A bit of an obscure draft trend I’ve kept an eye on for several years now is the Pittsburgh Steelers’ penchant for drafting players who were Top-10 at the Combine in the broad jump. That trend continued last year with them drafting wide receiver Calvin Austin III in the fourth round. Austin had the second-best broad jump overall at the combine with an impressive 11’3″.
I believe that the broad jump is a trait the Steelers specifically value in their pre-draft evaluations. So just how much do they like the broad jump? At the 2007-2022 NFL Combines there have been 181 players to finish in the top ten in the broad jump in their respective years (comes out to a little over 12 per year due to ties, and there was no combine in 2021).