Throughout modern history of the Pittsburgh Steelers, they’ve focused on one thing when it comes to roster building: draft, develop and retain.

In the salary cap era, the Steelers have done a great job of that, particularly under former GM Kevin Colbert. While current GM Omar Khan has had some good draft classes as a whole and has helped reshape the Steelers’ depth chart through the draft, his first-round hauls haven’t made much of an impact so far.

That’s not to say that Colbert was perfect. Far from it, especially late in his Pittsburgh tenure. One of his biggest gaffes — one that he still defends to this day — was selecting Kenny Pickett at No. 20 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Pickett lasted just two seasons in Pittsburgh before the Steelers traded him to Philadelphia shortly after signing Russell Wilson in free agency ahead of the 2024 season. Yes, Pickett had a tremendous final season with the Pitt Panthers, pushing his way into the first-round conversation, but he was a mess with the Steelers.

Yet, CBS Sports’ Mike Renner believes Pickett was a better Steelers first-round pick than Najee Harris was one season prior.

In his rankings of every first-round pick from 2020 through 2025, Renner didn’t have a single Steelers selection among the best first-round decisions. He had just two in the second tier of solid picks, mixed returns and incomplete grades, and had three in the third tier of most disappointing first-round decisions.

Since 2020, here are the Steelers’ first-round selections:

2020: no first-rounder
2021: Najee Harris, RB
2022: Kenny Pickett, QB
2023: Broderick Jones, OT
2024: Troy Fautanu, OT
2025: Derrick Harmon, DL

Not exactly a group that boosts a resume.

While Harmon (No. 94 overall) and Fautanu (No. 99) cracked the top 100, it was surprising to see Pickett (No. 138) ahead of Harris (No. 152), while Jones came in at No. 173 overall.

There should be no world in which Pickett is considered a better first-round pick than Harris. After all, Harris had four straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons, with a career-best 1,200 yards as a rookie.

He never missed a game, was a battering ram who was incredibly hard to tackle on a consistent basis and was a key figure offensively. His best ability was his availability, which knocked him in the eyes of some analysts, but he was what the Steelers largely wanted and needed: a dependable running back who did not miss time with injuries.

Pickett never came close to Harris’ production and consistency in Pittsburgh. Pickett played in 25 games for the Steelers with 24 starts. He went 14-10, throwing for 4,474 yards and 13 touchdowns with 13 interceptions.

A high-ankle sprain during the 2023 season sidelined him and ultimately cost him his job in Pittsburgh as Mason Rudolph took over late in the year, won three straight games and nearly lifted the Steelers to a playoff upset of the Buffalo Bills on the road.

Pickett had some ugly moments with Rudolph as the starter. He said he didn’t learn anything from watching Rudolph on the field and then stated that he felt it was time to move on that offseason after the Steelers brought in direct competition for him with Wilson.

Since Pittsburgh traded him, Pickett has spent time with the Eagles, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders and now Carolina Panthers. He won a Super Bowl with the Eagles as a backup and saw some playing time in that Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs, but he has played in 11 games and started just 3 times since leaving Pittsburgh.

That’s not a good first-round pick, and certainly not a better one than a running back who played in every game in Pittsburgh and had nearly 1,300 touches in four years.

Fautanu and Harmon look like solid players, and the arrow is pointing up for both. Jones has a serious neck injury he’s working back from, but when he was healthy he wasn’t what the Steelers believed he could be. Couple that with the failure of Pickett and the selection of Harris when the team had bigger needs than a running back, and it has Renner ripping the Steelers for their work in the first round in recent years.

“The Steelers are very much still coasting off the Kevin Colbert era, with players like T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward anchoring the defense,” Renner writes. “Even putting Derrick Harmon and Troy Fautanu in the middle third at this point in their careers is almost a placeholder, as neither has proven to be a consistently quality starter yet.

“No wonder the Steelers feel like the oldest team in the NFL.”

The Steelers are an older team, but they aren’t the oldest in the NFL. They’re older due to the fact that they’re trying to fit a window to compete right now with that aging core that Colbert helped build through the draft. Again, Khan has had some solid drafts, adding players like Nick Herbig, Keeanu Benton, Joey Porter Jr., Fautanu, Harmon, Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick and Darnell Washington.

It’s been hard to move past some of the first-round misses the Steelers have had in recent years though.