{"id":174622,"date":"2026-04-24T06:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/174622\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T06:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:27:13","slug":"the-steelers-makai-lemon-whiff-is-sadly-emblematic-of-the-state-of-the-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/174622\/","title":{"rendered":"The Steelers\u2019 Makai Lemon whiff is sadly emblematic of the state of the franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everything fell perfectly into place for the Steelers on Night One of the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Only two receivers were selected in the top 15 picks, and a slew of offensive linemen followed with a very random Ty Simpson to the Rams pick sprinkled in for good luck.<\/p>\n

With a league-leading 12 selections ahead of the first round, the Steelers had every tool in the belt to pull off exactly what they wanted to do – draft Makai Lemon. Yet instead of doing so, they remained stagnant, much like they\u2019ve done as a franchise for the better part of a decade.<\/p>\n

The Steelers sat on their hands and stayed put with the No. 21 overall pick instead of moving up to ensure his selection in front of the record-breaking 320,000 fans in front of Acrisure Stadium. As the Dallas Cowboys were set to be on the clock at No. 20, the Steelers gave Lemon a call<\/a>. Only they weren\u2019t the only Pennsylvania area code to ring the USC star.<\/p>\n

As the Steelers were getting ready to tell Lemon he would be calling Pittsburgh home, Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles made a trade with the Cowboys to jump in front of the Steelers to steal the star pass-catcher from their grasp. Clearly caught off guard, the Steelers had to pivot and selected Arizona State offensive tackle Max Iheachanor, much to the chagrin of the large number of Steelers fans on hand who audibly groaned at Pittsburgh selecting its third first-round tackle in four years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost poetic that it was the Eagles who jumped the Steelers, considering Pittsburgh so obviously wants to be Philadelphia from a team standpoint. Assistant general manager Andy Weidl came from the Eagles, and the way the Steelers have gone about roster building in the trenches is similar to what Philadelphia has done over the last 5-10 years.n Unfortunately, the Steelers lack the killer instinct that Roseman and the Eagles have.<\/p>\n

When the Eagles see the potential to add a game-changer, they do it. Whether it\u2019s trading for A.J. Brown, signing Saquon Barkley, or getting rid of players and coaches when they begin to fail, no matter how successful they\u2019ve been before, the Eagles have always stayed ahead of the curve while the Steelers have perennially been behind it.<\/p>\n

While the Eagles built a near-flawless roster that resulted in their second Super Bowl appearance under Nick Sirriani and Jalen Hurts and their first win (second in the last decade), the Steelers were bringing in re-run veteran quarterbacks hoping they would be just good enough for a good defense to carry, a project that has failed twice. And instead of moving in a new direction, the Steelers are letting a 42 year-old quarterback dictate their offseason for a second straight year.<\/p>\n

Fumbling Lemon wasn\u2019t just a massive mishandling of the first round by the Steelers, it was an embarrassment. To be metaphorically noogied like that in your home city when, again, you had every possible opportunity to trade up for the player you wanted is completely indefensible.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also an unfortunate reminder that the Steelers are still a ways away from being among the elite teams in the NFL. Despite the addition of Michael Pittman, the receiver position continues to be largely neglected, as they have just two other receivers behind Pittman and DK Metcalf – those receivers combined for 16 catches in 2025. Sure, they can select a receiver on Day Two, but it\u2019s hard to get excited for Day Two pass-catchers in a thin class for the position when they could have easily landed arguably the most talented player at said position if they had just gotten the least bit aggressive.<\/p>\n

And while organizations like the Eagles are moving up and trying to build a roster that can get them to a third Super Bowl in five years, the Steelers kept their feet in the sand as they wait for a text back from the oldest active player in the NFL, hoping he can help them win their first playoff game in nine years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019d be funny if it weren\u2019t so pathetic. But what the heck, I\u2019ll laugh anyway.<\/p>\n

Let us know what you think in the comments. Be sure to bookmark Behind the Steel Curtain for all the latest news, breakdowns, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everything fell perfectly into place for the Steelers on Night One of the 2026 NFL Draft. Only two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74,35221,4852,4853],"class_list":{"0":"post-174622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-pittsburgh","9":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","10":"tag-pittsburgh-news","11":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers-analysis","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers-commentary","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}