3 strangest players to ever play in a Steelers jersey

1. Johnny Unitas

There are 22 starting positions on an NFL roster, yet the three strangest Steelers are all quarterbacks. Johnny Unitas is considered one of the greatest players in league history. The Steelers cut him unceremoniously. The Steelers only used a ninth-round pick on Unitas, so in the team’s mind, it wasn’t much of a loss.

Boy, are they sad about how things turned out. Then Steelers coach Walt Kiesling felt Unitas wasn’t “smart enough” to handle the NFL. He didn’t even give him snaps in practice, basically showing the writing on the wall. Unitas never got a chance, and he went to the Baltimore Colts where he became a legend.

The Steelers almost caused Unitas to quit football entirely. He stayed in Pittsburgh, working in construction after what looked like a flame-out career. Then, he played on a semi-pro team. That team had a lineman named Jim Deglau, who got an offer from the Colts. He told Unitas to come try out, and the rest is history.

This one hurts the most because of the circumstances. The Steelers didn’t make the playoffs over the first 16 years of Unitas’ career. He could have turned this into a different franchise. While it’s hard to find any evidence of Unitas in a Steelers jersey, it happened (at least in practice), and it was an opportunity missed.