By RAY FITTIPALDO

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

Drafting receivers with troubled backgrounds is nothing new to the Steelers. They’ve done it for decades now and for years managed to maximize their talents before jettisoning them when there was a point of diminishing return. Santonio Holmes is the perfect example of that.

The Steelers traded up in the first round of the 2006 draft to select Holmes despite knowing he had legal issues in his past. The Steelers would not have won Super Bowl XLIII without Holmes and his MVP performance against the Arizona Cardinals. He was instrumental in that 2008 playoff run and produced other quality seasons, but when legal matters and personal problems continued to plague him, the Steelers shipped him off to the Jets for a fifth-round pick.

Losing a player of Holmes’ caliber might have crippled other NFL teams, but the Steelers of that era were the best in the NFL at drafting and developing receivers. Mike Wallace came in the third round of the 2009 draft, and a couple of weeks after Holmes was dealt, they drafted Emmanuel Sanders (third round) and Antonio Brown (sixth round).

That trio gave themselves a nickname — the Young Money Crew — and they paid immediate dividends, helping the Steelers advance to Super Bowl XLV nine months later.

The Steelers never stopped drafting risky receivers in the ensuing years, but they haven’t had the same success managing their personalities. And on top of that, drafting receivers no longer is their strong suit.

Say what you want about Brown. He was a handful, but he produced big numbers and helped the Steelers remain contenders for nearly a decade after he was drafted. In recent years the Steelers can’t even manage to get a receiver to the end of his rookie contract.

As talented as Pickens is, the Steelers had to move on from him after three tumultuous seasons. He was no longer worth the trouble he caused for the team.

Coach Mike Tomlin knew that when the Steelers drafted Pickens in the second round of the 2022 draft, he would require special handling. In some ways, his success in managing Brown for his nine seasons in Pittsburgh backfired on him.

Tomlin thought if he could handle Brown for as long as he did, he could handle anyone, but that’s a million miles from the truth.

Tomlin couldn’t handle Chase Claypool. He couldn’t handle Diontae Johnson, either. All three were early draft picks for the Steelers in a four-year span from 2019-22, and all three are now gone.

“Look, people have to be

Benjamin B. Braun/ Post-Gazette/TNS who they are, whatever that might mean,” Steelers Hall of Fame receiver Lynn Swann said last fall. “If you look at all the players that you would give the moniker or call them a ‘diva,’ how long are they playing? How many teams do they play for? Do they last, or do they make a lasting, positive impact on that team?”

Almost always, the answer is no.

And to be fair to Tomlin and the Steelers, it’s a problem across the NFL. Receivers are traded more often than players at any other position. The Bills had to trade Stephon Diggs. The Packers and Raiders had to trade Davante Adams. The Giants dealt O’Dell Beckham. Dozens of other diva deals could be cited over the decades.

Much has changed since Swann and John Stallworth coexisted on the same team for eight years in the 1970s and early 1980s. Even they could have their diva moments wanting the ball. Terry Bradshaw and Chuck Noll might have had to deal with that, but they didn’t have to contend with free agency, skyrocketing salaries and players being coddled from a young age. All of it has changed the NFL landscape for good.

And it’s not getting easier for NFL teams.

Tomlin acknowledged scouting is different now due to NIL money and the transfer portal.

“Getting background information is a little bit more challenging in today’s climate, as kids move around, and so I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the quality work, particularly the foundational work that our scouting department does over a 12-month calendar, in teeing all of this up for us,” Tomlin said before the draft.

Maybe the Steelers have finally learned their lesson. In the past three drafts, they’ve taken only one receiver. In March, they made the decision they were going to trade for DK Metcalf. After acquiring him they signed him to a five-year, $150 million deal. That’s a boatload of money for a player they only know on the surface.

Maybe that’s the way the Steelers should approach receivers now. Let other teams draft and develop them and carefully select the ones you want on your team based on their track record.

By all accounts, Metcalf is a player who will be professional and set the tone in the receiver room. Pickens, Claypool and Johnson certainly didn’t do that.

At this point, what does it hurt for the Steelers to try a new process at the position?

Their old way of doing things was only leading to major headaches.