Pittsburgh Steelers: 5 worst draft picks of all-time
By Dani Bostick
3. Outside Linebacker Huey Richardson, Round 1, 1991
One event in Huey Richardson’s post-NFL life should render insignificant his disappointing NFL career. Richardson survived the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11. He was working as an analyst for Merrill Lynch when his building was struck by the first airplane. Richardson survived.
The Steelers choice of Richardson in the 1995 draft is inexplicable. Since the Steelers play a 3-4 defense, Richardson was a very poor fit for the Steelers scheme. He played poorly as an inside linebacker his rookie season, and equally poorly as an outside linebacker the next year.
Richardson ended up traded to the Redskins for a seventh-round pick after the Steelers could not make use of him. A short while later, he ended up with the New York Jets. He did not fare much better away from the Steelers and ended up cut at the end of the 1992 season.
The horror of the Richardson pick is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the Steelers seemed to have picked him in the heat of the moment, not as a premeditated choice. With several intriguing players off the board when it was the Steelers turns, Richarson could have been viewed as simply the best available player, the front office ignoring the fact that he was a poor fit for the Steelers 3-4 defense.
Next: 2. Wide Receiver Limas Sweed, Round 2, 2008