This thread concerns Steelers who either had great talent that was never quite realized or were within grasp of a great moment only to have it slip away into the ether. Whether the cause of falling short was self inflicted or was a matter of bad timing or just rotten luck, these are players that came so close to being special as Steelers but didn't quite get there.
So on with the stories, and sorry if the opening paragraph was a bit redundant.
1. Joe Gilliam. Ask any Steeler of the times if this guy had the talent and you would get a resounding yes. The man could do everything a pocket passer is required to do and then some. He could throw every pass with authority. He could run, but that was never his plan, he would stay with the play and go through his progressions as long as possible. Probably longer than Bradshaw ( at that point in his career) in fact.
Now while you can point out that many of Joe's issues were self inflicted, I can't help but feel sorry for the guy on so many fronts. For one he was carrying the mantle of the black qb. No small thing at the time. His father was an outstanding qb for WV state University and was never given a chance to play qb in the NFL. Though he was offered a chance to play wr.(Joe Sr)
The Pittsburgh Black Courier which was a national and possibly the most powerful periodical of the time in the black community made him the poster boy of the cause of black qb's. They made him the cover of the paper at least 10 times in 1974.
Now if you don't think that was enough pressure, then there was the racist whites, who threatened he and his entire families life many times over. Throw this all at a young man who also had to deal with Chuck Noll. A guy Terry Bradshaw could barely handle. A lot on this young man's shoulders.
According to Joe's mother and father Joe never did drugs prior to the 74 season. He was introduced to them during the course of that season and as is true with many who try heroin once you've gone there there's no path back. I think the enormous pressure he was under from so many sides proved to be too much in the end
And along with all of that all in my opinion the biggest problem he had was he played in an era when qb's were expected to call their own plays. And Joe being in love with his arm ( and why shouldn't he have been? It was that damn good) called way too many passes for Chuck Noll's liking. He became his own worst enemy on the field strictly by not taking the easy way out and handing the ball to Franco 30 times a game. Don't believe me look at some of the box scores of the games when Terry was given the starting qb job back. One late season game against the Saints, Franco took 40 hand-offs from Terry.
Put Joe in today's game with the eye in the sky calling the plays and he's likely saved from himself.
Another thing to keep in mind is when Joe's play did start to falter there was this future Hall of Famer, dude by the name of Terry Bradshaw, the number one overall pick of the 69 draft waiting in the wings. So once gone the position never came available again. I've often wondered given the talent Joe flashed early in that 74 season, if he's on one of about 20 other teams with no future HOF'er sitting in the shadows would patience have been exercised and ultimately prevailed with Joe? It's also worth mentioning that Joe didn't turn 24 year old until Dec 29 of the 74 season. Back then the common thought was that qb's should be given 5 years to mature. Joe was given all of 6 games. And that's not intended as a knock on Noll. Just a reference to the circumstance of Terry Bradshaw waiting to emerge.
To finish up, in my opinion Joe Gilliam would be recognized as one of the top 25 qb's to ever play the game if he had come along at the right time and gone to the right team.
Next up Frank Lewis.
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Oh well sometimes your hardest efforts go for naught. I suppose I'll leave this thread to die where it's at then.
Originally Posted by Dwinsgames
Enthroned Into The Good Old Boys Club - 2024 
Anyway getting to Lewis's story. He was the Steelers number 1 draft choice in 71. He had everything you want in a receiver, blazing speed, good hands, and ideal size. (6'1" 196 lbs big for the era) In his early years a combination of poor qb play and twitchy hamstrings led to 3 fairly unproductive seasons for Lewis. As he only started 13 games combined from 71-4 and had career totals of only 53 catches for 844 yards with 5 td's the Steelers approached the 74 draft with an eye to upgrading the receiver position. Which of course they did in the greatest draft haul in league history which included two hall of fame wr's in the body of Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. Frank went on to play 4 more seasons for the Steelers, with his personal highlight being the 76 yard td pass he caught from Bradshaw on the opening series of the divisional playoff game against the Colts in 76. 
