Best, worst 4th-round picks of Kevin Colbert’s Steelers tenure

Editor’s note: This NFL draft will be the 20th 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 coverage leading up to the April 25 start of the draft, we’ll look back at Colbert’s three best – and three worst – picks in each round over the years.

It’s precisely in the middle of each draft, and as such, a fourth-round choice can be the “swing” pick in defining a draft.

Generally speaking, players taken in the first three rounds are expected to be (or eventually become) starters. For those taken in the final three rounds, the general expectation is probably more that they’ll be special-teamers who provide depth. For a fourth-rounder, it’s typically something in between.

But good teams built the right way need to hit on more fourth-rounders than they miss. The Pittsburgh Steelers, for example, had one of the NFL’s best defenses in recent decades with a pair of fourth-rounders as starters during the mid-to-late 2000s.

During the Kevin Colbert tenure, the Steelers have drafted better in the fourth round than most teams. A look:

Three best

1. Ike Taylor, CB, 2003, 125th overall

Coming from a small school but blessed with all the measurables, the Steelers took their chances with the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Louisiana-Lafayette defensive back. He rewarded them by becoming a starter the year the franchise won its fifth Super Bowl — and holding onto that gig for a decade.

2. Larry Foote, ILB, 2002, 128th overall

Though he seemingly was always “the other” inside linebacker lining up next to the more-heralded (first) James Farrior or (later) Lawrence Timmons, Foote was a popular teammate through 13 NFL seasons. Eleven of those were with the Steelers, for whom he had more than 600 tackles over 158 games.

3. Willie Colon, OL, 2006, 131st overall

Colon started 62 games at three positions over seven years with the Steelers, with injuries the only thing standing in the way of perhaps reaching 100 or more. Outside of first-rounder Santonio Holmes, he was the best player of a mostly forgettable Steelers 2006 draft class.

Three worst

1. Fred Gibson, WR, 2005, 131st overall

Fourth-rounders don’t have to become stars to be known as successful picks. But they do have to make the team out of their rookie training camp. Gibson did not do that, and on top of that, he chose another team (Miami) as his practice-squad landing spot. That fourth-round investment was gone in less than four months.

2. Mathias Nkwenti, OT, 2001, 111th overall

Nkwenti made history as the first native of Cameroon to appear in an NFL game. Unfortunately, his regular-season career appearances consisted of only a handful of snaps over two such games.

3. Daniel Sepulveda, P, 2007, 112th overall

During the first draft under the coaching tenure of Mike Tomlin, a tone was set early that the Steelers would emphasize special teams. They used two picks (trading a sixth-rounder to move up in the fourth round) to take a punter. Sepulveda wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t one of the NFL’s better punters, either. He also was often injured.

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