The Pittsburgh Steelers found a sleeper in the seventh round of the 2012 NFL Draft when they took OT Kelvin Beachum out of SMU. Beachum wound up starting 39 games for the Steelers between 2012-2015, and in a recent interview with The Athletic’s Jayna Bardahl, Beachum talked about waiting until the seventh round and said that the wait is one thing that motivated him.
“That’s what drove me,” Beachum told Bardahl. “I’ve been pissed off and patient for a long time.”
There was doubt that Beachum could stick at tackle coming out of college, as he measured in at 6027 and 303 pounds. The lack of height led some to project that he would need to move to guard, but he had solid length with 33 1/4” arms and played tackle in college. The Steelers kept Beachum at tackle, and that decision was rewarded as he became a productive starter for the team before leaving in free agency.
Beachum is still in the league, recently re-signing with the Arizona Cardinals after spending the last five years with the team. Beachum was Pittsburgh’s last of four seven-round picks in 2012 and went 248th overall, five picks before the final selection in the draft. He said he’ll always remember his draft slot.
“I always remember those numbers, 248 and 7D,” Beachum said per Bardahl.
Ahead of Beachum in the seventh round, the Steelers took WR Toney Clemons, TE David Paulson and DB Terrence Frederick. Of Pittsburgh’s 2012 draft haul, which featured OG David DeCastro in the first round, Beachum is the only player still in the league and by far the most successful of the three seventh-rounders taken ahead of him.
It’s hard for a player to wait to get their name called, and especially as it gets later and later into the draft and the chances of going undrafted increase. Everyone who enters dreams of hearing their name called and being selected in the NFL Draft, and the chance that it might not happen can start to set in.
For someone like Beachum who was passed over by every team, including the Steelers, multiple times, that can spark motivation and a mindset to prove people wrong. There’s no doubt that he’s outplayed his draft stock, and while the Steelers deserve some credit for taking a chance on Beachum and keeping him at tackle, it’s clear that he was undervalued by teams. He’s the only seventh-rounder from the entire 2012 class still in the league, and he’s still a productive veteran for Arizona. While falling in the draft may have fueled him, Kelvin Beachum has more than proved his critics wrong and proven he didn’t deserve to fall as far as he did.
