Review: Pitt Players Picked in First Round of NFL Draft

With the NFL Combine underway, let's take a look back at the last 10 NFL Drafts that included Pitt Panthers among first-round selections.

DL CALIJAH KANCEY

2023 NFL Draft
No. 19 overall
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

A Miami product, Calijah Kancey started 29 games for the Panthers. He recorded 89 total tackles and 15.5 sacks in his Pitt career, including 14.5 tackles for loss and seven-and-a-half sacks during his final season.

Selected by the Tampa Buccaneers with the No. 19 overall pick two years ago, Calijah Kancey is on a solid trajectory so far in his pro career.

As a rookie in 2023, Kancey earned 14 starts and finished with 24 total tackles and four sacks. Showing improved play in 2024, what you want to see in a young player as an organization, Kancey put together 28 tackles and 7.5 sacks in less starts (12).

If Kancey can take the next step this year and continue to trend upward thereafter, he could put together a very good pro career.

QB KENNY PICKETT

2022 NFL Draft
No. 20 overall
Pittsburgh Steelers

Spending five years in Pittsburgh, Kenny Pickett earned his first-round status through 49 starts with more than 12,000 passing yards with 81 touchdowns to 32 interceptions. After throwing for 4,319 yards passing for 42 touchdowns and just seven interceptions in his final collegiate season, he remained in Pittsburgh as the Steelers spent a first-round pick on the Jersey native.

After Mitch Trubisky was benched during Week 4 of the 2022 season, Pickett finished the game 10 of 13 passing for 120 yards while rushing for two touchdowns in the second half. However, all three of his incompletions were interceptions in the 24-20 loss.

Pickett started 24 games over two seasons with the Steelers before landing in Philadelphia in 2024, Pittsburgh rolling with Russell Wilson last year. He served as QB2 behind Jalen Hurts during Philadelphia’s Super Bowl run.

The story is yet to unfold as Pickett enters Year Four as a pro. It’ll be interesting to see if he earns a starting role again in his NFL future, and if so, how he will fare in that hypothetical opportunity.

DT AARON DONALD

Los Angeles Rams Pitt Panthers Defensive Tackle Aaron Donald — Nov 26, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald (99) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

2014 NFL Draft
No. 13 overall
St. Louis Rams

At No. 13 in the NFL Draft, we can be sure that many among the teams that owned the 12 previous picks regret not choosing Aaron Donald, one of the very best defensive linemen of the 2000s.

After getting his feet wet as a freshman in 2010, Donald broke out in 2011 as a sophomore, recording 45 tackles for loss, 16 tackles for loss, and 11 sacks, a Second Team All-Big East selection. He’d enter the 2014 NFL Draft with 29.5 sacks under his belt.

A total of 10 pro seasons later, Donald retired with 543 tackles and 111 sacks in his NFL career. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in all 10 seasons, an eight-time First Team All-Pro selection, and a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year award recipient.

This is what a superstar looks like.

WR JON BALDWIN

2011 NFL Draft
No. 26 overall
Kansas City Chiefs

Out of Aliquippa High School in-state, Jon Baldwin was a touted prospect when he enrolled at Pitt. Not only did he earn piles of football offers, the pass-catcher was courted by Division-I basketball programs, too.

Baldwin leaped into the first round through compiling nearly 2,000 receiving yards with 13 touchdowns between his sophomore and junior years in Pittsburgh. However, he didn’t live up to that selection.

Through three NFL seasons (Chiefs from 2011 to 2012, 49ers in 2013), Baldwin recorded 44 catches for 607 yards and two touchdowns.

OT JEFF OTAH

2008 NFL Draft
No. 19 overall
Carolina Panthers

After then-head coach John Fox attended Jeff Otah’s Pro Day, Carolina traded up to select the Pitt tackle with the No. 19 overall selection in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Otah was an immediate starter as a rookie right tackle, but he exited the season early with a knee injury following 12 starts.

That knee injury lingered and eventually led to his retirement after only a few years as a pro, starting 27 games through 2008 to 2009, and just four starts in his final year in the NFL in 2011.

CB DARRELLE REVIS

2007 NFL Draft
No. 14 overall
New York Jets

Life was challenging for receivers during trips to Revis Island.

