Every NFL team’s greatest draft class

Pittsburgh Steelers: 1974

Notable Selections

1: WR Lynn Swann

2: LB Jack Lambert

4: WR John Stallworth

4b: DB Jimmy Allen

5: C Mike Webster

6: DT Jim Wolf     

6b: T Rich Druschel            

9b: DT Charles Davis

Best Pick: LB Jack Lambert

How Did This Class Change The Franchise?

The team grabbed four players in the first five rounds that would be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Wide receiver Lynn Swann made his share of big plays, especially in the postseason. Kent State linebacker Jack Lambert transformed an emerging defense from talented to fearsome.

Alabama A&M wideout John Stallworth was also huge in the playoffs and teamed with Swann to give Terry Bradshaw a deadly duo. Center Mike Webster was a nine-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro. The quartet (and undrafted safety Donnie Shell) enhanced a team that would win four Super Bowl titles in a six-year span.

San Francisco 49ers: 1986

Notable Selections

Best Pick: DE/OLB Charles Haley

2: DE Larry Roberts

3: FB Tom Rathman

3b: CB Tim McKyer

3c: WR John Taylor

4: DE Charles Haley

4b: T Steve Wallace

4c: DE Kevin Fagan

6: CB Don Griffin

How Did This Class Change The Franchise?

If you weren’t impressed by the Steelers’ 1974 draft, Bill Walsh and the 49ers fortified their roster in 1986 without selecting a player in the first round. They wound up with a slew of starters artists and pivotal performers who were big parts of the team’s back-to-back Super Bowl titles in 1988 and ’89.

Defensive linemen Larry Roberts and Kevin Fagan were key pieces up front while fullback Tom Rathman and tackle Steve Wallace brought a little more power to the running game. John Taylor was the perfect complement to the legendary Jerry Rice. And Hall of Fame defender Charles Haley terrorized opposing quarterbacks.