The Steelers graded Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown very similarly in 2010, but drafted Sanders first; Kevin Colbert explains why. Appearing on Off Set with Kinger and the Big Man with Rob King and Jay Caufield, the former Steelers general manager spoke at length about his time in Pittsburgh.
During the interview, Colbert addressed the notion of straying from the draft board for talent, or vice versa. He brought up the 2010 draft, during which they double-dipped at wide receiver with Sanders and Brown.
“In the draft when we took Antonio Brown, we had drafted Emmanuel Sanders in the third round”, Colbert recalled. “We had Emmanuel and Antonio graded really close. Emmanuel was a senior; he had played in the East-West game. He was a little more ready-made, whereas AB was a junior coming out earlier. He was gonna take a little bit longer than Emmanuel, so we said, ‘We’ll take Emmanuel’.
“But then when we got to the sixth round and Antonio [Brown] was still available, we said, ‘Guys, it doesn’t matter if we took Emmanuel’. And Emmanuel played 11 years. ‘But this kid could be special; we better take AB’. And that’s why we took AB. At a certain point you have to consider the elite talent”.
Antonio Brown was 21 years old when the Steelers drafted him out of Central Michigan. He played just three seasons there, foregoing his senior season to improve his draft stock. While he was productive in college, there’s a reason the league passed on him for five rounds.
Of course, Brown developed into one of the great wide receivers of his era, whatever else one might say. Emmanuel Sanders had a great career as well, however, truly one of the great wide receiver double-dips of the past couple decades. Of course, the Steelers landed two Hall of Famers in 1974 with Lynn Swann and John Stallworth.
Antonio Brown’s talent was evident on his college tape, but scouts did question his athleticism. He did not test as well as his later performance in the NFL would indicate. He also had maturity concerns, and his small-school background led to questions about quality of competition. There were fewer questions for the Steelers to evaluate with Emmanuel Sanders, who had consistent four-year college production.
Lest we forget, though, Antonio Brown was rather prolific within his college boundaries. In a three-year period, he caught 305 passes for 3,199 yards and 22 touchdowns. His junior year, he caught 110 passes for 1,198 yards and 9 touchdowns. He also scored three rushing touchdowns and three return touchdowns.
Looking back on his college career, I buy Kevin Colbert’s claim that the Steelers had Sanders and Brown graded in close proximity to each other. At the time, they still had Hines Ward and Mike Wallace, and brought back Antwaan Randle El. Limas Sweed, a former second-round pick, was still floating around. They didn’t need to draft another wide receiver, but in the sixth round, he was hard to pass up. Especially since he offered return value, too, on which he shortly made good. By his second season, he made the Pro Bowl as a returner.
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