Just months after another great year for the Steelers in 1997, Faneca was a now familiar late first-round pick (26th, overall) in the 1998 NFL Draft. There usually isn’t a whole lot to get excited about when it comes to late first-round picks, especially when your team is a perennial Super Bowl contender, and especially when the pick is a guard.
Unbeknownst to me and thousands of other Steelers fans at that time, Pittsburgh’s run as a perennial contender in the 1990s had already come to an end months prior in a 24-21 loss to the Broncos in the AFC Championship game at Three Rivers Stadium.