Throughout the Pittsburgh Steelers’ illustrious history, they had some remarkable selections in the NFL Draft, and some rather bad ones.
In recent years they’ve missed on some players, like Devin Bush, Kenny Pickett, Artie Burns and more. But none of those misses tops the whiff on linebacker Huey Richardson in the 1991 NFL Draft.
In fact, Richardson’s selection by the Steelers at No. 15 overall that year is one of the biggest NFL Draft mistakes of all-time, at least according to CBS Sports. In a piece ranking the top 32 draft busts of all-time, Richardson came in at No. 6, behind only Ryan Leaf, JaMarcus Russell, Saints punter Russell Erxleben at No. 11 in 1979, Akili Smith and Vernon Gholston.
“Richardson played just five games with the Steelers before Bill Cowher had seen enough. Cowher didn’t draft Richardson, but the linebacker showed nothing that was worth keeping around,” CBS Sports’ Jeff Kerr writes. “He had no tackles and no sacks in a NFL career that lasted just 16 games over the span of two seasons.
“Pittsburgh dealt Richardson for a seventh-round pick after his rookie season and that was the end of his tenure.”
Coming out of the University of Florida in the 1991 NFL Draft, Richardson was one of the best defensive pieces in the class. He was an All-American for the Gators in 1989 and 1990 and accumulated 26.5 sacks across four seasons.
The expectation was that Richardson would be a great pass rusher at the next level, too, and the fit with the Steelers as part of the final draft of the Chuck Noll era was clean on paper as that outside linebacker and quarterback hunter.
But the jump to the NFL proved too difficult for Richardson as he was a colossal bust, not recording a single tackle in the NFL. He lasted just one season with the Steelers and was traded to Washington for a seventh-round pick. Shortly after that, he was cut, landed with the New York Jets, and was cut again, ending his NFL career.
The argument could be made that offensive tackle Jamain Stephens was the biggest bust in Steelers’ draft history, but at least Stephens started 11 games for the Steelers and lasted two years.
Richardson did go on to have a successful life off the field. He works as a financial analyst for Merril Lynch, after receiving his Master’s degree in business administration from Emory University in Atlanta.
