I have said this many times before on many platforms, but I’ll reiterate it one more time with the 2024 NFL Draft coming up Thursday.

The NFL Draft is the best non-sporting event in all of sports. Why?

It provides hope.

It doesn’t matter if your favorite team was a playoff contender last year or mathematically eliminated with five weeks to go in the season. Everyone has hope when it comes to the draft. Fans will consistently believe this will be the draft class that takes their team to the next level.

What level am I referring to? That depends on the team you’re talking about. For some teams it’s the hope of a draft class digging themselves out of the cellar of the division/league. Some it’s the hope of becoming contenders, while others it provides hope this class can get them to championship status.

Don’t have a full allotment of picks? Doesn’t matter, hope springs eternal.

While the hope the draft provides is perfect, it can also be tantalizing in many ways. The most common being the faction of people falling head-over-heels for a player/draft class.

We’ve all been there. The player(s) our favorite team selects are just who we wanted them to select. They fit perfectly with the scheme, on paper, yet when it’s time for the proverbial rubber to hit the road, they stall out.

For the Pittsburgh Steelers, there have been numerous occasions when the team selected a group of players who just never panned out. Some, they fizzled out after a few years, while others were never even a flash in the pan. Some draft classes have been flops from top-to-bottom, while other classes just had a player or two who didn’t quite live up to the hype.

Looking at the draft classes from 2018 to 2022, not including 2023 since they are just entering Year 2 of their professional careers, you can see there are player(s) in every class who had a lot of hype, but didn’t pan out.

2018 Steelers Class

Round 1: Terrell Edmunds
Round 2: James Washington
Round 3: Mason Rudolph
Round 3: Chuks Okorafor
Round 5: Marcus Allen
Round 5: Jaylen Samuels
Round 7: Joshua Frazier

Some might say Edmunds was a bust as a first round pick, but I disagree. He was over-drafted, but not a bust. Washington never panned out, Okorafor was serviceable, but this draft class just screamed “meh”.

2019 Steelers Class

Round 1: Devin Bush Jr.
Round 3: Diontae Johnson
Round 3: Justin Layne
Round 4: Benny Snell
Round 5: Zach Gentry
Round 6: Sutton Smith
Round 6: Isaiah Buggs
Round 6: Ulysees Gilbert
Round 7: Derwin Gray

The Devin Bush saga in Pittsburgh was well-documented, and his injury only muddied the waters in terms of narratives surrounding his game and the Steelers’ decision to trade up to get him. Justin Layne and Benny Snell were never players once hyped up to be, and Sutton Smith, who many called the next versatile chess piece on defense, didn’t even make the roster.

2020 Steelers Class

Round 2: Chase Claypool
Round 3: Alex Highsmith
Round 4: Anthony McFarland Jr.
Round 4: Kevin Dotson
Round 6: Antoine Brooks
Round 7: Carlos Davis

Without a first round pick, traded to the Miami Dolphins for Minkah Fitzpatrick, the team took Chase Claypool out of Notre Dame with their top pick. Claypool’s stellar rookie season turned out to be fool’s gold as he didn’t even complete his rookie contract in Pittsburgh. Outside of Alex Highsmith, this class was a big disappointment.

2021 Steelers Class

Round 1: Najee Harris
Round 2: Pat Freiermuth
Round 3: Kendrick Green
Round 4: Dan Moore Jr.
Round 4: Buddy Johnson
Round 5: Isaiahh Loudermilk
Round 6: Quincy Roche
Round 7: Tre Norwood
Round 7: Pressley Harvin III

This class is entering the final year of their rookie contracts, and five of these picks aren’t even on the Steelers roster anymore. How many will earn second contracts with the Steelers? It will go a long way into viewing the draft class as a whole.

2022 Steelers Class

Round 1: Kenny Pickett
Round 2: George Pickens
Round 3: DeMarvin Leal
Round 4: Calvin Austin III
Round 6: Connor Heyward
Round 7: Mark Robinson
Round 7: Chris Oladokun

It’s never good when your top pick in a draft class only lasts two years, and your 3rd Round pick was inactive throughout the stretch run of last season. George Pickens is the saving grace of this draft class.

While you can see my thoughts on these draft classes as a whole, I could go back and show you fan comments on how great all these picks were. How there were “steals” in the Day 3 picks. I’ve been as guilty as anyone for drinking the draft day kool-aid, but I think it’s a perfect time to use this as a lesson for the draft which awaits us all this week.

Be excited, and enjoy the process, but history has shown us we might want to pump the brakes a bit before we go all-in on these picks being the next Steelers 1974 draft.