The 2024 NFL Draft is in the books. For Omar Khan, another solid Pittsburgh Steelers haul. But in the middle of the offseason with the next game still months away, I admit I’ve missed my weekly “stats of the weird” post. In its place, to hold us over, are some “Draft Stats of the Weird” to put into perspective the team’s 2024 class.
– I’ll start with the offensive line. I can’t take credit for these stats but they’re important. The Steelers drafted three o-linemen with their first five picks for the first time since 1976, when they drafted Ray Pinney in the second round, James Files in the second round (they had three second-round picks that year), and Ron Coder in the third round.
Pinney, like Troy Fautanu, was from Washington.
– Pittsburgh drafted three offensive linemen in a class for the first time since 2012 when it took David DeCastro, Mike Adams, and Kelvin Beachum. It also happened in 2004 (Max Starks, Bo Lacy, and Drew Caylor).
– As we noted pre- and post-pick, the Steelers took offensive linemen in the first round of back-to-back drafts for the first time in franchise history.
– Had an error earlier about back-to-back offensive picks under Tomlin. Corrected that. But this makes four straight drafts the Steelers have gone offense with their top selection (Fautanu, Jones, Pickett, Harris). That hasn’t happened since 1965-1968 before their streak was broken with a defensive selection in Joe Greene.
– As we also noted, the Steelers drafted their first FCS offensive lineman in South Dakota State fourth rounder Mason McCormick since Hofstra’s Willie Colon in 2006, also in the fourth round.
– Fautanu becomes the Steelers’ first West Coast first-round pick since David DeCastro in 2012.
– Crazier than that, Fautanu is the Steelers’ first drafted player from a West college since USC WR JuJu Smith-Schuster in 2017. They had gone their last five drafts taking players from the East or Midwest.
– Zach Frazier is the first West Virginia player the team has drafted since Ryan Mundy in 2008. The same year they selected their last Iowa player before Logan Lee, LB Mike Humpal, taken six picks ahead of Mundy. The last Texas player prior to Ryan Watts was CB Curtis Brown in 2011. From 2012 to 2022, the Steelers drafted four from Texas A&M (Terrence Frederick, Buddy Johnson, Dan Moore Jr., DeMarvin Leal). This is the first Longhorn. There had been more from South Dakota State over that span, the Steelers taking QB Chris Oladokun in 2022. For Payton Wilson and NC State, they drafted RB Jaylen Samuels in 2018.
– Finally, the Steelers love drafting late-round defensive linemen. In Mike Tomlin’s 18 drafts, they have selected a defensive lineman in the sixth or seventh round nine times, Lee being the latest. They are:
2009 Sonny Harris – Sixth
2010 Doug Worthington – Seventh
2012 Nick Williams – Seventh
2014 Daniel McCullers – Sixth
2016 L.T. Walton – Sixth
2018 Josh Frazier – Seventh
2019 Isaiah Buggs – Sixth
2020 Carlos Davis – Seventh
2024 Logan Lee – Sixth
Late-round picks naturally have a low success rate and few of these names did much of anything in Pittsburgh. Williams is the most notable, but he spent most of his career playing for teams other than the Steelers. Lee will have to try and change history.
