Leading up to the 2024 NFL draft, I am preparing to kick off my article series looking at what happened to each member of the Steelers draft class dating back to 2011 when Cam Heyward was selected in the first round. With things kicking off on Wednesday, I thought it was a nice idea to take a look at how many players drafted by the Steelers are currently on their 2024 offseason roster.

While this could have been the shortest article I have ever written as I simply could have stated the number and moved on, a breakdown of the players remaining who were drafted by the Steelers is a little bit more informative. But to answer the question, there are only 19 players from the more than 70 on the offseason roster for 2024 who were drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Before getting into what round of these players were selected, it’s important to note that all seven players selected in the 2023 NFL draft are still on the roster. This means that only 12 players remain on the Steelers who were drafted by general manager Kevin Colbert. There are five players remaining from the Steelers 2022 draft class with four remaining from 2021. Beyond these years, there is only one player remaining from each draft class from 2020, 2017, and 2011.

The Steelers currently only have four first-round draft picks remaining on their 2024 offseason roster. Obviously Broderick Jones from the 2023 draft is one of the four. The Steelers are having to make a decision on the fifth-year option for Najee Harris who was selected in the first round of 2021. The only other first round draft picks by the Steelers remaining on the team are T.J. Watt (2017) and Cam Heyward (2011).

It seems very unusual for the Steelers to have so few of their own first-round draft picks remaining on the roster. But there have been some extenuating circumstances that drive down these numbers. First, the Steelers traded away their selected first-round draft pick of 2022 in Kenny Pickett this offseason. With the Steelers bringing in others to upgrade their quarterback position, Pickett requested out and was granted the trade.

Although many Steelers fans think of Minkah Fitzpatrick as the team’s 2020 first-round pick, he wasn’t actually selected by the Steelers. Instead, they use the pick in a trade to acquire Fitzpatrick. For this reason, the Steelers didn’t even have a player in 2022 draft in the first round who could still be on the team.

As for the players between Najee Harris and T.J. Watt, neither first round selection had their fifth option picked up in Devin Bush (2019) and Terrell Edmunds (2018). Although Edmunds did play for an additional year following his rookie contract, both players have moved on and have been a part of multiple other teams.

When it comes to second-round draft picks, the Steelers have four of those remaining as well. Half of those picks came from the 2023 draft where the Steelers selected Joey Porter Jr. and Keeanu Benton both in the second round. The only other second-round picks remaining are George Pickens from 2022 and Pat Freiermuth from 2021. So the only second round draft picks by the Steelers still on the roster are ones still on their rookie deals.

As for third-round draft picks, only three remain on the Steelers for 2024. Two of the selections were from the last two seasons, but the Steelers traded away their 2021 third-round draft pick in Kendrick Green as he was potentially not going to make the 53-man roster last season. The only third-round draft pick of the Steelers not on a rookie contract is 2020 selection Alex Highsmith. So when it comes to Steelers on the current 2024 roster drafted by the team who are on a second contract, it is only Highsmith, Watt, and Heyward.

The Steelers still have three fourth-round draft picks on the roster, all of which come from the last three drafts. But the Steelers had two fourth-round draft picks in 2021 where Dan Moore still remains but Buddy Johnson does not.

After trading into the fifth round of the 2021 draft to select Isaiahh Loudermilk, he is the only fifth-round pick drafted by the Steelers still on the roster. For the two most recent drafts, just like it is scheduled for the upcoming draft, the Steelers have no draft picks in the fifth round. Other than trading into the round to select Loudermilk in 2021, the Steelers haven’t made a fifth-round selection since 2019.

The Steelers only have one sixth-round draft pick still on the roster in the form of Connor Heyward from the 2022 NFL draft. The Steelers had no sixth-round draft pick in 2023, and no other pick selected in that round previous to Heyward is still with the team.

Rounding things out, the Steelers have three seventh-round draft picks on the current roster. It should be noted that the Steelers had two seventh round draft picks in each of the last three drafts. Both selections from 2023 in Cory Trice and Spencer Anderson are currently on the roster, and Mark Robinson is one of two seventh-round draft picks in 2022 who still remains. The other selection from 2022, quarterback Chris Oladokun, did not make it through all of the Steelers preseason games his rookie season. The previous year saw Tre Norwood and Pressley Harvin both make the team initially but are no longer with the Steelers.

While many try to attribute the “draft and develop“ strategy to the Pittsburgh Steelers in building the roster, it appears that this is not currently playing out in the long term. The fact that Steelers only have three players remaining on their roster who were drafted by the team on a second contract goes a long way to show that the Steelers have not been afraid to get into the mix with free agency and see their own drafted players end up with other teams.

Perhaps this is a strategy of general manager Omar Khan since he took over following the 2022 NFL draft. Perhaps this goes to show that Khan has not felt the pressure to keep the players whom he did not draft. After several seasons with Omar Khan at the helm, it will be interesting to see how much stock the Steelers put into keeping their own drafted players when the selections were made on his watch.