If the Pittsburgh Steelers have ever retained an entire rookie draft class at the beginning of a season before without waiving any of them, I am not aware of it. At least one player tends to miss the cut, at best being re-signed to the practice squad. Find me an example of a Steelers draft class that did not include one rookie being waived before the start of the regular season, because I’m not sure there is one.
At least until now. All seven players selected in the 2023 NFL Draft remain a part of the organization through the initial roster cuts, though not without a caveat. While T Broderick Jones (14th overall), CB Joey Porter Jr. (32nd), DL Keeanu Benton (49th), TE Darnell Washington (93rd), OLB Nick Herbig (132nd), and OL Spencer Anderson (251st) are all on the 53-man roster, CB Cory Trice Jr. (241st) is on the Reserve/Injured List.
Trice was very likely going to be on the 53-man roster had he not suffered a season-ending knee injury. Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin just days ago said that they were going to miss him this year in terms of secondary depth. Either way, he was not waived, and remains on his rookie contract.
The only instance I am aware of in which the Steelers had every member of a draft class active for a game was in 2020 in a six-player class. WR Chase Claypool was starting, with OLB Alex Highsmith, G Kevin Dotson, RB Anthony McFarland Jr., and DL Carlos Davis all contributors. S Antoine Brooks Jr. was waived and on the practice squad, but elevated to play in multiple games. He was thus on a 54-man roster due to the elevation process, but never truly on the 53.
You can really go through team history and find at least one player in every class who otherwise didn’t make it. It was QB Chris Oladokun last year. In 2021, it was OLB Quincy Roche. Before them, Brooks, OLB Sutton Smith and OL Derwin Gray, DL Joshua Frazier, LS Colin Holba and OLB Keion Adams, OLB Travis Feeney, CB Doran Grant and S Gerod Holliman, TE Rob Blanchflower and CB Shaquille Richardson, CB Terry Hawthorne, WR Toney Clemons and CB Terrence Frederick, OL Keith Williams, OLB Thaddeus Gibson, CB Crezdon Butler, and DL Doug Worthington, DL Ra’Shon Harris and OL A.Q. Shipley, LB Mike Humpal, and G Cameron Stephenson.
And that just takes us through the Mike Tomlin years. The Bill Cowher years were no different.
It’s not at all uncommon around the league for a team to retain its entire rookie draft class. It has been virtually, if not literally unprecedented in Pittsburgh, however. There are a variety of factors involved in that, including the fact that they typically have a deeper roster than most.
But hitting on every draft pick in any class with an average number of draft picks, particularly with late picks, is a notable achievement—at least if these players earn their spots. In the case of the 2023 Steelers, these spots were very much earned, from Jones and Porter to Herbig and Anderson—and very likely, Trice, had he stayed healthy. He figures to get his shot at joining his fellow draft classmates on the roster in 2024 after he heals up.
