Choosing the Steelers All-Quarter Century Team, Offense Edition

In the most recent episode of the Pittsburgh Standard Time podcast, Greg Benevent and I came up with our All-Quarter Century Team for the Pittsbught Steelers on offense. To add to the challenge in some areas, we came up with a first and second team.

Just to give a reminder, these players were selected based on their time with the Steelers for the years 2000 through 2024.

First Team

QB: Ben Roethlisberger
RB: Jerome Bettis
RB: Le’Veon Bell
FB: Dan Kreider
TE: Heath Miller
WR: Antonio Brown
WR: Hines Ward
C: Maurkice Pouncey
G: Alan Faneca
G: David DeCastro
T: Max Starks
T: Alejandro Villanueva

Selecting the first team quarterback was a no-brainer in Ben Roethlisberger. When it came to running back, we weren’t sure if we should include one or two. Since Greg picked Le’Veon Bell and I went with Jerome Bettis due to his 50 rushing touchdowns since 2000, it made sense to just go ahead and do two running backs.

It’s not always easy to remember fullbacks, but Dan Kreider was the obvious choice. In the category of other obvious choices, Heath Miller at  tight end along with Antonio Brown and Hines Ward at wide receiver also fell into that category. So did the first three spots on the offensive line with center Maurkice Pouncy, and guards Alan Faneca and David DeCastro.

Choosing offensive tackles was a different story. We were able to name our top four players, but choosing which ones to put on the first team versus the second team was not an easy decision. Ultimately we went with my choices of Max Starks and Alejandro Villanueva.

Moving onto the second team…

Second Team

QB: Kordell Stewart
RB: Willie Parker
RB: Najee Harris
FB: Roosevelt Nix
TE: Pat Freiermuth
WR: Santonio Holmes
WR: Mike Wallace
C: Jeff Hartings
G: Ramon Foster
G: Kendall Simmons
T: Marvel Smith
T: Marcus Gilbert

There were really only two choices at quarterback for the second team in Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox. Both started 32 regular season games for the Steelers, but Stewart had 23 wins compared to Maddox with 15. Plus, Kordell Stewart was really before his time in the NFL and if the Steelers could have 2000 Stewart right now it would really be something to see.

The first choice at running back was easy with Willie Parker as he actually has the most rushing yards for the Steelers over the last 25 seasons. The other running back spot came down to Najee Harris or Rashard Mendenhall. Ultimately, we picked Harris based on his uncharacteristic availability as well as projecting how he would have performed in the backfield on Mendenhall’s teams. As for fullback, we were both fans of Roosevelt Nix so we threw him on there as we struggled to remember any other fullbacks to consider.

Tight end was one of those positions were both choices were easy as the first team was obviously Heath Miller and the second team was obviously Pat Freieruth. Wide receiver had a number of options but we chose to go with the Super Bowl MVP and the dynamic ability of Mike Wallace over player such as Diontae Johnson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Plaxico Burress.

Believe it or not, the offensive line was fairly simple to come up with the rest of the players. Jeff Hardings was obviously the second best center the Steelers had in the last 25 years as Zach Frazier only has one year under his belt. Ramon Foster started more games as an offensive lineman for the Steelers in the last 25 years than anybody else, and we both struggled to come up with anybody else other than Kendall Simmons to fill out the roster. As I said before, we struggled on which tackles to put on which team and ultimately decided on Marvel Smith and Marcus Gilbert for the second team. For me, Marcus Gilbert is one of the most underrated offensive lineman the Steelers had over the last 25 years as he should have been selected to at least one, if not multiple, Pro Bowls.

So what do you think? What would you change on these lists? Make sure you leave your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for next week when we tackle the defense.

For more of the discussion, check out the most recent episode of Pittsburgh Standard Time below: