Steelers’ night spoiled by Eagles, but Pittsburgh’s pick is among the best draft stories

PITTSBURGH — As the 21st pick neared, the Steelers picked up the phone and dialed one of their prime targets.

Over the course of Thursday night, the pieces had fallen into place almost perfectly for the host team, poised to make a splash in front of a record crowd of about 320,000 fans. The ripple effect began when the receiver-needy Rams surprisingly selected Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson at 13. It sent USC wide receiver Makai Lemon tumbling — past the Jets at 16 (they took Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq), past the Panthers at 19 (Georgia offensive tackle Monroe Freeling) —  and into Pittsburgh’s grasp. Almost.

As one of the top three receivers on almost every board and the No. 13 player in The Athletic draft analyst Dane Brugler’s rankings, Lemon has long been on the Steelers’ radar. He was one of just six players with a first-round grade to take a pre-draft visit to Pittsburgh, signaling interest from an organization that planned to select a receiver early in the draft.

For a moment, it seemed Lemon would walk out onto the stage alongside Jerome Bettis to be greeted by hundreds of thousands of Terrible Towel twirlers. Then, another call came in to Lemon.

“First I answered the phone, and it was the Steelers,” Lemon told Eagles reporters on a conference call. “Then my phone kept ringing. I look and it’s the Eagles.”

During a week the Flyers have taken a 3-0 lead in the NHL playoffs over their cross-state rival Penguins, Philadelphia’s NFL team pulled the rug out from under Pittsburgh by trading up to the 20th pick to steal Lemon.

“All those things that happen around us, you know, affect the conversations,” Steelers general manager Omar Khan acknowledged. “But it’s the draft.”

The Steelers stuck to their board and pivoted to a familiar place: the offensive line. For the third time in his four years leading the draft, Khan used a first-round pick on an offensive tackle when he selected Arizona State’s Max Iheanachor.

While the Lemon missed connection is one of the wilder turn of events on draft night, Iheanachor is one of the best individual stories in this class. Born in Nigeria, he immigrated to the United States with his family at age 13. A soccer player and AAU basketball standout, Iheanachor didn’t find America’s game until he graduated from high school in 2021. At the urging of his AAU basketball coach, Cory DeSanti, Iheanachor took his 6-foot-6 frame to the football field.

“God used him to reach me,” Iheanachor said on a conference call with Steelers media shortly after his selection. “I’m really appreciative of him.”

Iheanachor said that initially his parents weren’t completely on board. Wanting their son to use an American education to pave the way to a better life, they were hoping for a doctor or lawyer, not a junior college football player.

“If you’re familiar with Nigerians, they love school,” Iheanachor said. “They wanted me to go to a four-year. But I knew that was not what I wanted to do. I ended up making the decision on my own that I wanted to go juco to play football.”

Initially a 240-pound tight end at East Los Angeles College, he grew into an athletic offensive tackle who played both sides at the juco level. His frame and upside caught the attention of major-college programs, and in 2022 he transferred to Arizona State, where he crossed paths with Steelers great and Sun Devils wide receivers coach Hines Ward.

“I just got off the phones with Hines,” Khan said. “He was so fired up for Max and for us. He said, ‘He’s a Steeler.’”

Iheanachor, who is now about 325 pounds, started 28 consecutive games at right tackle over the last 2 1/2 seasons. Brugler calls the newest Steelers player a “rangy mover,” a characteristic the Senior Bowl and combine standout showed during his testing. Among offensive linemen, he ran the second-fastest 40-yard dash (4.91) at the combine and posted the third-best broad jump (9 feet, 7 inches). New head coach Mike McCarthy said you can see the soccer and basketball background in Iheanachor’s play.

“I think the biggest thing when you watch linemen play, you want to see him strike and stick,” McCarthy said. “With that (background), the balance and the footwork, his ability to stay alive in the second, third reaction when he does engage, I think it’s all over the video.”

While he brings standout physical traits and the upside to be an impactful pro at a position that’s become a need, Iheanachor is still raw and will take time to reach his full potential given his limited experience on a football field.

“He’s just getting started,” Khan said. “He hasn’t played a lot of football in his life. He’s only going to get better.”

On one hand, yet another first-round pick up front shows a clear commitment to the offensive line. On the other hand, it also is an acknowledgement that things haven’t gone as planned for one of those selections. Just a few months ago, the Steelers looked as if they were a guard away from completing their transformation in the trenches. After 2023 first-round pick Broderick Jones sustained a neck injury and then had spinal fusion surgery, however, the tackle position reentered the draft conversation.

Khan acknowledged at the combine that there’s no guarantee Jones will be healthy by training camp. The recovery could linger even longer than he’s publicly letting on. The GM said Thursday, “Sure, that’s a little bit of a concern.”

One way or another, there could be some shuffling along the offensive line, as Iheanachor played only right tackle at Arizona State. Does he flip to the left side, something he did at times at the juco level? Does 2024 first-round pick Troy Fautanu, who played left tackle in college but has been making the transition to the right side, now move back to the left? If Jones regains his health in time to play early this season, could Fautanu move to guard? Remember: There are also 11 more picks (presumably including at least one more lineman) that could alter the picture.

After changing first-round plans on the fly, the Steelers’ next challenge will be to sort through all these question marks and moving pieces and develop a raw but promising tackle better than they did the first time they took one in 2023.