With the offensive line struggling mightily in the first two games of the season, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy made the bold decision to swap out two players on the right side of the line. Against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3, Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook were planted on the bench as Brock Hoffman and Max Iheanachor earned their first start as Steelers.
And this has already proven to be a genius decision.
While Hoffman—the veteran newcomer formerly of the Dallas Cowboys—had an excellent outing on Sunday, Iheanachor's performance was perhaps even more impressive. The 22-year-old offensive tackle stonewalled the Bengals' pass rushers in his first NFL start.
Iheanachor showed off his outstanding blend of size, power, and athletic traits. His foot quickness was on full display as he mirrored rushers in pass protection. As a run blocker, Iheanachor carved lanes for running back Jaylen Warren to run through untouched.
It's only one game, but Iheanachor's dominant performance is already making Steelers fans forget about the player everyone wished they could have selected in Round 1 this year: Makai Lemon.
The Pittsburgh Steelers may have lucked into Max Iheanachor as Makai Lemon's struggles continue
In Week 3, Iheanachor earned a fantastic 81.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. His 91.4 run-block grade, however, was one of the best of any NFL offensive lineman so far this season.
And it showed on film. Iheanachor bullied defenders at the point of attack and helped keep quarterback Aaron Rodgers upright. Lemon, however—the player the Steelers nearly took in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft—has struggled early in his career.
In his first three games with the Philadelphia Eagles, Lemon logged 92 snaps in passing situations. However, he's managed to record a mere seven receptions for 38 yards. In fact, four of Lemon's seven receptions have gone for negative yards (which seems nearly impossible to pull off).
Lemon's 33.3 percent success rate ranks among the worst of all starting NFL receivers entering Week 4, while his total EPA ranks 146th out of 147 receivers, per SumerSports. But it gets so much worse for the rookie wide receiver.
Entering Week 4, Lemon also ranks 79th in target share (11.11%), 78th in yards after the catch (21), 131st in yards per route run (0.42), 108th in yards before the catch per reception (2.4), and 118th in average depth of target (6.52). Lemon also ranks just 79th among 107 qualifying receivers from PFF, with an underwhelming 57.8 overall grade.
It's early, but so far, there's been no contest over who has been the better player between Iheanachor and Lemon. The Eagles' decision to jump one spot ahead of the Steelers in the draft to poach Lemon is blowing up in their faces.
Meanwhile, the Steelers may have dodged a bullet when they got the rug pulled out from under them and were forced to pivot to 'Plan B': Iheanachor.
And this caused a ripple effect that stretched beyond the first round.
With Lemon going No. 20 in April's draft and the Steelers taking Iheanachor at No. 21 in the first round, the Steelers ultimately moved up a few spots in Round 2 to select Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard. And while Bernard hasn't had a breakout game yet, he already looks more promising than Lemon.
It's entirely possible that Iheanachor could come plummeting back down to earth this week against the Browns and that Lemon has a breakout game at home against the Rams this week. But either way, it only took one game from Max Iheanachor to make Steelers fans forget about Makai Lemon.
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