Steelers Daily Links: Art Rooney Jr. HOF Case, Bradshaw on Mental Health

A former Pittsburgh sportswriter makes the case for Steelers vice president Art Rooney Jr. to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Terry Bradshaw opens up about mental health.

🏈 Vito Stellino, who covered the Super Steelers teams of the 1970s for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, thinks Art Rooney Jr. belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Art Rooney Jr. presided over the best drafting run in NFL history in a six-year span from 1969 to 1974,” Stellino wrote. “He was in charge of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ scouting department when they drafted nine Hall of Famers and signed a tenth as an undrafted free agent.They started with five Hall of Famers from 1969 to 1972 – Joe Greene in 1969, Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount in 1970, Jack Ham in 1971 and Franco Harris in 1972. Then they added five of them in 1974, four draft picks and free-agent Donnie Shell. No team has ever had a drafting run like that.”

🏈 Former Steelers quarterback and Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw appeared on Jay Glazer’s Unbreakable podcast to talk about mental health. Bradshaw and Glazer have openly talked about their battles with depression, anxiety and panic attacks over the years.

“It was such a sickness with me and when I finally sought help and started to see the light of day, I was so proud of myself,” Bradshaw said of getting mental health treatment. “I was proud of myself for seeking help and getting the answers that I needed. And that’s easily, Jay, one of the greatest moments of my life.”

🏈 A new Pro Football Focus mock draft has the Steelers selecting Maryland cornerback Deonte Banks at 17th overall. “Banks continues to quickly rise up draft boards and seems solidly locked into the first 20 picks. He is CB4 based on consensus mock drafts and should set up the position to go over the listed prop number on DraftKings,” Ben Brown of PFF wrote.

🏈 NFL Draft analyst Tony Pauline said a lack of effort turned the Steelers off from Ohio State offensive tackle Dawand Jones. “Dawand Jones is falling down draft boards. He had one phenomenal day of practice at the Senior Bowl, but then he packed it in. Didn’t practice the next two days. Didn’t play in the game. Went to the Combine, ran the 40, did position drills. I was at the Ohio State Pro Day with Mike Tomlin and those guys, and they were very [upset] because Jones did nothing at his Pro Day,” Pauline said on the Steelers Sanctuary podcast.

🏈 Kenny Pickett’s personal quarterback coach Tony Racioppi raved about his work ethic. “Nobody will ever out work, out prepare and out compete KP. Been a fantastic almost 3 months straight of work!” Racioppi tweeted.

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