Steelers Rookie Spencer Anderson Tells Crazy Draft-Day Story
Almost every NFL player that gets drafted has a draft-day story to tell, and that’s definitely the case for Pittsburgh Steelers seventh-round pick Spencer Anderson.
Anderson, an offensive lineman from Maryland, didn’t know he was going to be a member of the Steelers ahead of time, like most players.
Unlike most players, he hung up on a phone call with a Hall of Fame head coach in order to take the call from Steelers general manager Omar Khan.
“I had no clue that I was going to go to Pittsburgh,” Anderson said on the Three Point Stance podcast with former Steelers offensive lineman Derwin Gray.
“I was on the phone with Kansas City. Kansas City had the pick right before the Steelers and Kansas City had told me they were going to with me or a DB, if the DB went off the board, they were going to go with me. I was on the phone with Andy Reid, I was talking to him. … He was just like ‘sit tight.’”
The Chiefs held pick No. 250 in the seventh round. While Gray was on hold with Reid, the New England Patriots took cornerback Isaiah Bolden at pick No. 245 and the Cincinnati Bengals grabbed cornerback D.J. Ivey at pick No. 246.
“I’m like ‘Oh, yeah. I’m up next. I think that was him. I think that was (the player Reid wanted.)’” Anderson said.
But then something else happened.
“Three teams before the Chiefs picked, I got a call from a 412 number — Omar. He put me on the phone with Coach Tomlin. He was like, ‘Hey, man, versatility is your calling card. … We’re going to go ahead and submit you with our next pick.’”
The only problem with that was that the Chiefs hadn’t drafted yet. And as far as Anderson knew, Reid still liked him. He just had to wait to see what happened with the Chiefs.
“I obviously hung up on Andy Reid and then, all of the sudden, I believe his name was Nic Jones, he went right before me, and I was like, I guess they took him because I hung up,” Anderson said.
Jones, a cornerback from Ball State, ended up being the Kansas City pick. Was that the DB that Reid wanted all along, or did he miss out on that player, and then not take Anderson because he hung up?
Anderson may never know. Either way, he’s happy to be drafted by Pittsburgh now.
“It was good to hear my name called,” he said.
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