From a conceptual standpoint, Pittsburgh’s selection of the Georgia pass rusher Jarvis Jones might be the best pick in the 2013 N.F.L. draft. Just about every mock draft had Pittsburgh taking the Georgia pass rusher 17th over all (which is where he wound up). We have no idea if Jones will ultimately prove those mockers and Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert right. Many believe he will, but only time will tell.

What we do know is this pick is an illustration of the trust that the Steelers have in their process for evaluating and developing players. This trust is what makes them one of the game’s sterling franchises.

Colbert said hours after drafting Jones that he and his staff were happy when Jones ran a slow 4.9 in the 40 at his Pro Day. That’s because Colbert knows that there are N.F.L. teams that will drop a player down their draft boards for that.

Common sense suggests that how fast (or slow) a man runs 40 yards down a straight line while wearing spandex should have little bearing on how you feel about him as a football player. After all, what a 40-time can’t measure is how fast a player is when he’s wearing a five-pound helmet, 10-15 pounds of padding, starting his motion not from a runner’s crouch but an outside linebacker’s stance, changing directions in his movement all while being preoccupied with his assignment and with what his opponent is doing. Every team knows this. But for reasons no one will ever figure out, many teams can’t help letting times in the 40 sway their opinion about a player. The Steelers can.

If Jones becomes a Pro Bowler, Colbert will once again be praised for having a keen eye for talent. If Jones fails, Colbert will have “missed on the pick.” This is how fans and media types see the draft. It’s not how the Steelers see the draft, though. Colbert fully understands that Jones is not a finished product. No draft prospect ever is. (Heck, no human being in general coming out of college ever is.)

This is why the most important moment for a franchise is not the 10-minute window in which a first-round pick is made; it’s the gobs of 10-minute windows after the pick is made. That’s when the organization goes to work on developing the player. First-round busts are not talented players who got to the N.F.L. and suddenly became untalented; they’re players who got to the N.F.L. and did not develop.

The Steelers trust immensely in their ability to develop players. Jones appealed to them because, having played in a 3-4 scheme at Georgia that is similar to what Dick LeBeau runs in Pittsburgh, there was less guesswork in determining whether his skills will translate. This suggests that it’s less about Colbert’s and the Steelers’ keen eye for outside linebacking talent, and more about the organization’s keen sense for developing outside linebackers.

The better you are at developing players, the less of an investment you have to initially make when acquiring them. The Steelers did not have to trade up to draft the presumably more talented Dion Jordan from Oregon. They did not have to pay a boatload of money to acquire the free agent Paul Kruger. Their current top pass rusher, the former Pro Bowler LaMarr Woodley, was a second-round pick. James Harrison was undrafted. When Colbert was learning his trade as an up-and-coming front office talent during the Bill Cowher era, the Steelers developed mid-round picks Jason Gildon and Joey Porter into Pro Bowl outside linebackers.

What Colbert also understands is which needs are most important to his club. One could argue that the Steelers’ immediate need at outside linebacker is not as dire as their immediate needs at wide receiver, tight end or running back. But pass-rushing outside linebackers are vital in Pittsburgh’s 3-4 scheme and, as part of their trust in developing players, Colbert filled a looming need, as current starter Jason Worilds could be lost when his contract expires in March 2014. Thus, it’s not vital that Jones contribute right away, which makes his developmental process that much easier.

We hear all the time about a player being a “safe” pick. The great teams know how to turn a player into a safe pick.

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