The Steelers have 12 picks in the upcoming NFL Draft, and while the jury is still out on whether or not the team will actually end up selecting a player at every slot, there’s absolutely an argument in favor of doing exactly that.
If the draft is a numbers game, why not take as many swings as possible? And as the Steelers enter a new era with a lot of free roster space, getting an infusion of 12 new players might be a great use of resources.
But it’s always worth asking: Has this strategy worked before?
Using Pro Football Reference, I went back and looked at past Steelers drafts to find the last time the team selected 12 players or more. And it’s been a while. It took until 1992 — the last ever draft to feature 12 rounds — for me to find a Steelers draft with a dozen picks or more.
That alone shows just how unprecedented it is for the Steelers to have that much draft capital at once.
The 1992 Steelers draft
- Round 1: OT Leon Searcy
- Round 2: LB Levon Kirkland
- Round 3: NT Joel Steed
- Round 4: WR Charles Davenport
- Round 5: DB Alan Haller
- Round 7: TE Russ Campbell
- Round 7: RB Scottie Graham
- Round 8: DB Darren Perry
- Round 8: G Hesham Ismail
- Round 8: DT Nate Williams
- Round 9: LB Elnardo Webster
- Round 10: RB Mike Saunders
- Round 11: C Kendall Gammon
- Round 12: QB Cornelius Benton
A few things stand out about this draft. First, it was a largely successful one with some clear hits in Searcy, Kirkland, Steed, Perry — and Gammon, who had the longest career of the bunch as a backup center and starting long snapper.
No other player besides Graham ever appeared in more than 50 career games, but Pittsburgh did get enough hits to add to the foundation of the roster that would eventually make the Super Bowl in the 1995-96 season.
However, this just isn’t the best example to compare to the Steelers’ current situation as 12 picks were more common at the time due to the number of rounds. Pittsburgh only had seven picks in the first seven rounds, but they did have four in the top 100 (the team has five in 2026). That value was clear in the run of Searcy-Kirkland-Steed, who each made one or more Pro Bowls in their career.
But let’s try to find a more recent draft.
The 2010 Steelers draft
- Round 1: C Maurkice Pouncey
- Round 2: OLB Jason Worilds
- Round 3: WR Emmanuel Sanders
- Round 4: DE Thaddeus Gibson
- Round 5: OG Chris Scott
- Round 5: DB Crezdon Butler
- Round 5: LB Stevenson Sylvester
- Round 6: RB Jonathan Dwyer
- Round 6 WR Antonio Brown
- Round 7: DT Doug Worthington
The 2010 NFL Draft might be the best comparison. It’s the last time the Steelers made double-digit picks in a seven-round draft. And even though it was just 10 selections, that could be a likely outcome if Pittsburgh ends up making some trades this year.
The first three picks of 2010 were largely hits — Pouncey is arguably a future Hall of Fame and Sanders turned in a long, successful NFL career. Worilds retired early but had developed into a seven-to-eight sacks per season player before then.
And then, you have a poster child of the late-round swing: Antonio Brown in the sixth. Even with his career cut short, he managed four first-team All-Pros, seven Pro Bowls, and a reputation as one of the best receivers in league history.
And like the 1992 class, the Steelers used their hits in the draft to build a Super Bowl roster — this time, reaching into the big game later that season in February 2011.
Ultimately, the last few mega-drafts in Steelers history don’t tell us too much. As with most drafts, the hit rate is higher in the earlier picks. There are a lot of less inspiring names later on. But both 1992 and 2010 featured some all-time Steelers talent, a late round steal or two, and a Super Bowl that followed not long after.
Maybe double-digit picks can be a useful strategy.
