Steelers Now Have 12 Former First Round Draft Picks Under Contract

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed quarterback Michael Vick on Wednesday and being as he is a former first-round selection that means the team now has a total of 12 players who were originally drafted in the first round.

While that number did seem high to me, research shows that the New York Jets currently have 13 former first round draft picks under contract. The Steelers are tied for second with Cleveland Browns and the New Orleans Saints with 12 former first rounders currently under contract.

I wanted to take this study even further and find out which team has the best total pedigree under contract. By pedigree, I mean total amount of players who were drafted originally in the first three rounds. Surprisingly, that research revealed that the Cincinnati Bengals currently have the most high pedigree players with a total of 34. The Steelers only have 23 high pedigree players while the Seattle Seahawks bring up the rear with just 17 total players on their roster who were originally drafted in the first three rounds.

Next, I wanted to find out which team currently has the most players under contract that they originally drafted. Once again, the Bengals lead in this category as 45 of their players currently under contract were originally drafted by them. The Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings tied for second place with 41 and the Steelers aren’t far behind as 35 players currently under contract were originally drafted by them.

Please let me know in the comments if you find any errors in my data and if you would any similar type data know that I have it harvested.

I will do another breakdown after the final cuts are made.