Let’s review the last 25 prospects who were selected at No. 16 overall in the draft.
The Seahawks currently hold the No. 16 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. That might not be high enough to get them an elite quarterback prospect or a blue-chip defender. However, a lot of special players have been taken at that spot historically and if your team can’t manage to land a good pick there then you need a new general manager. Let’s review the last 25 prospects who were selected at No. 16 overall in the draft.
Along the way you will see a lot of great cornerbacks, a few legendary edge rushers, a couple excellent offensive linemen and one all-time great safety.
Troy Polamalu is a USC and NFL legend, great in both the college game and the pros. Pete Carroll helped develop Polamalu in college, creating a foundation for his future and providing a springboard for a career which would lead to induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Polamalu was electric during his time with the Trojans. He went on to be a first-round draft pick of the Steelers and a huge part of their talented defense year after year.
“In the NFL, he made his mark and revolutionized the safety position. He made the Pro Bowl eight times, was an All-Pro four times, and won a pair of Super Bowls in the Steel City.”
Polamalu shared his favorite Pete Carroll story. With Carroll being forced out of his position as the Seattle Seahawks’ head coach, we’re not sure where Pete’s next coaching stop will be. He doesn’t seem to want to retire from coaching; he wants more action. However, someone has to interview him and want to give him a job if his coaching career is to continue.
Troy Polamalu is the latest former Steelers player to throw his support behind Mike Tomlin.
Thanks to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter earlier this week, rumors have been flying around about whether Mike Tomlin’s time with the Pittsburgh Steelers is coming to an end.
Schefter said he’s hearing from “people around the league” that Tomlin could step away from the team he’s coached for 17 seasons.
For Tomlin’s former player Troy Polamalu, it’s simple: He believes there’s nobody better to continue leading the Black and Gold.
“He’s a man of integrity that holds people accountable,” Polamalu told Steelers Wire. “And when you have such a high standard for yourself, you’re going to hold everybody else around you, aside from the fact that he’s a great communicator as well.”
Polamalu said he learned from Tomlin — beyond what he could from most others — what it is to be a good safety. “I learned so much just what a safety should look at, and just from a tactical perspective of what it took to be a good safety. So, he checks every box about what he knows about every position above and beyond what players could, and most coaches could.
“He, to me, is the most well-rounded coach, is a Hall of Fame coach, just like other Hall of Fame coaches that I played with, Pete Carroll [at USC] and Coach [Bill] Cowher.”
Troy Polamalu relives Super Bowl in Frito-Lay campaign
Troy Polamalu and all three of his former coaches have had the sought-after honor of playing in and winning Super Bowls. The Hall of Fame safety won one each under Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin.
In “Taste the Victory,” a new NFL playoff season campaign from Frito-Lay, Polamalu got the chance to relive the post-win excitement.
“It was cool to work with Rob [Gronkowski] and Marshawn [Lynch] to celebrate Super Bowls that we’ve won, and the nostalgic feeling that attached to that, especially with an iconic brand, Frito-Lay,” Polamalu said.
The ad, now live across social and digital platforms, will air on TV starting Saturday and run through Super 58 on Feb. 11.
This is what restored relevance looks like: Inviting Polamalu to meet recruits would not resonate as much if USC was a 7-win program.
The USC Trojans would love to keep an elite linebacker at home in Southern California.
St. John Bosco four-star linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is a prime target for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans. They don’t want him to go to Ohio State or Notre Dame, the other two schools the Trojans are battling in this recruitment.
Viliamu-Asa made his official visit to USC over the past weekend. Riley, knowing that USC football owns a restored brand and has regained a substantial amount of credibility over the past 18 months, called on a Trojan legend to meet with Viliamu-Asa.
You might recognize him.
Yep, that’s Troy Polamalu, one of USC’s all-time greatest players, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame two years ago, in 2021.
One point to emphasize about Polamalu being invited to help recruit USC targets: If USC was coming off a 7-5 or 8-4 season, calling on the big guns on big recruiting weekends might come off as desperation.
This is what winning 11 games does: It shows that USC is truly back. Everything about this simply feels right in a way that wouldn’t apply if the Trojans were still immersed in Clay Helton-level mediocrity.
— Arrogant Nationâđ» (@FightOnRusty) June 11, 2023
Has Polamalu’s involvement made an impact? We don’t yet know if it’s enough to close the deal, but it does seem to have provided a small nudge in the right direction based on early reaction from recruiting analysts:
The four-star St. John Bosco linebacker was clearly impressed by #USC on his official visit.
Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa made his official visit to the USC Trojan football program this weekend. It has been the source of a lot of buzz and speculation about his ultimate landing spot.
A four-star linebacker, Viliamu-Asa is from St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower (Calif.). He is rated as the No. 6 linebacker prospect in the country and the No. 69 overall recruit by 247Sports.com.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound defender is down to three programs. Viliamu-Asa announced Notre Dame, Ohio State and USC as his finalists on Friday.
Following his USC visit, he has official visits with the Fighting Irish (June 16-18) and Buckeyes (June 23-25).
Viliamu-Asa has visited USC close to 10 times, Ohio State four times and Notre Dame twice. After taking his official visits, Viliamu-Asa plans to speak with his family about the schools and then commit sometime in the summer, probably July.
Viliamu-Asa commented on his relationship with the Trojan football program:
“I love what they are building, they have a great staff and the relationships are strong. Coach Lincoln Riley and coach Brian Odom and the staff have really gotten to know me and my family,” he said.
