At the conclusion of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers left me with more questions than answers. I was expecting us to make quite the splash, as it were, since we were the host city. I think we made a splash, but maybe not the way I was hoping.
Let me preface the discussion upon which we are about to embark by saying this: It is unfair of me to assess how well the 2026 draft class will perform on the field, considering none of the players have stepped foot into an NFL stadium. I do think it's fair to call it the way I see it, albeit without a sufficient frame of reference
Keep in mind, we will be discussing potential rather than reality. The reality is that every player we drafted has the potential to make the team and to contribute, but if that's true, what does that say about the players who were on the roster before the draft?
The Pittsburgh Steelers' draft could be the epitome of boom-or-bust
Mike McCarthy presided over his first draft as the Steelers' head coach at an event in Pittsburgh. What an honor not only for the city, but for McCarthy, who was born and raised in Pittsburgh. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the Steelers war room.
While the intent of this discussion is not to dissect each draft pick, it is intended to offer perspective from a fan who has watched not only Steelers football but football in general for nearly fifty years. I have lived through some particularly stellar drafts and some particularly terrible drafts.
The 2026 Steelers draft can be categorized as middle-of-the-road. I frankly was neither impressed nor utterly disappointed. From my perspective, a seven-round draft is either won or lost in the first four rounds. The first round was lost, in my opinion.
Not disrespect intended toward Max Iheanachor, but how many offensive tackles can one team draft in a four-year window before it becomes apparent that we are either indecisive or we selected the wrong players in previous drafts?
On paper, Iheanachor fits the bill for an offensive tackle, but if the reports that the Steelers wanted to select Makai Lemon, the wide receiver from USC, are true, Iheanachor was the consolation prize. So, where will Iheanachor play or, more accurately, on which side will Iheanachor play? These are questions we don't currently have answers to.
We then proceeded to draft a wide receiver in the second round, but it was clearly not the one we wanted. While there is no question that the Steelers needed help at the receiver position, I am questioning whether Pittsburgh took a receiver out of desperation or because they thought Germie Bernard was actually the best player on the board.
In any event, if you look at the draft objectively, there are, as there always are, players who may have an immediate impact, players who may have a more delayed impact than other players, and players who may have no impact at all.
If the last possibility, the possibility that a player may have no impact at all, comes to fruition, that would franklly be sad considering we drafted ten players. The odds alone would suggest that at least half of them make the team in some capacity.
If the aforementioned unfolds, it would be an indictment of Omar Khan, who presided over the 2026 draft, presumably in a more elevated role than perhaps he did when Mike Tomlin was the head coach. That is pure speculation on my part, but I believe that Tomlin was steering the ship more so than Khan was on draft day.
We could go on and on and on about hypotheticals, but we won't. I think it's fair to say that during an event that laid the foundation for the season, an event that was held in the Steel City, the Steelers may have left an impression on the fans that is unwelcome.
As with most things we discuss, only time will tell whether I am right or wrong about the 2026 draft class. I hope I am wrong. I truly hope I am wrong. Let's reconvene in a few years to see how things panned out.
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