Each day during this past season while playing for Oregon, Dillon Thieneman woke up at precisely 5:20 a.m.
On Mondays, Thieneman would break down film on an upcoming opponent’s tendencies on early downs and in the running game. One of this upcoming NFL draft’s top safety prospects, Thieneman’s Tuesday film study focused on second downs and the opposing quarterback. Wednesdays for Thieneman meant studying his future opponent’s third-down and red-zone plays, and Thursday was time for viewing full games.
“I’m just making sure,” Thieneman said during the NFL Combine earlier this offseason, “I have a feel for every position.”
If Thieneman goes to that level of detail in his preparation for, say, a Week 3 game at Northwestern, imagine what he can bring to the NFL team that ends up drafting him this coming Thursday night in Pittsburgh?
Thieneman isn’t the highest-rated safety prospect available in the draft, but he is solidly among the top three of what is considered a deep position group with high-level talent at the top in Ohio State’s Caleb Downs, Thieneman and Toledo’s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren.
“I think those three guys are three of the best players in the draft, not just three of the best safeties,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said during a conference call with media.
“I love all three of those safeties.”
Downs, a three-time first- or second-team AP All American, will almost assuredly be the first safety off the board and could go among the top five picks. But it would not be a surprise if Thieneman is the next safety taken.
“He is super, super explosive,” Jeremiah said of Thieneman, who ranked among the top five safeties at the combine in the 40-yard dash (4.35 seconds), 10-yard split (1.52 seconds), vertical jump (41 inches) and bench-press reps (18).
“And you go back to Purdue and when he was there as a true freshman playing in the dead middle of the field, making interceptions outside the numbers with that type of range. … And now you get to Oregon, he can cover in the slot, can be a legit nickel and mirror and match smaller, quicker guys. (A) guy who trusts his eyes. Flat-footed reads, great angles, excellent tackler.”
Out of high school in Indiana, Thieneman initially followed the lead of brothers Jake and Brennan in playing safety at Purdue. And though he was named Big Ten freshman of the year in 2023 and had 144 solo tackles and six interceptions over two seasons for the Boilermakers, Thieneman hit the transfer portal and headed west.
It was there his transition from more of a “center field” free safety to a more “in the box” strong safety was solidified. Thieneman, according to Pro Football Focus, lined up in the box for 434 snaps, at free safety for 237 and as a slot/nickel on 118 occasions in 2025.
“It was a was a hard process — a very hard decision — leaving Purdue with all the connections I had there,” Thieneman said, “but I felt that second year I didn’t perform as well as I needed to, both personally and then as a team I felt we didn’t perform. And then I felt like it wasn’t being developed the way I needed to, the way I wanted to, to make it to that next level.”
His first season at Oregon went so well it ended up being his only season there, and now Thieneman will get to ply his trade in the NFL.
While the Steelers have a trio of starters at safety in Jalen Ramsey, DeShon Elliott and Jaquan Brisker, they have not been shy about looking at safeties during the pre-draft process. They met formally with Thieneman at the combine and brought in McNeil-Warren, Miami’s Jakobe Thomas and Arizona’s Treydan Stukes for official pre-draft “top 30” visits. Stukes is projected as a Day 2 selection and Thomas an early-Day 3 pick.
Top 5 Safeties
1. Caleb Downs, Ohio State
Junior, 6-0, 206
5-star recruit starred as All-American at two blue bloods, including as freshman at Alabama
2. Dillon Thieneman, Oregon
Junior, 6-0, 201
A playmaker over three college seasons – 273 tackles (188 solo, 10 for loss), 8 INTs
3. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, Toledo
Senior, 6-3½, 201
Rare in these times in that he stayed four years at a MAC school, earning third-team All-America
4. A.J. Haulcy, LSU
Senior, 6-0, 215
Emerged as first-team SEC in 2025 after one season at New Mexico and two at Houston
5. Treydan Stukes, Arizona
Redshirt senior, 6-1, 190
Played often in the slot and even outside CB in college; spent six years at Arizona