âUSC has a lot of potential under coach Riley. He has a chance to take USC back to where it has been before. The staff is doing a great job as a unit and that is really appealing.â
Lincoln Riley recruited USC legend Troy Polamalu to be part of this official visit with Viliamu-Asa:
Washington has had some good luck at No. 16 overall.
Since the year 2000, the Washington Commanders picked at No. 16 overall on three occasions: 2011, 2022 and the upcoming 2023 NFL draft.
Looking back at the last 23 years, there have been some excellent players to go at No. 16, including a Pro Football Hall of Famer in 2003 [Troy Polamalu]. If you go back 38 years, arguably the greatest offensive player in history â Jerry Rice â went No. 16 to the San Francisco 49ers in 1985.
In 2011, Washington picked one of the greatest players in franchise history, Ryan Kerrigan. Last year, the Commanders selected Penn State wide receiver Jahan Dotson in a trade-down. Dotson looked like a future star in 2022.
There’s also another player on this list who was drafted by another team and ended up being one of the best offensive players in Washington’s franchise history. Do you remember who that player is? You’ll find out soon.
Here is a look at every player selected No. 16 overall in the NFL draft since 2000.
Andrew Harris could not believe it when he realized who was about to hand him the Polynesian Bowl MVP award.
After the Polynesian Bowl concluded with a 22-17 Team Mauka win, a handful of influential people in the game stood to present trophies to the MVPs of the game, linebacker Andrew Harris and quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
While Harris and Iamaleava are among the stars of the class of 2023, neither was the most notable person at the backdrop. And it took Harris a moment to realize that to the right of him was a man whose hair, now greying and pulled back into a ponytail and not quite as recognizable as it had been flowing under his helmet and in commercials, was one of the best and most popular NFL players in recent memory.
His reaction once realizing the NFL legend was standing near him was as wholesome as it gets.
Polamalu presented Harris with the Defensive MVP award. Harris was rather reserved during the interview with the Polynesian Bowl rep after receiving the trophy, but he got emotive when asked about who handed it to him.
“Oh my god, it’s a blessing, I never thought I’d meet him in person. Like, it’s crazy,” he said, with inflection in his voice that’s best heard over video instead of read off a page.
Harris recorded two sacks and had a pass breakup in the high school all-star game in Hawaii. He is an uncommitted four-star prospect who plans to announce his college decision on Feb. 1, according to 247Sports.
Hall of Fame defensive back Troy Polamalu discusses his great career, and modern NFL defense, with Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.
Selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2003 draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers out of USC, Troy Polamalu made the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first-ballot entrant in 2020 after a 12-year career in which he totaled 583 solo tackles, 56 tackles for loss, 12.0 sacks, 14 forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries for 120 yards and two touchdowns, 32 interceptions for 398 yards and three touchdowns, eight Pro Bowl nods, four First-Team All-Pro selections, three Super Bowl appearances, two rings (Super Bowls XL and XLIII), and his status as the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year, and membership in the Hall of Fame All-2000s Team.
Polamalu’s legacy extends to the modern game in interesting ways, which is par for the course for one of the most unique players in NFL history. In an era when most defensive coordinators had defined free and strong safeties, Polamalu was the forerunner of today’s do-it-all defender, patrolling at multiple positions for the Steelers. From the defensive line to the box to the slot to free safety to outside cornerback, there wasn’t a place on the field Polamalu couldn’t line up and have an immediate impact.
Doug Farrar: Troy, I wanted to start by asking you about the Head & Shoulders/Fiverr Never Not Working campaign. The never-not-working obviously fits into your play style, so tell me about that and what youâre doing.
Troy Polamalu: Itâs also an interesting dynamic after being retired for about six years as well. I think any parent knows that when you have two busy children as well that youâre never not working. Head & Shoulders and I have teamed up with Fiverr, the worldâs largest creative marketplace of digital services, and they do a lot of great things providing services online for people. Iâm here actually on shoot, and weâre doing a lot of cool things, from tattoo to piano to all of the great services that Fiverr provides for everyone.
TP: Itâs been a blast, man. Itâs funny; Iâve almost had a career in making commercials with Head & Shoulders. Staring almost 15 years ago and being able to be shooting commercials with Patrick Mahomes, the future of the NFL, has been a real blessing for me.
Troy Polamalu, former Steelers great and first-ballot Hall of Famer, talks all things football with Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.
Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar recently sat down with Troy Polamalu, former Steelers safety and 2020 first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, to discuss a number of topics:
Troy’s involvement in the #NeverNotWorking campaign with Head & Shoulders and Fiverr;
How his inimitable playing style worked for him;
What it meant to him to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, especially on the first ballot, and with so many Steelers great also getting inducted;
How he recovered from COVID;
Why Mike Tomlin, Bill Cowher, and Dick LeBeau have been pivotal influencers in Troy’s life and NFL career;
How he became the precursor to the modern “do-it-all” safety in an era when that wasn’t often done;
Why he took a break from football after his retirement, and what has brought him back to the game;
What he thinks of the safeties in the NFL today, and why he believes that they have to do more than ever before.
T.J. Watt’s contract extension isn’t the first in recent Steelers history to come down to the wire.
T.J. Watt and the Steelers seem to be at a crossroads — Watt is without future stability in Pittsburgh. The defensive star is seeking a long-term contract, a pressing matter that has kept him from practicing with his team all offseason, but still finds himself without.
We’re less than a week away from Steelers versus Bills and a sudden sense of urgency is in the air. If the two parties don’t come to an agreement this week, we could be looking at a T.J. Watt holdout.
But Watt’s isn’t the first Steelers contract extension that has come down to the wire in recent history.
