A dynasty needs to start somewhere. Whether you think it was this draft or the last one, both helped put those missing pieces together. The Stees had eight picks this draft, can you remember the rest of the picks after Ben? Cause we couldn’t.
2004
1st Round, 11th pick: Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Miami (Ohio)
2nd Round, 38th pick: Ricardo Colclough, CB, Tusculum
3rd Round, 75th pick: Max Starks, T, Florida
5th Round, 145th pick: Nathaniel Adibi, DE, Virginia Tech
6th Round, 177th pick: Bo Lacy, T, Arkansas
6th Round, 194th pick: Matt Kranchick, TE, Penn State
6th Round, 197th pick: Drew Caylor, C, Stanford
7th Round, 212th pick: Eric Taylor, DT, Memphis
Notable Busts: 9th pick Reggie Williams, 10th pick Dunta Robinson
Notable Late Round Gems: Round 3, pick 81, Chris Cooley; Round 4, pick 108, Jerricho Cotchery; Round 7, pick 235, Derrick Ward
Best Names of the Draft: Adimchinobe Echemandu, Triandos Luke, Deandre’ Eiland
Just like the draft before this, the Stees basically cemented the franchise with a game changer for the next decade or so, but this time on offense. For the most part, fans have a love/hate relationship with Big Ben. He’ll just whip the ball into triple coverage across his body while scrambling and somehow it fall between the defenders for 40 yards (Super Bowl XL). And then there will be an innocent 5 yard pass into a wide open player into the end zone and it will get intercepted (also Super Bowl XL). But where would the excitement be if he didn’t do that stuff? Really, he won us 2 Super Bowls already, and we think he’s just getting started.
The rest of the picks, well, they were just… meh. Ricardo played hard but never really got much playing time. He earned a ring in ’05 but went on injured reserve in ’06 and was released in the 2007 season. The Browns picked him up for the season and then gave him to the Panthers where he received a DWI and was cut. Now he’s hanging around with the Chiefs. Max Starks is still managing to be the fattest 6’8 man alive. He’s lost his starting job in ’07 to Willie Colon so now he’s the left tackle, with a franchise tag. The rest of the five picks were all junk. We’d say this draft started off alright but kind of petered off. But those first few picks were well worth it, so we’d have to say…
Grade: B-
Think this draft deserved that high of a grade? Let us know in the comments.
