PITTSBURGH -- Doug Whaley took the orders from general manager Kevin Colbert and hit the phones.
The 2003 Pittsburgh Steelers were prepared to make franchise history by moving up in the first round, and as Whaley began to call teams, he was greeted with disbelief on the other end of the line.
“A lot of teams were like, ‘Yeah, yeah, you’ll really come up,’” said Whaley, then-Pittsburgh’s pro personnel director who later became general manager for the Buffalo Bills. “And other teams were like, ‘What?’ At first, they didn’t believe us. It just showed the confidence Kevin Colbert and Bill Cowher had in the player.