The annual college all-stars will wrap up on Saturday with the 2019 Senior Bowl and if you’re big on following the Pittsburgh Steelers and the pre-draft process, hopefully you’ve been paying close attention to all of the various practice notes that have circulated the internets the last few weeks in addition to watching the games. The Steelers, like several other NFL teams, have a long history of mostly drafting players that either played in, or were invited to play in, either the Senior Bowl, East-West Shrine Game or NFLPA Bowl.
Last year, the Steelers drafted seven players and five of them, wide receiver James Washington, quarterback Mason Rudolph, tackle Chukwuma Okorafor, safety Marcus Allen and running back Jaylen Samuels, were all in Mobile, AL for the Senior Bowl. It’s worth noting, however, that Rudolph, Okorafor and Allen all failed to play in the actual game due to injuries. The Steelers seventh-round pick last year, defensive tackle Joshua Frazier, had been invited to play in the NFLPA Bowl, but reportedly didn’t get his paperwork filed in time in order to participate.
Prior to last year and dating back to 2012, the Steelers have had several draft picks that participated in one of the three annual college all-star games with most of them doing so in the Senior Bowl. While not listed below, former Steelers first-round draft picks, defensive end Cameron Heyward and outside linebacker Bud Dupree, were also reportedly Senior Bowl invites the years they were both drafted. Heyward had to back out because of a surgery while Dupree inexplicably no-showed the event without prior notice.
While this year’s college all-star rosters are well worth paying close attention to once again during the pre-draft process, it doesn’t necessarily mean that one of the players on them will wind up being the team’s first-round selection in 2019. In fact, six of the Steelers last seven first-round draft picks have been underclassmen. In fact, Dupree was the last senior to be drafted in the first-round by the Steelers.
As we move forward with our Steelers pre-draft player profiles, you can count on several of this year’s college all-star participants that fit what the team needs and looks for to be covered in addition to most of this year’s top underclassmen. And when it comes to Saturday’s Senior Bowl game, it shouldn’t be hard to whittle down a manageable list of participants that could wind up being selected by the Steelers in this year’s draft.
Steelers Senior Draft Picks From Annual College All-Star Games (2012-2018)
2018
WR James Washington (Senior Bowl)
QB Mason Rudolph (Senior Bowl)
T Chukwuma Okorafor (Senior Bowl)
S Marcus Allen (Senior Bowl)
RB Jaylen Samuels (Senior Bowl)
2017
CB Cameron Sutton (Senior Bowl)
QB Joshua Dobbs (Senior Bowl)
CB Brian Allen (East-West Shrine)
LS Colin Holba (Senior Bowl)
OLB Keion Adams (NFLPA Bowl)
2016
S Sean Davis (Senior Bowl)
DT Javon Hargrave (Senior Bowl)
OLB Travis Feeney (East-West Shrine Game)
ILB Tyler Matakevich (Senior Bowl)
2015
CB Senquez Golson (Senior Bowl)
CB Doran Grant (Senior Bowl)
DE L.T. Walton (East-West Shrine Game)
OLB Anthony Chickillo (East-West Shrine Game)
2014
CB Shaquille Richardson (East-West Shrine Game)
C/G Wesley Johnson (Senior Bowl)
ILB Jordan Zumwalt (Senior Bowl)
DT Daniel McCullers (Senior Bowl)
TE Rob Blanchflower (Senior Bowl)
2013
WR Markus Wheaton (Senior Bowl)
S Shamarko Thomas (East-West Shrine Game)
QB Landry Jones (Senior Bowl)
CB Terry Hawthorne (East-West Shrine Game)
ILB Vince Williams (Senior Bowl)
2012
T Mike Adams (Senior Bowl)
ILB Sean Spence (Senior Bowl)
DT Alameda Ta’Amu (Senior Bowl)
RB Chris Rainey (Senior Bowl)
TE David Paulson (East-West Shrine Game)
2011
T Marcus Gilbert (Senior Bowl)
CB Curtis Brown (Senior Bowl)
CB Cortez Allen (East-West Shrine Game)
OLB Chris Carter (East-West Shrine Game)
