One of my biggest personal complaints about the Pittsburgh Steelers has been their repeatedly weak undrafted class. For a team with a rich history of hidden gems—Donnie Shell, James Harrison, Ramon Foster—the organization’s recent groups have been weak. Jaylen Warren was a find, but he’s on a very short list of impact players or even names who stuck around longer than a single summer.
Part of the problem has been structural. Pittsburgh doesn’t spend the money most other teams do, offering only small signing bonuses instead of partial base salary guarantees. It puts the top undrafted names out of reach, leaving the Steelers with whatever was left over.