Steelers' 3 best, 3 worst specialist picks in Kevin Colbert era

Editor’s note: This NFL Draft will be the 20th under the eye of Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert. 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.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have drafted only two true, dedicated specialists since Kevin Colbert took over football operations in 2000. That’s in contrast to Colbert’s predecessor, Tom Donahoe, who picked two kickers over his final five drafts.

The Steelers also used five picks on kickers or punters between 1978-85, albeit two of those picks were after Round 7 when the draft was longer.

The only times the Steelers have taken a specialist over the past 19 drafts were in 2007 (punter Daniel Sepulveda) and 2017 (long snapper Colin Holba).

That means, for the purposes of this exercise, the cast will be expanded to include players who were selected with special teams in mind:

Three best specialist picks

1. Antonio Brown

2010, sixth round, 195th overall

Put aside everything Brown has done as a perennial All-Pro receiver. He is one of the best punt returners in Steelers history, and he returned a kickoff for a touchdown moments into his first regular-season game. Brown is tied for the Steelers career record for punt-return touchdowns with five (including playoffs).

2. Daniel Sepulveda

2007, fourth round, 112th overall

Forget that Sepulveda was not much better than an average NFL punter and that he was oft-injured. Look at it this way: Many fourth-round picks don’t have careers that last five seasons, particularly as a starter.

3. Tyler Matakevich

2016, seventh round, 246th overall

The Steelers, on some level, held hope Matakevich would develop into a quality NFL linebacker when they made him the second of two seventh-round picks three years ago. But, although they never would admit it, deep down they likely were coveting the former Temple star because they knew he would be a special-teams dynamo. And “Dirty Red” hasn’t let them down in that area.

Three worst

1. Colin Holba

2017, sixth round, 213th overall

If you’re going to invest in a long snapper, particularly when it’s not even your final pick of the draft, he better be good. Instead, Holba lost a training-camp competition to waiver-wire pickup Kameron Canaday.

2. Willie Reid

2006, third round, 95th overall

The Steelers surely believed Reid could develop into an NFL wide receiver, too, but a large part of this selection was they were convinced Reid could return punts after brought back three for touchdowns as a senior at Florida State. Reid, though, didn’t win that job as a rookie. And he was deemed so inadequate at it the next year that the Steelers traded for veteran Allen Rossum to handle the duties.

3. Demarcus Ayers

2016, seventh round, 229th overall

The Steelers were so up front about drafting Ayers for his returner abilities that they brought out special teams coach Danny Smith (in lieu of the traditional position coach) to discuss Ayers after he was picked. Smith said the Steelers had Ayers atop their draft board for punt returners. But Ayers never returned a regular-season punt or kick for the Steelers.

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