Former Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert made quite a few notable draft picks during his tenure with the organization. Much of the team’s success through the 2000s and 2010s was due to homegrown talent that Colbert drafted. There was no bigger draft steal than when Colbert and the Steelers drafted WR Antonio Brown. It took until the sixth round, pick No. 195, for a team to take Brown off the board. Colbert and the Steelers snapped him up with that selection, despite the fact they had already chosen wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders in the third round.
Despite impressive college stats, a big reason Brown fell on draft night was a mediocre 4.56 40-yard dash. Paired with his small stature and lack of big-time college pedigree, he slipped down draft boards. Appearing on the All Things Covered podcast, Colbert discussed how he looked past the data to draft AB.
“We all get caught up in 40 (yard dash) speeds, and I’m still gonna be the old school,” Colbert told co-hosts Bryant McFadden and Patrick Peterson. “Let’s watch the film. Who’s getting deep, who’s making the plays? And AB could do that in every phase of wide receiver play. The thing he developed was that ability to make that contested catch against corners that were bigger than him.”
A lack of timed speed certainly didn’t impact him at the NFL level. He quickly established himself as one of the best receivers of the 2010s. Despite all his controversy, his career as a football player shouldn’t be forgotten. What made Antonio Brown great isn’t lost on Colbert.
“The thing that separated AB was his work ethic. He might not have been the first in the building, but boy, when he got there, it was on. On the practice field, every rep he was trying to win and he was trying to dominate. And for the most part, he would.”
Brown’s work ethic was legendary. Any teammate, at that time or today, raved about how he attacked practice. After each day at training camp, Brown would catch literally hundreds of passes on the JUGs machine. And spotting him late at night at the gym was a common occurrence. Peterson shared a story of Brown going all-out during “practice” at the Pro Bowl, bewildering veterans who treated it as one-part walkthrough, one-part vacation.
A Super Bowl champ who twice led the NFL in receptions and yards along with four-straight All-Pro teams is an impressive resume. For Colbert, that easily places him in Canton’s Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“We were talking about that when we were at [Troy Polamalu’s Resilience Bowl]. I don’t think that can even be debated.” Colbert said.
Whether or not Antonio Brown gets in is a different story. Voters will have to look past the numerous off-field problems that ended his career far earlier than it should. Brown’s talent and play are worthy of a gold jacket. But he may have to wait. He’ll first become eligible in 2027, the same year QB Ben Roethlisberger can first appear on the ballot.
