3 strangest players to ever play in a Steelers jersey

2. Len Dawson

Another quarterback, but this Hall of Famer was on the exact opposite spectrum of his career. Dawson is best known for his time with the Kansas City Chiefs. He was one of the great quarterbacks of the 1960s. He led the Chiefs to a win in Super Bowl IV. He’d get a lot more love if Joe Namath didn’t already get an upset as an AFL team. Dawson was just as good as Namath, just without the guarantee.

Before all that, Dawson was a draftee of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He spent his first three seasons with the Steelers, starting just one game. In three seasons, he had 17 pass attempts. The Steelers clearly didn’t know what they had, and they traded for another future Hall of Famer in Bobby Layne.

Dawson was traded to the Cleveland Browns, but he didn’t fit there either. He was straight-up released, and he found a home with what would become the Chiefs franchise.

A wild piece of history is how Dawson ended up on the Steelers and what could have been. Paul Brown desperately wanted Dawson to replace Otto Graham on the Cleveland Browns, but the Steelers won a coin toss to gain positioning in the NFL Draft. They had to settle for a running back from Syracuse because they lost out on Dawson. That running back ended up being Jim Brown. It remains one of the wildest “what ifs” in league history.