Congratulations, Kevin Colbert, for drafting a corner and a safety

… in the first and second rounds 

Being the general manager of an NFL franchise can be a thankless job. After all, everybody out there can tell you who to draft or who to re-sign or trade for -- the world, it seems, has many free player personnel advisers out there.

Then there are jerks who constantly say year-after-year that the team needs a corner, so why not draft one in the first round.

Okay, I plead guilty to having done that for five or six years. I am certain that Kevin Colbert does not read my blog because he has ignored my advice for so long.

Then, in 2016. I read that Colbert and head Coach Mike Tomlin personally went to the University of Houston to see William Jackson III, a corner, work out. They loved him.

Then, on draft day, Jackson was selected one pick before the Steelers by the nasty Bengals. They did this once previously, so there was a history.

That left Colbert in a quandary. Draft Artie Burns from the University of Miami who was ranked as a second rounder, actually late second rounder, by many experts?

Colbert and Tomlin rolled the dice, and guess what? Artie Burns was starting the playoff game Sunday against the Chiefs and doing pretty well overall.

In fact, according to the Post-Gazette, Burns was among the highest-graded first round corner picks from the 2016 draft.

According to Pro Football Focus, Burns is the second highest rated corner and the 12th overall pick from the draft. That is not bad for a guy who was described as "relying heavily on that athleticism with pretty rotten technique, and doesn't even give a consistent effort athletically from game to game" by one analyst. I saved that quote from last April.

Burns, however, made a slew of mistakes this year. According to PFF, “No rookie cornerback has surrendered more touchdown catches than Artie Burns, but he also has three picks, five pass breakups, and has allowed fewer than 60 percent of the passes thrown into his coverage to be caught. One 95-yard catch-and-run by Mike Wallace skews his numbers, and Burns has shown a marked improvement over the second half of the season.”

So, we will see how Burns will do against Tom Brady, but he is making progress. And for that, thank Mr. Colbert for wasting a first-round pick on a corner.

Sean Davis

Despite his success, Burns was not the Steelers' rookie of the year. Sean Davis, the second-round pick at safety, was. Colbert also rolled the dice on Davis because other higher-rated safeties were available at the time that second-round selection was made.

In fact, many gurus had him as a third-rounder. However, Davis started eight games this year, picking off one pass and recording 54 tackles. He also had 1.5 sacks and recovered one fumble.

According to the Post-Gazette, Davis was the first rookie defensive back to start a season opener since Chad Scott did so in 1997.

However, Davis proved that he is also resilient since he survived a mid-season benching and earned back his safety position later in the year to start the last seven games at strong safety.

Why no No. 1's?

Colbert has had an aversion to drafting a corner early. He just does not think that you should waste a first-round pick on a corner. So, this was a sea change.

When was the last time that the Steelers selected a defensive back as a number one pick? Back in 2003, it was a safety from the University of Southern California named Troy Polamalu. That certainly worked out well, a Defensive Player of the Year and future Hall of Famer.

When was the last time that the Steelers selected as corner in the first round? It goes back to Scott in 1997.

Future?

How are Burns and Davis going to do in the future? That is difficult to say, but for now, Colbert should be sleeping a little better knowing that his two gambles at DB have earned starting jobs for the Steelers.

FYI: Jackson, the pick that the Bengals stole in the '16 draft, missed the entire season with a torn pectoral muscle.