Let's get to it:
DANIEL MAZENKO FROM LITITZ, PA: There is a realistic possibility that the Steelers will select an offensive lineman in the first round of this year's draft. If it happens, they could have two of the five positions manned by their own first-round draft picks. I know they had Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro recently, but the Steelers didn't make the Super Bowl when they were both on the team. Did any of the Steelers 8 Super Bowl teams have two or more first round draft picks on the offensive line?
ANSWER: The starting offensive line for the Steelers in Super Bowl XL had three first-round picks along the offensive line. That game, which was played in Ford Field against the Seattle Seahawks, had Alan Faneca (26th overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft) at left guard; Kendall Simmons (30th overall in the 2002 NFL Draft) at right guard; and Jeff Hartings (23rd overall pick by the Detroit Lions in the 1996 NFL Draft) at center. Also starting on the offensive line for the Steelers in Super Bowl XL were Marvel Smith (second round, 38th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft) at left tackle, and Max Starks (third round, 75th overall in the 2004 NFL Draft) at right tackle. A LOT of draft capital and free agent money was invested in that offensive line.
- Download and listen to the Ask & Answered Podcast here: Apple Podcast | Spotify
JIM NEAL FROM FAYETTEVILLE, TN: In the April 9 edition of Asked and Answered, you answered "no" to a question about whether draft prospects have any say in which teams draft them. I know your answer is absolutely correct, but wasn't there a famous quarterback who would not go to the team that drafted him? Can you remind us (me) what happened in that instance?
ANSWER: In the run-up to the 1983 NFL Draft, Stanford quarterback John Elway was the consensus No. 1 overall pick, and he made it known he would not play for the Baltimore Colts, the team that owned the first overall pick by virtue of an 0-8-1 record in the strike-shortened 1982 season. The Colts picked Elway anyway, and he refused to play for the team. Because he also was a standout baseball player at Stanford, the New York Yankees had made him a second-round pick in the 1981 Major League Baseball Draft. Threatening to play baseball instead of football, Colts Owner Robert Irsay traded Elway to the Denver Broncos in exchange for offensive tackle Chris Hinton (who was Denver's first-round pick in 1983), quarterback Mark Herrmann, and the Broncos No. 1 pick in 1984, who turned out to be guard Ron Solt. Irsay made that trade without telling General Manager Ernie Accorsi and Coach Frank Kush.
Eli Manning orchestrated something similar in the 2004 NFL Draft, because he didn't want to play for the San Diego Chargers, who owned the No. 1 overall pick. The Chargers picked Manning anyway, but rather quickly traded him to the New York Giants, in exchange for No. 4 overall pick (quarterback) Philip Rivers, a No. 3 pick in 2004 that turned out to be placekicker Nate Kaeding, a No. 1 pick in 2005 that turned out to be linebacker Shawne Merriman, and a fifth-round pick in 2005 that the Chargers traded away.
FUN FACT: Ernie Accorsi may have lost out on getting Elway in 1983, but in 2004 when he was the general manager of the New York Giants, he ended up with the quarterback he wanted that time in Eli Manning.
RAY SHAHEN FROM KISSIMMEE, FL: The Steelers have been signing some unrestricted free agent wide receivers to 1-year contracts or 2-year contracts. Are those players guaranteed the money or a part of it even if they don't make the team? Or are they guaranteed to make the team regardless?
ANSWER: The only guaranteed money in those contracts you reference would be the signing bonus – if there is one – and players are not guaranteed a roster spot in those situations.
GARY CRAIG FROM LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND: A Cardinals fan I know (he can't help it) said the Cardinals and Steelers merged during World War II for a season. Is this true? I was aware of the Eagles and Steelers creating the Steagles during World War II, but I wasn't aware they had merged with the Cardinals at any point.
ANSWER: It was in 1943 when the Steelers and the Eagles merged to form the Steagles, and then in 1944 the Steelers merged with the Chicago Cardinals to form a team known as Card-Pitt. While the Steagles finished 5-4-1 in 1943, Card-Pitt finished 0-10 in 1944 and came to be nicknamed by sportswriters as the "Car-Pitts," because opponents walked all over them.
BOB WALLACE FROM RAEFORD, NC: Before COVID, the Steelers ran a Men's Fantasy Camp at Saint Vincent College. Any chance of that reappearing?
ANSWER: There are no plans for another Men's Fantasy Camp, and my sense is that decision won't change.
NICK MOSES FROM SIMI VALLEY, CA: If you were putting together your "All-Time Steelers Team," and you were starting four linebackers, who would you have as your two inside linebackers? Jack Lambert seems an obvious pick for one of those two spots even though he played in a 4-3, but I'm curious to know who else you'd put in there with him?
ANSWER: That's an easy decision for me: James Farrior.
GARY DUVALL FROM COLUMBIA, SC: How many years did Terry Long play for the Steelers, and was he any good? We served in the military together.
ANSWER: Terry Long, who entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick of the Steelers in the 1984 NFL Draft from East Carolina, was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and after graduating from Eau Claire High School in 1977, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and played football while being stationed at Fort Bragg. During eight seasons with the Steelers, Long appeared in 105 regular season games, with 89 of those being starts. In the 1984 and 1989 seasons, Long also started in four playoff games for the Steelers (two in 1984 and two in 1989).
DAVE CLARK FROM TOANO, VA: When will the season schedule be released?
ANSWER: We already know the Steelers' 2024 opponents: at home they will play Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Giants, and New York Jets; and on the road they will play Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Atlanta, Denver, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and Washington. The NFL's announcement of the dates and times for the games has not been set, but in 2023 that information was released on May 11. I would expect a similar time frame this year as well.
BEN FIELY FROM MEADVILLE, PA: What Steelers team was the best that came up just a little short of a Lombardi Trophy?
ANSWER: That "honor" pretty much is awarded unanimously to the 1976 Steelers, a team coming off back-to-back Super Bowl wins only to get off to a 1-4 start and lose Terry Bradshaw to a neck injury inflicted by one of the all-time cheap shots, when Browns defensive lineman Joe "Turkey" Jones lifted Bradshaw into the air and spiked him head-first into the turf after the whistle. That Steelers team went on to win their final 9 games of the regular season, a streak during which the defense recorded five shutouts and allowed a total of 28 points. Those Steelers then went to Baltimore for the Divisional Round of the AFC Playoffs and destroyed the Colts, 40-14, but during that win they lost both Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier to injuries. Without their pair of 1,000-yard running backs for the next week's AFC Championship Game in Oakland, the Steelers lost to the Raiders, 24-7.
ROB HARDY FROM SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, MÉXICO: What was behind the decision during the 1970s that had Larry Brown move from tight end to offensive tackle?
ANSWER: During the 1976 season, tight end Larry Brown sustained a knee injury that limited him to 8 starts, and during the ensuing offseason Coach Chuck Noll believed that injury had robbed him of some of the quickness and speed necessary for the position at the NFL level. At Noll's behest, Brown then made the move to right tackle, where over the next 8 seasons he started 85 regular season games, plus 13 more in the playoffs, including Super Bowl XIV.
DEVON HARRIS FROM MIAMI, FL: Will the Steelers play a game overseas this season?
ANSWER: No. The NFL has announced that Philadelphia will play Green Bay in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The other NFL teams committed to international games are Chicago, Minnesota, and Jacksonville in London, and Carolina in Germany. Since the Steelers don't have any of those 4 teams on their 2024 regular season schedule, they will not be playing an international game during the upcoming season.
