The Pittsburgh Steelers, a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, participated in the first NFL draft prior to the 1936 season. The franchise changed its name to the Steelers prior to the 1940 season, to represent the city's heritage of producing steel.

The event, which is officially known as the "Player Selection Meeting", is held each April. The draft is used as the primary means to distribute newly available talent (primarily from college football) equitably amongst the teams. Selections are made in reverse order based on the previous season's record, i.e. the club with the worst record from the previous season selects first. Through 2009, only two exceptions were made to this order: the Super Bowl champion always selects last (32nd), and the Super Bowl loser is awarded the penultimate (31st) pick. Beginning in 2010, teams making the playoffs will be seeded in reverse order depending upon how far they advance. The draft consists of seven rounds. Teams have the option of trading selections for players, cash and/or other selections (including future year selections). Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades. The Steelers have traded away their first-round pick eight times; they have had two first-round selections in two drafts.

The Steelers' first selection in the inaugural NFL draft was William Shakespeare, a halfback from Notre Dame. The Steelers have selected first overall three times, drafting Bill Dudley in 1942, Gary Glick in 1956 and Terry Bradshaw in 1970. The team has selected second overall once, and third overall four times. Through 2023, ten Steeler first-round picks have gone on to have playing careers deemed worthy of enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Terry Bradshaw, Len Dawson, Bill Dudley, Alan Faneca, Joe Greene, Franco Harris, Bobby Layne, Troy Polamalu, Lynn Swann, and Rod Woodson. The team's most recent first-round selection was Max Iheanachor, an offensive tackle from Arizona State University.

Key

+ Position KeyAbbreviationPositionAbbreviationPositionAbbreviationPosition B Back K Kicker NT Nose tackle C Center LB Linebacker FB Fullback DB Defensive back P Punter HB Halfback DE Defensive end QB Quarterback WR Wide receiver DT Defensive tackle RB Running back G Guard E End T Offensive tackle TE Tight end

+ Symbol KeySymbolMeaning^ Member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame *  Selected number one overall † Selected for the Pro Bowl at any time in their career— No draft pick that yearYear Each year links to an article about that particular NFL DraftPick Number of the pick within the first roundPosition Position of the playerCollege Attended college

Player selections

+Pittsburgh Steelers first-round draft picksYearPickPlayer namePositionCollegeNotes 1936 3 RB Notre Dame 1937 5 RB Duquesne 1938 4 RB Colorado 1939 99– ZZZNo pick ZZZ– ZZZ– 1940 3 RB Arkansas 1941 99– ZZZNo pick ZZZ– ZZZ– 1942 1 *† RB Virginia 1943 7 FB Minnesota 1944 10 RB St. Mary's (CA) 1945 2 RB Florida 1946 3 FB Army 1947 5 WR Texas 1948 3 † QB Texas 9 WR Georgia 1949 6 RB Clemson 1950 8 RB Michigan State 1951 9 FB Alabama 1952 6 FB Maryland 1953 5 QB Detroit 1954 7 RB Notre Dame 1955 6 OT Notre Dame 1956 1 * DB Colorado State 1956 5 RB Mississippi State 1957 5 † QB Purdue 1958 99– ZZZNo pick ZZZ– ZZZ– 1959 99– ZZZNo pick ZZZ– ZZZ– 1960 6 FB TCU 1961 99– ZZZNo pick ZZZ– ZZZ– 1962 5 RB Ohio State 1963 99– ZZZNo pick ZZZ– ZZZ– 1964 10 RB Pittsburgh 1965 99– ZZZNo pick ZZZ– ZZZ– 1966 3 RB WVU 1967 99– ZZZNo pick ZZZ– ZZZ– 1968 10 OT USC 1969 4 † DT North Texas 1970 1 *† QB Louisiana Tech 1971 8 WR Grambling 1972 13 † RB Penn State 1973 24 DB Florida State 1974 21 † WR USC 1975 26 DB Michigan 1976 28 TE Clemson 1977 21 LB New Mexico 1978 22 DB Eastern Michigan 1979 28 RB Baylor 1980 28 QB Arizona State 1981 17 DE Oklahoma 1982 12 RB Baylor 1983 21 DE Texas Tech 1984 23 WR Southern Mississippi 1985 20 DE Wisconsin 1986 9 G Temple 1987 10 † DB Purdue 1988 18 DE Eastern Kentucky 1989 7 RB Georgia 1989 24 OT Pittsburgh 1990 21 TE Liberty 1991 15 DE Florida 1992 11 OT Miami 1993 23 DB Colorado 1994 17 WR Colorado 1995 27 TE Washington 1996 29 OT North Carolina A&T 1997 24 DB Maryland 1998 26 † G LSU 1999 13 WR Louisiana Tech 2000 8 WR Michigan State 2001 19 DT Texas 2002 30 G Auburn 2003 16 † DB USC 2004 11 QB Miami (OH) 2005 30 TE Virginia 2006 25 WR Ohio State 2007 15 LB Florida State 2008 23 RB Illinois 2009 32 DT Missouri 2010 18 C Florida 2011 31 DE Ohio State 2012 24 G Stanford 2013 17 LB Georgia 2014 15 LB Ohio State 2015 22 LB Kentucky 2016 25 CBMiami 2017 30 LBWisconsin 201828 SVirginia Tech 201910Devin Bush LBMichigan 2020 99– ZZZNo pick ZZZ– ZZZ– 202124 RBAlabama 202220 QBPittsburgh 202314 OTGeorgia 202420 OTWashington 202521 DTOregon202621Max IheanachorOTArizona State

Notes The Steelers traded their 1939 pick (2nd overall) to the Chicago Bears. The Steelers traded their 1941 pick (3rd overall) to the Chicago Bears (3rd overall) This was a lottery bonus pick. The Steelers traded their 1958 pick (8th overall) to the San Francisco 49ers. The Steelers traded their 1959 pick (8th overall) to the San Francisco 49ers. The Steelers traded their 1961 pick (6th overall) to the San Francisco 49ers. The Steelers traded their 1963 pick (11th overall) to the Chicago Bears. The Steelers traded their 1965 pick (3rd overall) to the Chicago Bears. The Steelers traded their 1967 pick (9th overall) to the Green Bay Packers. The Steelers acquired the 1989 pick (24th overall) from the Minnesota Vikings. The Steelers traded their 1990 pick (17th overall) to the Dallas Cowboys for Dallas' 1990 pick (21st overall, obtained from Minnesota Vikings) and a third-round pick (82nd overall, obtained from San Francisco 49ers). The Steelers traded their 2001 pick (16th overall) to the New York Jets for their first-round pick (19th overall), their fourth-round pick (111th overall) and their sixth-round pick (181st overall). The Steelers traded their first-round pick (27th overall), third-round pick (92nd overall) and sixth-round pick (200th overall) to obtain the 2003 pick (16th overall). The Steelers obtained the 2006 pick from New York Giants by trading their first-round pick (32nd overall), their third-round pick (96th overall) and their fourth-round pick (129th overall). The Steelers traded their 2020 pick (18th overall) to the Miami Dolphins to acquire Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Steelers drafted Bobby Layne but immediately traded him to the Chicago Bears.

References Specific

General