Are you ready for the mock drafts to be over with and for the real draft to get underway? I know I am. All of us are now in store for a treat on Thursday night as it was announced on Wednesday that Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame defensive lineman Joe Greene will be announcing the team’s first-round selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, which is currently scheduled to be the 20th overall pick.
A few weeks ago, it was reported by the NFL that former Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes and defensive end Brett Keisel will be announcing the team’s second and third-round selections, respectively.
As for Greene, he of course was selected fourth-overall in the first-round of the 1969 NFL Draft by the Steelers and it didn’t take ling for him to become the cornerstone of what would ultimately become the franchises dynasty teams of the 70s.
In his 13 seasons with the Steelers, Greene was selected to the Pro Bowl 10 times, including eight straight years from 1969-76. He was a five-time first-team All-Pro selection, 11-time first-team All-AFC selection, NFL Defensive Player of the Year twice (1972 and 1974) and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1969. He played a big part in helping the Steelers win their first four Super Bowls and was ultimately inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1984.
After his NFL career with the Steelers was over, Greene coached in Pittsburgh as an assistant from 1987–1990. He then coached the defensive line of the Miami Dolphins 1991–1995 and later became a coaching assistant for the Arizona Cardinals from 1996-2003. In 2004, Greene retired from coaching and was named the special assistant for player personnel for the Steelers and stayed on staff with the team until retiring from the front office in 2013.
There’s a very good chance that Greene will be announcing the selection of a defensive player for the Steelers in the first-round Thursday night. If that is what ultimately happens, it will mark the seventh-consecutive year that the Steelers have selected a defensive player in the first-round. The last time an offensive player was selected by the Steelers in the first-round was in 2012 when guard David DeCastro was chosen 24th overall out of Stanford.
