{"id":176032,"date":"2026-04-25T20:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/176032\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T20:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:19:09","slug":"pittsburgh-steelers-2026-nfl-draft-grades-te-riley-nowakowski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/176032\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Steelers 2026 NFL Draft grades: TE Riley Nowakowski"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> selected Indiana tight end Riley Nowakowski in the fifth round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Our staff weighs in with their thoughts on the pick.<\/p>\n

Ryland Bickley: Here\u2019s your TE3\/FB for Mike McCarthy. Nowakowski probably would\u2019ve been a \u201cmy guy\u201d in this draft class if I had been able to watch him more. He\u2019s an extremely high-effort run blocker with solid mobility who should be able to find a role on offense right away.\u00a0 Nowakowski is a bit undersized for a tight end and his testing is just OK, but as a fullback I like the pick. We can quibble a bit with taking a returner and fullback with the team\u2019s latest two picks, but in the fifth round you can\u2019t complain about good football players. Grade: B+<\/p>\n

Mike Nicastro: Nowakowski is a perfect replacement for Connor Heyward<\/a> because of his versatility. He\u2019ll play tight end, fullback, and can contribute on special teams.\u00a0He played a pivotal role on Indiana\u2019s National Championship run \u2013 the guy just feels like a winner.\u00a0Although it still feels like a pick based more on need opposed to value, I like this one much better than Wetjen. Grade: B+<\/p>\n

Alex Hanczar: Pittsburgh adds yet another big school player in the form of 2026 National Champion Riley Nowakowski. The departures of Jonnu Smith<\/a> and Connor Heyward led many to believe the Steelers would add depth at the position and here it is. Aside from solely playing TE, Nowakowksi will likely fill the Heyward role at the FB position. At 6-foot-two 250 pounds, I would not be surprised to see the former Hoosier lineup under center for the \u2018tush push\u2019 for the black and gold. Grade: B<\/p>\n

Joey Bray: Welcome back Connor Heyward. In all seriousness, Riley Nowakowski is an interesting pick for the Steelers. They needed to take another tight end, but Nowakowski is more of a fullback type. He played a blocking role for Indiana last year when he did line up a tight end, although he\u2019s 32 catches last season were more than he had in his previous four collegiate seasons combined. Nowakowski isn\u2019t particularly fast or dynamic and doesn\u2019t have the size to be a legit receiving threat. He is a good football player and it makes sense that Mike McCarthy would take a fullback, but taking a return man and fullback back-to-back in the mid rounds is an curious use of resources. Grade: C-<\/p>\n

Ryan Parish: As harsh as I was on using a 4th rounder on a kick returner-only player, I\u2019m to the moon for this selection. I highlighted Nowakowski in my Tight End draft gems list as a perfect fit for the John Kuhn\/Hunter Luepke FB role in Mike McCarthy\u2019s offense. Nowakowski is short for a tight end but perfect for a blocker for a power run scheme. He\u2019s also gotta decent hands and tackle-breaking ability for underneath routes that should make Aaron Rodgers<\/a> happy. This was a meat and potatoes pick, and yet another sign that the Steelers are veering into a gap\/power running scheme. Phenomenal fit. Grade: A++<\/p>\n

Jarrett Bailey: The Steelers were always going to take a tight end, being that they released Jonnu Smith and didn\u2019t bring back Connor Heyward. Nowakowski will play that Heyward role. Special teams and No. 3 tight end\/fullback. Not great. Not abysmal. Fine. Grade: C<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Indiana tight end Riley Nowakowski in the fifth round of the 2026 NFL Draft.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3269,26241,20105,3274,25916,8203,73,75,74,1833,78793],"class_list":{"0":"post-176032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-connor-heyward","10":"tag-indiana-hoosiers","11":"tag-jonnu-smith","12":"tag-miami-hurricanes","13":"tag-mike-mccarthy","14":"tag-pittsburgh","15":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","16":"tag-pittsburgh-news","17":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","18":"tag-riley-nowakowski"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176032","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=176032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}