The auditorium in Radio City Music Hall in New York echoed cries of shock and disbelief when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced the Oakland Raiders’ 2009 first-round pick.
“With the seventh pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the Oakland Raiders select Darrius Heyward-Bey, wide receiver Maryland,” he uttered into the microphone attached to the podium on the hall’s front stage during the April draft.
Not Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree, the consensus top wide receiver of that draft class. How did Heyward-Bey, who was considered a fringe first-round prospect at best by pundits, vault into the top 10?
With a blistering 40-yard dash time of 4.30 seconds two months prior at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis to pair with his 33.5 inch arms and six foot, two inch and 210 pound stature, Heyward-Bey was considered perhaps the 2009 NFL Draft’s most dangerous big-play receiving threat. But the production was never present for Heyward-Bey with the Terripans, as he only once eclipsed the 50-catch and 700-yard marks, and had the dreaded “one-trick pony” and “boom-or-bust” labels attached to him.
Bust has been a good way to describe Heyward-Bey’s NFL career. He was levied with lofty and perhaps unfair expectations that came with being a top 10 pick that he never lived up to, and is considered one of the biggest draft busts of the last decade.
In his seven-year career, the speedy receiver caught less than 30 passes and 400 receiving yards in five different seasons. The Raiders released him after the 2012 season, and he signed with the Indianapolis Colts for the 2013 season, but didn’t have much success.
Heyward-Bey has never been short of talent; receivers with his combination of size and speed do not grow on trees. But his hands have always left fans shaking their heads and leaving coaches wanting more.
Prior to coming to the Steelers in 2014, Heyward-Bey had 33 career drops in 339 targets, dropping a pass once about every 10 targets, and also dropping 16 percent of catchable targets, according to Pro Football Focus. His highest percentages of dropped passes in a season came in 2009 and 2013 when he dropped 36 percent and 24 percent of targets, respectively.
He joined the Steelers on a one-year deal and carved out a niche for himself on special teams, appearing on the coverage units in all 16 games. A favorite of special teams coach Danny Smith, Heyward-Bey was given another one-year contract in March.
Much like in 2014 when he caught three passes, one of which he fumbled and lost, Heyward-Bey was not expected to have much of a role on offense this season; special teams was the only reason the Steelers retained the veteran.
But that was before Martavis Bryant was given a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, and rookie third-round pick Sammie Coates didn’t show he was polished enough for the pros yet during the preseason.
Enter the No. 7 overall pick from the 2009 NFL Draft.
With Bryant suspended and Coates not even earning a helmet on game days, Heyward-Bey was thrust into the third receiver role on the depth chart to open the season. And this new role brings an opportunity to possibly revive his disappointing career.
This season has been a different story for Heyward-Bey for one simple, yet crucial reason: He has yet to drop a catchable pass in 54 routes run this year. Instead he has flashed the big play potential the Raiders loved when they drafted him six years ago.
In the second quarter of Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, Heyward-Bey burst out of his stance when the ball was snapped, sprinted downfield, blew past safety Antonie Bethea in zone coverage and hauled in the pass from Ben Roethlisberger with room to spare in the middle of the end zone to score a 35-yard receiving touchdown and give the Steelers a 22-3 lead. He also had a 41-yard reception on third down that day.
Heyward-Bey finished the day with four catches for 77 yards, and ended the week with eight catches for 135 yards and one touchdown on the season. Of his eight catches, he has caught passes for 35, 41 and 43 yards.
But he is also showing why he was labeled a one-trick pony, since he has totaled 16 yards from his other five catches. Heyward-Bey also had a 26-yard touchdown catch negated the previous week against the New England Patriots when he dropped to his knees to make a catch off his body, but slid the top sliver of the top of his foot onto the out-of-bounds chalk in the left side of the end zone. It was a catch he could have had if he stayed on his feet and used his hands. It was a frustrating play in a frustrating career.
The ability is still there for Heyward-Bey, though, and he showed what he is capable of on Sunday. With Bryant out for two more games, Heyward-Bey needs to hold on to this opportunity and build off his last game to save his NFL career, or else he may not get another chance to do so again.
