he was never going to be anything more than a bit player. That’s the big reason i hated the pick at the time—bad strategy—you can get a kick returner/3rd down back late in the draft or off the scrap heap. Stefan Logan was far better than Archer ever was, and he was undrafted. And defense, specifically secondary, was a much bigger need at that point—should have at least attempted to address that.