One by one, over a span of about 46 hours, the Pittsburgh Steelers put together what has the appearance of their own little starting lineup on offense.
First came the tackle Thursday. Then the wide receiver, with a quarterback soon to follow. That evening ended with an interior offensive lineman, and Saturday’s finale checked off the proverbial boxes at the other receiver spot, tight end/fullback and a player listed at running back.
The Steelers 2026 draft class almost resembled a fantasy-league draft in that it filled every position and seemingly stuck exclusively to offense.
The reflection of a new direction after the Steelers hired highly respected offensive-minded head coach Mike McCarthy?
“Sure,” general manager Omar Khan said.
A smirk he couldn’t hold in — combined with a playful feigned elbow directed at him by McCarthy — told the story.
No, the Steelers didn’t have intent to make six of their first seven selections on offense.
“It just sort of came that way,” Khan said early Saturday evening soon after the conclusion of the fourth Steelers draft under his stewardship. “That’s how the draft sorted itself out. We didn’t go in there saying, ‘We’re going to draft nine offensive guys and one defensive guy.’
“You trust your board, you trust the process and it all sorts out. And that’s just sort of how it turned out.”
The most recent time the Steelers had five of their first six picks come from one side of the ball was 1987. That year, a half dozen of their first seven selections were on defense.
That worked out well: Three became All-Pros (Rod Woodson, Hardy Nickerson, Greg Lloyd).
The Steelers can only hope for a similar result from a 2026 class that executed on 10 of the 12 picks they entered the weekend with. Though there was a two-for-two Day 3 pick swap and some other associated throw-ins, the net in effect was they deployed a fourth-round pick to jump up in Round 2 and a sixth-rounder to climb three spots in the third round.
Those two picks went to offense: Alabama receiver Germie Bernard and Iowa guard Gennings Dunker, respectively. In between those came the selection of Penn State quarterback Drew Allar with the first of three third-round picks that came a day after the Steelers went offensive tackle in Round 1, Max Iheanachor.
Saturday began from the “war room” at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex with the selection of Iowa’s Kaden Wetjen, who, although most coveted as a return specialist, is listed as a wide receiver. That fourth-round pick was followed up in the fifth round by Riley Nowakowski, who was almost exclusively a tight end as a senior for national champion Indiana but is reporting to the Steelers listed as a fullback.
After a two-pick reprieve to fortify the defense — sixth-round defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio of Notre Dame and seventh-round safety Robert Spears-Jennings of Oklahoma — the Steelers wrapped up the draft that Pittsburgh hosted by taking Mt. Lebanon’s Eli Heidenreich out of Navy.
A hybrid running back/wide receiver, Heidenreich was the seventh offensive player the Steelers selected.
“You have to trust your board,” McCarthy said. “I’ve always looked at the draft board similar to calling (the plays for) a huge game, but, obviously, with a lot more energy. There’s so much time and energy goes into putting that board together. And it’s this draft, this weekend, was very refreshing when you see need hit value and value hits need.
“We did not go into the draft saying we’re going to take so many offensive players or so many defensive players. We wanted to raise the overall level of our talent.”
With third-rounder Daylen Everette of Georgia — who is an outside cornerback by trade but repped in the slot/nickel at the Senior Bowl and is said to have the size and physicality makeup to play snaps at safety — it was clear versatility was a recurring theme in this Steelers draft.
Iheanachor has skills that, if asked, can translate to guard. Bernard ran routes extensively from the outside and in the slot while at Alabama. Dunker was a tackle in college but will start out as a guard in the pros. Nowakowski and Heidenreich all but have the “slash” in their positional label (“FB/TE” and “RB/WR,” respectively).
Though the Steelers never matched up with a willing partner to exchange some of their excess capital with in this draft to transfer it into a 2027 draft that is projected to be rich in talent, Khan overall was satisfied with this weekend’s haul.
“I think the execution went pretty good,” he said. “We’re really happy with the players that we acquired. When we went into it, I didn’t know if we were going to end up with 10 or 14 picks. We were open to anything. There were some good players in this draft. There really was. We got 10 good ones.
“I’d like to tell you that I went in there saying, ‘We’re going to end up with 10 or end up with nine or eight and four first-rounders,’ but, you know, you just sort of have to let it come, come to you, trust your process.”