Steelers general manager Omar Khan made sure his roster didn’t have any glaring holes heading into the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. He addressed the cornerback position by adding Jamel Dean in free agency, brought in depth for the running back room with Rico Dowdle, and took multiple low-cost swings at safety along the defensive line.
The biggest hole, however, was at wide receiver, and that required a trade, sending a sixth-round pick to Indianapolis for Michael Pittman Jr. and a seventh-rounder. A move to add another weapon opposite DK Metcalf was a necessity, but with two veterans rounding the corner towards 30, it doesn’t take the Steelers out of the market for a wide receiver in the first round.
If that’s the direction Khan, Mike McCarthy, and the new-look Steelers brass go, Pittman has a preference for which first-round pass-catcher he’d like to see his new team take.
The former USC Trojan has built a relationship with the latest USC phenom, Makai Lemon, who won the Biletnikoff Award as college football’s top pass-catcher. He was asked about the relationship on Wednesday at the 2026 Toyota NFL Draft Flag Football Training Camp at the Ellis School in Pittsburgh.
“I’m hoping that if we do draft one, that it’s going to be him,” Pittman told the assembled media, including FanSided, about his fellow Trojan.
Pittsburgh Steelers WR Michael Pittman Jr. wants to unite with former USC teammate Makai Lemon
With the backing of Toyota, which is working to expand access to girls and coed flag football by paying NFL FLAG fall registration kit fees for current players in the Pittsburgh Flag Football League (PFFL), Pittman hosted the training camp alongside draft prospects Ty Simpson and Jordyn Tyson.
Pittman also spoke highly of Tyson, another wide receiver expected to come off the board in the first round, and recognized the need for youth in the wide receiver room alongside himself and Metcalf.
“We definitely could use him,” Pittman said of Tyson.
As for the idea of adding any wide receiver, “I think it makes sense, because you’ve got two guys, I don’t want to say we’re aging, but you’ve got Year 7 (Pittman) and Year 8 (Metcalf), so they’ve got to get the room younger.”
If the Steelers stay put at No. 21 overall, they likely won’t have a shot at Tyson or Lemon, but Texas A&M’s KC Concepcion, Indiana’s Omar Cooper Jr., and Washington's Denzel Boston are all possibilities at that pick.
Through his partnership with Toyota, Pittman spent the day giving back to and imparting his wisdom on girls' flag football players in the area, and no matter who the pick is, in the first round or otherwise, he sounds prepared to do the same for any incoming Steelers wide receivers.
“If we can bring in a guy that’s a like body type that can really learn from me and DK because I feel like we can offer different types of advice and training.”
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