The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2026 draft class ended with 10 picks, and heading into training camp, most of the attention was on their first three selections: Max Iheanachor, Germie Bernard and Drew Allar.
Once camp got underway, Allar quickly became the biggest name among the rookies and has received plenty of attention.
But according to one Steelers insider, another one of Pittsburgh’s third-round picks may actually be turning the most heads at camp. While he didn’t enter camp with the same hype as Allar, the rookie is starting to make a name for himself and has caught the attention of people around the team.
According to Gerry Dulac, the Steelers may have hit a “Home Run” with Daylen Everette
The Steelers selected Daylen Everette with the second of their three third-round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft. The former Georgia cornerback was brought in to add depth to a cornerback room that had already gone through some changes this offseason. Pittsburgh signed Jamel Dean in free agency and also re-signed Asante Samuel Jr., giving the team plenty of options at the position heading into training camp.
Going into camp, Joey Porter Jr. and Dean were expected to be the starters, with Asante Samuel Jr. serving as the team’s third cornerback. Because of that, Everette wasn’t expected to have a major role right away and was viewed more as a developmental player. The expectation was that it could take him some time to adjust to the NFL before he was ready to seriously compete for a starting job.
Coming out of Georgia, Everette was considered a talented cornerback who still had some things to clean up in his game. It seemed reasonable to think he might need a year or two to develop before becoming a potential starter. However, it sounds like Everette has made a much bigger impression than anyone expected this early in his rookie season.
According to Steelers insider Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the team is already extremely impressed with what they have seen from the rookie. Dulac wrote, “They think they might have hit a home run with Everette, their third-round pick from Georgia. He has been the best rookie at training camp, and they are putting him to the test to see if they are right.” That is some pretty big praise for a third-round pick who wasn’t expected to make this kind of impact right away.
Obviously, it’s still only training camp, and Everette has plenty left to prove. He’ll need to carry this performance into the preseason and eventually show that he can make an impact when the games actually count. Still, hearing that he has been the best rookie at camp is hard to ignore, especially coming from someone like Dulac who is around the team.
Porter Jr.’s future with the Steelers is also something worth watching, with his contract situation still unresolved. Dean is already 29 years old, while Samuel Jr. is currently ahead of Everette on the depth chart, so there could eventually be an opportunity for the rookie to move into a bigger role. If Everette continues developing at this rate, the Steelers could potentially have another starting-caliber cornerback waiting in the wings.
It’s obviously way too early to call Everette a future star, but the early returns are certainly encouraging. Nobody expected a third-round pick brought in for depth to immediately become one of the biggest stories of Steelers training camp. If Dulac’s report is any indication, Pittsburgh may have found a whole lot more in Everette than they originally expected.
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