A new series to help take us through the rest of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 offseason. It’s easy to remember QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB Franco Harris, and WR Hines Ward. Names who routinely led the team as passers, rushers, and receivers. But those household names didn’t lead the way every single year. Since the 1970 merger, there’s been a healthy number of obscure one-offs who finished first once, never to do so again.
That’ll be our trip down memory lane. The criteria are simple. Lead the Steelers in passing, rushing, receiving yards, or sacks during a season once, and only once, during their time with the team.
Today, a reminder of the time when wide receiver Troy Edwards led the team in receiving yards.
Forgotten Leaders – Troy Edwards (1999 – 714 receiving yards)
Troy Edwards will go down in the history books as a bust. A reach, Pittsburgh needed a receiver, and with names like David Boston off the board, grabbing Edwards 13th overall was the solution. Edwards’ self-admitted immaturity and adjustment from the wide open fields at Louisiana Tech to the NFL were key reasons why his career wasn’t what anyone hoped it’d be.
Talent wasn’t a reason for his failure. His rookie year proved that, and for 1999, even with Hines Ward on the roster, Edwards led the team in receiving yards. Not receptions, mind you. Edwards’ 61 tied Ward for the top mark. But yards? Edwards won that, 714 to Ward’s 638.
Edwards’ rookie year was solid but not spectacular. In 16 games and six starts, he only finished with more than 80 yards once. But he was consistent, registering 50-plus yards seven times.
His high watermark came in Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals, catching seven passes for 86 yards. No one play was spectacular, but he moved the chains a chunk at a time in a 27-20 loss.
One reason why Troy Edwards’ rookie season is overshadowed, besides his disappointing career arc, is that his most impactful plays came in losses. An old-school “stats of the weird.” Edwards caught a touchdown pass in five games in 1999. Pittsburgh lost all five of them.
Here are two of those scores, including a nifty play off a deflection against Buffalo.
Troy Edwards’ career would diminish from there. Kevin Colbert got hired in 2000 and selected Michigan State wide receiver Plaxico Burress in the first round. In his second season, Edwards fell to fifth on the team in receiving yards. By 2002, he was off the team and bounced around the rest of his career.
His first season was his best. A career that ends in a “what-if.” What if his talent had been able to shine through beyond his rookie campaign? But for a season, he led the way in Pittsburgh.
