The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Max Iheanachor in the first round with the hope that he would become their star right tackle sooner rather than later. While deemed a raw prospect coming out of Arizona State, Pittsburgh clearly wanted to get the rookie on the field early in his NFL career.
After drafting Iheanachor, Troy Fautanu made the switch to the left side of the line to open the door for the first-round pick to see the field. The early results looked good, as Iheanachor was putting up some of the best practice film from the offensive line.
Unfortunately, an injury derailed that progress. Iheanachor missed the second half of training camp and hasn’t had a chance to see the field yet.
With the injury still lingering and roster questions abound, the choice is clear: the Steelers should try to stash Iheanachor on injured reserve for the early portion of the season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers could fix their roster construction issues by putting Max Iheanachor on reserve
While the Steelers can’t put the rookie on injured reserve right now, as it would end his season entirely, he can be stashed there right before cutdowns. He would have to remain there for at least four weeks before he could be activated.
The Steelers have excellent tackle depth right now. The expectation was for Dylan Cook to start at right tackle anyway. You also have Broderick Jones fully healthy and playing well, so he could also figure into the mix.
The goal wouldn’t be to have Iheanachor remain on injured reserve all year. He can take the first few weeks of the season to fully heal before returning to action. He won’t take up a roster spot while healing up, meaning the team can carry an extra name elsewhere.
There are talks about keeping four quarterbacks, seven defensive linemen, or someone in the secondary. Heck, Lew Nichols has made a push as a fourth running back as of late.
All of these questions and potential extra names make constructing a final roster difficult. Having an extra spot on the offensive line alleviates some of those issues.
While eventually you would want to get Iheanachor back on the active roster, this buys you some time to let the depth chart shake out. Perhaps another injury opens the door, or by four weeks into the season, you can shuffle the roster around a little to better suit the team. And with such strong O-line depth, this would allow the Steelers to keep some of their most talented depth assets around.
You don’t want to completely cancel out Iheanachor’s rookie season, but giving him a few extra weeks to heal up (weeks that he wouldn’t be playing anyway) while freeing up a roster spot seems logical. The Steelers' choice is painful but obvious: stash the rookie for the short term to provide yourself more roster flexibility.
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