PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – A lesson could be learned from the 2003 draft as the Steelers approach 2025.
Let’s set the scene, coming off a 2000 season where Kent Graham started five games and Kordell Stewart 11. Kordell competed 52% of his passes with 11 touchdowns and 8 interceptions and while he ran for seven scores, they weren’t settled at quarterback. You could argue they didn’t know how to use Stewart. The Steelers finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs.
They finished 9-7 with a defense that didn’t allow any team more than 22 points.
Going into that offseason, they decided they needed to add to that foundation on defense instead of reaching for a new quarterback. They drafted Casey Hampton in the first round and linebacker Kendrell Bell in the second.
That defense led them to the AFC Championship game despite an offense that averaged only 22 points a game, really buoyed by a 47-point game against a lousy Detroit team. Stewart completed just 60% of his passes with 14 touchdowns to 11 interceptions with an 81.7 quarterback rating. Oh, he ran for 537 yards, but it rarely allowed for the type of offensive production needed to get to the next level.
Figure in 2002, quarterback would be a major need. This was truly a team that seemed a quarterback away from winning it all. They didn’t draft one, instead they kept building their base-guard Kendall Simmons in the first round (quarterback Patrick Ramsey went two picks later), WR Antwann Randle-El, followed by safety Chris Hope, linebacker Larry Foote and defensive lineman Brett Keisel in the seventh round.
That season 31-year-old Tommy Maddox was phased in as the starting quarterback completing 62% with 20 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. That team went 10-5-1, winning its last three games to reach the playoffs and a Tennessee overtime field goal away from another AFC title game.
2003 would be the year they would finally get that future quarterback, surely, they wouldn’t stick with Tommy Maddox.
The Steelers here decided to be aggressive, not to move up and get a quarterback, rather to draft another defensive player, safety Troy Polamalu. If they would have stayed committed to just finding a quarterback, options would have been Kyle Boller and Rex Grossman (drafted 19th and 23rd overall). In the second round, Steelers drafted linebacker Alonzo Jackson, corner Ike Taylor in the fourth and a flyer QB, Brian St. Pierre, in the fifth round.
GM Kevin Golbert led a plan to find the best players and build on the foundation. Even though they had won playoff games, they weren’t going to reach for a quarterback. In turn, that 2003 team suffered. Maddox won only six of his 16 starts.
That step back allowed them the opportunity to pick Ben Roethlisberger with the 11th overall selection in 2004.
A fortunate injury, sorry Tommy, and the Steelers were 15-1 in ’04 with Roethlisberger entrenched. It began a stretch where they were in four of the next seven AFC title games and two more Super Bowl titles.
Could they have gotten there if they reached for a quarterback?
They stayed true to their board and built for when that opportunity came. Even though it potentially cost them more immediate success, they built a championship team forgoing the instant gratification for a plan that didn’t just get them a winning season or the shot at winning a playoff game, but a championship.
It’s not a pure apples-to-apples situation from then to now, but it is a lesson. What will they learn from it?