News

The Pittsburgh Steelers will have the 31^st pick in the 2011 NFL Draft that will be held April 28-30 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

The Steelers have a total of seven selections in the 76^th annual draft, including their own selection in each of the Draft’s seven rounds. This is the second time in league history the NFL will conduct a three-day draft and the 18^th consecutive year for the seven-round format with a total of 254 draft picks.

The Draft begins Thursday, April 28, at 8 p.m., and only the first round will be completed on the first day. The second and third rounds will take place on Friday, April 29, beginning at 6 p.m. The final four rounds will take place on Saturday, April 30, beginning at noon. Teams are allotted 10 minutes for each selection in the first round and seven minutes in the second round. Five minutes are permitted for all subsequent rounds.

For the sixth consecutive year, two networks will be televising the Draft in its entirety. NFL Network, which is airing the Draft for the sixth time, will televise all three days of the Draft while ESPN/ESPN2 will continue their annual coverage of the entire draft through its conclusion. Additionally, the Steelers’ official web site (www.steelers.com) and NFL.com will have exclusive coverage and behind-the-scenes features and Sirius NFL Radio will broadcast a live streaming audio feed throughout the Draft.

FAN PARTICIPATION: Steelers fans can participate in Draft Day festivities at the 2011 Steelers Fan Blitz, presented by Xfinity. Steelers Fan Blitz will be held from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, at Heinz Field and will feature a number of fun-filled events, prize giveaways, and a chance for fans to meet the Steelers’ 2011 No. 1 Draft Pick as well as some of their favorite Steelers’ alumni. For more information on all of the day’s events, please log on to www.steelers.com.

Fans wanting to demonstrate that they bleed “Black and Gold” can make a life-saving blood donation in the North Club Lounge at the Central Blood Bank. Fans who pre-register for the drive (412-209-7010 or www.centralbloodbank.org) will receive free admission into Fan Blitz.

Tickets are now on sale at the Steelers Sideline Stores at the Monroeville Mall, South Hills Village, Pittsburgh Mills, Prime Outlets at Grove City and Heinz Field as well as www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets will also be available on the day of the event at the Steelers Ticket Office at Gate B at 10 a.m.

DRAFT NOTES: A total of 32 compensatory choices have been awarded to 23 teams which suffered a net loss of certain free agents last year…New England (Nos. 17 and 28) has two selections in the first round…Oakland does not have a first-round pick…In 74 previous Drafts, the Steelers have selected in the first round in all but seven…Nine of last year’s 10 Steelers draft selections were on the roster during the 2010 season.

STEELERS 2011 DRAFT SELECTIONS: 1-31; 2-63; 3-95; 4-128; 5-162; 6-196; 7-232.

All-Time: 30 were chosen in each draft from 1943-48.

Modern Era: 22 in 1971 (11 off., 10 def., 1 sp.); 1976 (12 off., 10 def.)

FEWEST CHOICES:

All-Time: 5 in 2003 (2 off., 3 def.)

Modern Era: 5 in 2003 (2 off., 3 def.)

HIGHEST CHOICE:

First overall choice in Draft: 1956 (DB Gary Glick); 1970 (QB Terry Bradshaw)

LATEST FIRST CHOICE:

Eighth round in 1959 and 1963

FIRST-ROUND DRAFT CHOICES BY POSITION: (since 1970)

• 7 Defensive Backs (1973, 75, 78, 87, 93, 97, 03)
• 7 Wide Receivers (1971, 74, 84, 94, 99, 00, 06)
• 7 Offensive Linemen (1986, 89, 92, 96, 98, 02, 10)
• 6 Defensive Linemen (1981, 83, 85, 88, 01, 09)
• 5 Running Backs (1972, 79, 82, 89, 09)
• 4 Tight Ends (1976, 90, 95, 05)
• 3 Quarterbacks (1970, 80, 04)
• 3 Linebackers (1977, 91, 07)

STEELERS DRAFTS SINCE 2007 (Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s First Year)

2010 (18th Overall)

RD	PLAYER	POS	COLLEGE
1	Ziggy Hood	DE	Missouri
3a	Kraig Urbik	OG	Wisconsin
3b	Mike Wallace	WR	Mississippi
3c	Keenan Lewis	CB	Oregon State
5a	Joe Burnett	CB	Central Florida
5b	Frank Summers	RB	UNLV
6	Sunny Harris	DT	Oregon
7a	A.Q. Shipley	C	Penn State
7b	David Johnson	TE	Central Arkansas

2008 (23rd Overall)

RD	PLAYER	POS	COLLEGE
1	Rashard Mendenhall	RB	Illinois
2	Limas Sweed	WR	Texas
3	Bruce Davis	LB	UCLA
4	Tony Hills	OT	Texas
5	Dennis Dixon	QB	Oregon
6a	Mike Humpal	LB	Iowa
6b	Ryan Mundy	S	West Virginia

2007 (15th Overall)

RD	PLAYER	POS	COLLEGE
1	Lawrence Timmons	LB	Florida State
2	LaMarr Woodley	LB	Michigan
3	Matt Spaeth	TE	Minnesota
4a	Daniel Sepulveda	P	Baylor
4b	Ryan McBean	DE	Oklahoma State
5a	Cameron Stephenson	OG	Rutgers
5b	William Gay	CB	Louisville
7	Dallas Baker	WR	Florida

STEELERS DRAFT HISTORY (since 1969) 

2011 NFL DRAFT FIRST-ROUND ORDER