Recent drafts show Steelers must be better taken at Rooney Complex (Steelers)

Former Steelers linebacker Jarvis Jones -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

The NFL draft is an inexact science. We all know that.

And breaking down a draft is an inexact science as well. After all, one man's trash can be another man's treasure. It's why players who don't work out in one place -- see James Farrior, for example -- can become stars in another.

Scheme and opportunity matter in the NFL just like anywhere else.

But how should a draft be judged? On its star players? Those sure don't hurt, but they can't be the sole basis. After all, it takes 53 players to make up the roster. And if you get just one star each year and nothing else to fill in around it, you won't have much of a team.

Subscriber Tony Villiotti has come up with one way to judge things based on the overall depth, and it doesn't look favorably on the Steelers.

Looking at the team's drafts from 2012-2016 -- a five-year span -- Villiotti's numbers show the Steelers ranking 30th during that period. His assessments don't include the past two years since he factors in things such as playing time and whether the player was named to an All-Pro team. Kickers and punters also are excluded since they don't see enough snaps per game to factor into this methodology.

The results of Villiotti's study can be seen here:

As you can see, the Steelers are at the bottom of the chart. But there are some mitigating factors involved, as Villiotti admits. Teams that are drafting lower in the first round -- the Steelers' average draft spot during this period was 20.7 -- are going have less of a chance to start early or be named to an All-Pro team.

For example, the Buccaneers, who rank first, had an average draft position in the first round of 11.4. And part of the reason for that low of a draft ranking was because they traded up to get a second first-round pick in 2012 to take running back Doug Martin at 31. That came after they took safety Mark Barron seventh overall.

Take the selection of Martin out of the equation, and Tampa Bay's average draft spot in the first round during that period was 6.5, including taking quarterback Jameis Winston first overall in 2015. The Bucs should be high on this list.

Another issue with the ranking is the fact that neither Barron or Martin are still with the Bucs. Barron just played in the Super Bowl for the Rams, while Martin led the Raiders in rushing in 2018.

While they remain in the league, they're not still with the team that drafted them. That doesn't make either a bust for the Bucs, but it also means the only player remaining on Tampa Bay's roster from the 2012 draft is linebacker Lavonte David, the team's second-round pick.

Also, the worse the team, the more likely it is draft picks will play early, even if they aren't deserving.

Like the Bucs, the Steelers also have just one player remaining on their roster from the 2012 draft, guard David DeCastro, whom they selected 24th. The only other player from that draft who turned into a full-time starter was the fourth of the team's seventh-round picks, tackle Kelvin Beachum. And, of course, Beachum is no longer with the Steelers.

But, the compensatory pick the Steelers received from the NFL in return for Beachum was used in 2017 to select running back James Conner.

Even so, the 2012 draft was not kind to the Steelers, though a serious knee injury to third-round pick Sean Spence ruined what looked like what could have been a promising career for the linebacker. Still, there were too many misses in second-rounder Mike Adams, fourth-round pick Alameda Ta'amu, running back Chris Rainey, receiver Toney Clemons, tight end David Paulson and corner Terrence Frederick.

If that seems like a bunch of players in a seven-round draft, it's because it is. The Steelers had nine picks that year, one each in the first five rounds, none in the sixth and four in the seventh round.

That brings us to the second part of our look at these drafts. How many picks you have in the early rounds matters.

This is something the Patriots have done with a modicum of success.

While the Patriots are only 25th in these rankings, they also have only had three first-round picks during that time period, defensive end Chandler Jones (21st in 2012), defensive tackle Dominque Easley (29th in 2014) and defensive tackle Malcom Brown (32nd in 2015). Jones was traded to Arizona, while Easley played for the Rams in the Super Bowl against New England.

In 2013, they traded their first round pick to Minnesota, who then selected receiver/return man Cordarrelle Patterson. Patterson, ironically, was acquired via a trade with Oakland and played for New England in the 2018 season.

And in 2016, the Patriots were docked their first-round selection as a penalty for Deflategate.

Despite that, the Patriots had 17 picks in the first three rounds from 2012-2016, most acquired for trades. The Steelers, meanwhile, had 15 picks in the first three rounds in that same period.

Unlike the Steelers, the Patriots have also dabbled more in free agency to fill the holes on their roster left by drafting at the bottom of the first round, or not at all, in that period.

The Steelers also had nine seventh-round selections in that period, 17 percent of their picks, while the Patriots had a whopping 11 picks that late, a whopping 26 percent of their selections. Only four of the top-rated Bucs' 32 picks were seventh-round selections.

Regardless, while the Steelers have hit on some picks, DeCastro (2012), Le'Veon Bell (second, 2013), Vince Williams (sixth, 2013), Ryan Shazier (first, 2014), Stephon Tuitt (second, 2014), Bud Dupree (first, 2015), Jesse James (fifth, 2015), Sean Davis (second, 2016) and Javon Hargrave (third, 2016), they've also been victimized by some bad picks, as well.

Jarvis Jones was a terrible pick in 2013. And 2015 second-round draft pick Senquez Golson suffered multiple injuries and never got onto the field. Corner Artie Burns, a 2016 first-round pick, was a starter in each of his first two years before being benched in 2018.

There also have been some players who have gone on to play elsewhere, such as Beachum, 2013 picks Markus Wheaton and Shamarko Thomas, 2014 picks Martavis Bryant and Wes Johnson and 2015 third-rounder Sammie Coates.

That number is sure to grow this year, as James, Daniel McCullers (sixth, 2014) and 2016 sixth-round picks L.T. Walton and Anthony Chickillo all are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents.

A year from now, when the 2017 draft is factored into the equation, the Steelers are sure to rise. After all, linebacker T.J. Watt, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and Conner all just participated in the Pro Bowl two weeks ago. And cornerbacks Cameron Sutton and Brian Allen, along with linebacker Keion Adams, all could factor into the team's 2019 plans.

That would mean that only quarterback Josh Dobbs, a fourth-round pick, and long-snapper Colin Holba, taken in the sixth round, wouldn't factor much into this equation, though Holba wouldn't factor in, since he's a specialist.

But that brings us to a final issue with the rankings. Teams that take quarterbacks in later rounds that don't start them are penalized for taking those developmental players.

The Steelers selected two quarterbacks between 2012 and 2016, Dobbs in 2016 and Landry Jones in the fourth round in 2013.

Both would be viewed as fringe players based on the rankings. Yet Jones contributed to some Steelers victories as an injury replacement for Ben Roethlisberger before being beaten out for the No. 2 spot behind Roethlisberger by Dobbs at the start of the 2018 season.

The rankings also don't include players who make the roster and become contributors as undrafted rookies or castoffs from other teams. The Steelers have had a number of those, most notably Pro Bowl left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, corner Mike Hilton, offensive tackle Chris Hubbard and offensive linemen B.J. Finney and Matt Feiler.

So there is no true best way to judge the way a team builds except with the results on the field.

But for a team that prides itself on building through the draft such as the Steelers, there's little doubt the team has to hit a lot more than it did from 2012-2016.

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