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Pittsburgh will pick No. 23 this year, a spot that is too late to snag one of the elite talents in a draft, but high enough to snag a targeted player before the rest of the playoff qualifiers can nab him.

So what kind of player has been taken 23rd in recent drafts? It can't hurt to find out.

The list of the 23rd picks of the past 10 years is somewhat encouraging. There have been two stars, one near-star, three promising young players who are already NFL starters, and two solid long-term starters. Of the 10 picks, only one, safety Rashard Anderson, has been a clear bust.

The two running backs, Willis McGahee and Deuce McAllister, have been the best picks from the spot. And cornerback Antoine Winfield has been one-step below a Pro Bowler for much of his nine-year career.

The 23rd Pick
Yr	Player	Team
'07	Dwayne Bowe, WR	Chiefs
'06	Davin Joseph, OG	Bucs
'05	Fabian Washington, CB	Raiders
'04	Marcus Tubbs, DT	Seahawks
'03	Willis McGahee, RB	Bills
'02	Napoleon Harris, LB	Raiders
'01	Deuce McAllister, RB	Saints
'00	Rashard Anderson, S	Panthers
'99	Antoine Winfield, CB	Bills
'98	Mo Collins, OT	Raiders

Among the younger players, Dwayne Bowe had an outstanding rookie season. Davin Joseph has started 24 games in two years since being drafted by the Bucs, and Fabian Washington has been a consistent NFL start.

Behind them are a pair of unexceptional starters. Napoleon Harris has started 68 games during his career, but he's also playing for his third team in six years. And Mo Collins had a relatively short six-year career, but he was a starter for most all of it.

Anderson has been the only clear bust, as he started only nine games in a rather pathetic two-year career. And Marcus Tubbs has had an injury prone past two years. He started 11 games in his second-year in the league, but he started only two games in 2006, and he's missed the past year and a half with knee injuries.

So it seems pretty clear that the Steelers should be able to nab at least a consistent starter, and there is some hope that Pittsburgh can pick someone even better than that.

By the way, the Steelers have drafted at spot No. 23 only twice before. They drafted cornerback Deon Figures, a disappointment, with the 23rd pick in the 1993 draft. But nine years before, they drafted wide receiver Louis Lipps, one of the team's best receivers of all time and an immediate star with pick No. 23.