Out of Aliquippa, Pa., Darrelle Revis earned First Team All-Freshman honors as a Panther in 2004. And then he was tabbed a First Team All-Big East over the following two seasons before entering the 2007 NFL Draft, selected by the New York Jets who immediately saw a quality return on that investment.

After landing on the All-Rookie Team in 2007, Revis earned Pro Bowl nods in all but one year from 2008-2015. In 2009-2011 and again in 2014, he was named a First Team All-Pro.

Revis played his best football during his first stint in New York (2007-2012) before stops in Tampa Bay (2013), New England (2014), back to New York with the Jets (2013-2014), and Kansas City (2015).

Revis retired with a whopping 29 interceptions and a reputation as one of the best cover corners in NFL history.

WR LARRY FITZGERALD

Pitt Panthers Receiver Larry Fitzgerald — Dec 26, 2020; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (11) leaves the field after finishing the last home game of the season at State Farm Stadium. Nfl San Francisco 49ers At Arizona Cardinals | Cheryl Evans/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

2004 NFL Draft
No. 3 overall
Arizona Cardinals

A Minneapolis native, Larry Fitzgerald is a prime example of what NFL teams hope to receive from a top-five overall draft selection investment.

Across two seasons on the field as a Panthers, Fitzgerald tallied 161 receptions for 2,677 yards and 34 touchdowns, earning a unanimous All-American nod, the Biletnikoff Award, the Walter Camp Award, and more on his way out in 2003.

Fitzgerald goes down as one of the all-time greats in Cardinals history, spending 17 seasons with the Cardinals. He retired with 1,432 receptions, 17,492 receiving yards, and 121 touchdowns alongside 11 Pro Bowl selections across 263 games as a pro.

G RUBEN BROWN

1995 NFL Draft
No. 14 overall
Buffalo Bills

It’s fair to say that Ruben Brown was worthy of a first-round selection.

The Jersey native was a three-time All-Big East selection at Pitt, making the All-Rookie Team in Buffalo in 1995.

Over nine seasons in the NFL (1995-2003 in Buffalo, 2004-2007 in Chicago, Brown earned nine Pro Bowl nods and four Second Team All-Pro selections with 181 starts under his belt.

DT SEAN GILBERT

1992 NFL Draft
No. 3 overall
Los Angeles Rams

Earning All-American status in 1991, Sean Gilbert headed to the 1993 NFL Draft having logged 99 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, and six sacks for the Panthers over his final two collegiate seasons.

Not only did Gilbert carry a stellar college career to the NFL Draft, he put together eye-popping numbers at the combine. At 315 pounds, he clocked a sub-five-second 40-yard dash and impressed in the bench press. This led to a No. 3 overall selection.

As a first-year player in 1992, Gilbert recorded five sacks and was added to the PFWA’s All-Rookie team. He continued to shine in 1993, earning a Pro Bowl selection. Gilbert was traded to the Redskins in 1996 for a sixth overall draft pick.

Gilbert wrapped up his NFL career following one season in Washington (1996), five years in Carolina (1998-2002), and one season with the Raiders (2003) with 475 tackles and 42.5 sacks as a pro.

DE BURT GROSSMAN

1989 NFL Draft
No. 8 overall
San Diego Chargers

As a Panther, Grossman was tabbed Second Team All-East in 1987, First Team All-East in 1988, and then the PFWA added Burt Grossman to the All-Rookie Team in 1989, living up to his Top 10 placement in the NFL Draft.

Through his five seasons with the San Diego Chargers (1989-1993), Grossman started in 71 games. He tallied 20 sacks across his first two seasons as a pro, and 38 sacks in total for the Chargers.

Unfortunately, a neck injury derailed his career early, wrapping up his NFL stint with a single season with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1994.

OT TOM RICKETTS

1989 NFL Draft
No. 24 overall
Pittsburgh Steelers

A Murrysville native, Tom Ricketts was known as an in-state prospect from high school to college in 1984, and from the Panthers to the Steelers in 1989. He was a star tackle for Pitt, the son of a Pitt graduate mother, and Ricketts went on to marry a former Pitt swimmer.

Out of North Allegheny High School, his son - also named Tom Ricketts - also attended Pitt after the offensive lineman transferred from Penn State.

The elder Tom Ricketts didn’t live up to his first-round billing, but he did start 13 games across three seasons with the Steelers (1989-1991) before his year and two starts with Indianapolis (1992) and short stint with the Chiefs (1993)

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