3 best, worst Steelers cornerback draft picks in the Kevin Colbert era

Editor’s note: This NFL draft will be the 20^th under the eye of Steelers’ general manager Kevin Colbert. His two-decade tenure has produced two Super Bowls and a consistent playoff contender. Colbert’s drafts mostly reflect that. Like all NFL personnel men, though, he’s had some picks he’d like to have back. In conjunction with the Trib’s daily positional previews leading up to the April 25 start of the draft, we’ll look back at Colbert’s three best – and three worst – picks at each position.

There perhaps isn’t a bigger positional lightning rod for Pittsburgh Steelers fans than cornerback. It’s also been a spot that’s largely been a thorn in the organization’s side when it comes to drafting and developing.

The Steelers over the past two decades have had a potential Hall of Fame safety with another who made a Pro Bowl, they’ve had All Pro defensive linemen and outside linebackers, and Pro Bowl inside linebackers. They’ve had four No. 1-ranked defenses, and seemingly everywhere on them have been elite at one point or another – except at cornerback.

That doesn’t mean, of course, it’s been a position completely bereft of talent. The Steelers were able to acquire some good corners in the second half of their drafts under the stewardship of Kevin Colbert. But in the early rounds? Well…

A look at the best and worst Steelers cornerback draft picks since 2000:

***Three best cornerback picks***

1. Ike Taylor, 2003, fourth round, 125^th overall

The Steelers took the raw but ideally-sized and athletically-gifted, small-school product – and it obviously paid off. He spent 12 years in Pittsburgh, many of them as the Steelers’ top cornerback and likewise many of them as part of one of the NFL’s best defenses.

2. William Gay, 2007, fifth round, 170^th overall

The second of two fifth-round picks in the first draft with Mike Tomlin as coach, Gay carved out a niche as a cerebral defensive back who evolved over his 11-year NFL career. Remarkably, he did not miss a game in that time. Gay continually fought off younger and more high-pedigree corners the Steelers brought in.

3. Bryant McFadden, 2005, second round, 62^nd overall

McFadden might have peaked with the Steelers as a rookie during the playoffs while they were on the road to the Super Bowl XL title. He started two other Super Bowls for the Steelers, too, enough to edge out the likes of Keenan Lewis and Cortez Allen for this spot.

***Three worst cornerback picks***

1. Senquez Golson, 2015, second round, 56^th overall

Look, it’s difficult to apply blame to either the Steelers braintrust or to Golson in light of the fact it was injuries that derailed his career. But when a second-round pick does not make it into uniform for any game in his career (regular season, preseason, postseason – any), it’s a failure regardless of the situation.

2. Ricardo Colclough, 2004, second round, 38^th overall

Because they traded up to take him, the Steelers wasted not only a second-round pick but a fourth rounder, too, to get the Division II Tusculum product. The most they got out of him was as an adequate special teamer; Colclough never started an NFL game.

3. Doran Grant, 2015, fourth round, 121^st overall

The Steelers went 0-for- in drafting defensive backs in 2015. Golson, seventh-round safety Gerod Holliman and Grant combined for three NFL regular-season games and exactly one defensive snap played. That and the 18 special-teams snaps were from Grant, whom the Steelers deemed not agile enough to play corner.

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