A month before the 2026 NFL draft, Mike McCarthy said he liked having a big group of prospects. He got his wish with 10 rookies in his first class as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“You’ll never hear me talk about the 53, I’ll talk about the 68,” McCarthy said at the recent NFL meetings in Phoenix, emphasizing the importance of practice squads and deep rosters. “And so if you got 12 picks, let’s just try to pick 12 really good football players.”
General manager Omar Khan traded two of those picks away in deals to acquire wide receiver Germie Bernard and offensive tackle Gennings Dunker, but McCarthy still wound up with a double-digit draft class as the Steelers plugged holes up and down the roster.
Some of those rookies figure to have a greater impact right away, while others are developmental projects. Ahead of the Steelers’ rookie minicamp, which begins Friday, we’re breaking down those draft picks into four tiers.
Immediate starters and contributors
Germie Bernard, WR, Alabama, 2nd round (No. 47)
Gennings Dunker, G, Iowa, 3rd round (No. 96)
Even though the Steelers added to their wide receiving corps by trading for Michael Pittman Jr. early in free agency, they still entered the draft with a significant need at the position. So much so that they tried to draft USC’s Makai Lemon in the first round (the Philadelphia Eagles traded up to snag him). The organization then pivoted and addressed the position with their second-round pick, selecting Alabama’s Bernard, one of their top-30 pre-draft visitors. He figures to be the team’s No. 3 receiver.
Bernard (6-foot-1 and 206 pounds) is a physical, well-rounded and versatile player. The Steelers lacked wide receiver depth last season, so much so that they added Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Adam Thielen late in the season, and the duo became key targets for Aaron Rodgers down the stretch. Now, Thielen is retired and Valdes-Scantling is a Dallas Cowboy. Receiver Calvin Austin III also departed in free agency, and running back Kenneth Gainwell, the Steelers’ leading pass catcher and team MVP last season, signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Third-year WR Roman Wilson is back, as is special teams ace Ben Skowronek, though neither was a significant part of the offense last season. Bernard, then, should be primed for a key role in McCarthy’s scheme.
The Steelers also had a need at guard after losing starter Isaac Seumalo to the Arizona Cardinals in free agency. Though 2023 seventh-round pick Spencer Anderson played well in place of Seumalo in spurts last season, the Steelers still eyed an upgrade. Enter the Iowa hay bale toss champion. Though the mullet-sporting redhead spent his college career at tackle, Dunker showed his versatility and promise as a guard at the Senior Bowl in February — something that caught the eye of Steelers offensive line coach James Campen.
“He’s an aggressive kid,” Campen said. “His focus and intent are really capturing. It projects onto the field as well. Just a very serious person. I also think the fact that he so seamlessly went into guard at the Senior Bowl really made it very appealing. There’s not a lot of big people like that that can pull and match the strength that he has.”
Special teams contributors
Daylen Everette, CB, Georgia, 3rd round (No. 85)
Kaden Wetjen, WR, Iowa, 4th round (No. 121)
Riley Nowakowski, TE, Indiana, 5th round (No. 169)
Robert Spears-Jennings, S, Oklahoma, 7th round (No. 224)
A number of the Steelers’ 2026 picks could have trouble finding the field on offense or defense as rookies, but their skill sets lend to being key special teams contributors — especially with the departure of several core special teamers in free agency. In addition to losing two of their primary returners in Austin and Gainwell, the Steelers also lost special teams captain Miles Killebrew, cornerback James Pierre and TE/FB Connor Heyward.
Though Wetjen was a bit of a reach in the fourth round, he was an electric returner at Iowa. He averaged 26.8 yards per punt return last season to lead the FBS, and he became the first player in Big Ten history to have three punt return touchdowns and one kick return touchdown in the same season. He was the only player in the FBS to have a kick return and punt return touchdown last season. The Steelers had neither last year and ranked 29th in kickoff return average (24.2 yards) and 21st in punt return average (8.8).
“He makes great decisions, good ball security,” special teams coordinator Danny Crossman said. “He’s a catch, run, cut player. A lot of guys are looking to cut, maybe before they need to. He is fearless, and he’s not going to make the cuts until he has to. … So brings a really good skill set in the return game, and especially with the new rules and kickoff return, those vertical one-cut runners have been very successful over the last couple of years, and we think that’s what he’ll bring to the Steelers and kick returns.”
Jamel Dean and Joey Porter Jr. are the Steelers’ likely starting cornerbacks, but Everette could find the field as a special teamer early on. Similarly, Spears-Jennings faces a crowded safety group with Jaquan Brisker ahead of him, but his speed and collegiate special teams experience should help him find a role on special teams.
Comfortable with doing the dirty work, Nowakowski is built like a jumbo-sized Heyward, and he should slide into the fullback’s vacated role as a core teamer.
Rising but developmental phase
Max Iheanachor, OT, Arizona State, 1st round (No. 21)
Drew Allar, QB, Penn State, 3rd round (No. 76)
After losing out on Lemon, the Steelers made a somewhat surprising pick by going with Iheanachor, marking their third first-round offensive tackle in four drafts. Offensive tackle wasn’t necessarily viewed as a position of significant need entering the draft, but the health of left tackle Broderick Jones, the team’s 2023 first-round pick, complicates the position. Jones sustained a neck injury late in the 2025 season and subsequently underwent surgery, and while the Steelers maintain that his recovery is on track, his timeline to return is unclear. Troy Fautanu, the 2024 first-round pick, played well at right tackle in 2025 after missing most of his rookie season with knee injuries.
Iheanachor only started playing football in 2021, but he developed rapidly over the past five seasons between junior college and three seasons at Arizona State, eventually becoming a two-year starter at right tackle. At 6-6 and 320 pounds with a basketball background, Iheanachor has the size and agility to be a great tackle, but he’s still relatively new to the game. He’s not exactly a plug-and-play prospect, which could be an issue if Jones isn’t ready to go when the season starts.
And while the Steelers touted Iheanachor’s versatility at left and right tackle, he played only a handful of games at left tackle, and most of those came on the junior college level.
“He’s just an ultra-athletic player that’s just scratching the surface,” Campen said. “The limited time that he’s been in a football uniform, and the way that he has translated that to what he did this last season. I mean, when you don’t give up any sacks in a season, that’s at a very competitive level in the Big 12 against some really good football players and good edge rushers. That tells you one thing. He’s productive.
“But not only is he productive, but with technique and fundamentals and just his football intelligence and awareness, and just playing the game, that’s just going to increase.”
The Steelers could move Fautanu to left tackle and play Iheanachor at right, or they could kick Fautanu inside to guard, play Iheanachor at right tackle and use Dylan Cook at left tackle until Jones is healthy.
Like Iheanachor, Allar is also a developmental prospect with a high ceiling. The Penn State product played only six games last year after an ankle injury cut his season short, but he has a big arm and a big frame, making him a good fit for McCarthy’s system and the AFC North.
“He has rare size,” quarterbacks coach Tom Arth said. “He’s 6-5, 235 pounds. He has big hands. And I think what’s most exciting, certainly when you’re talking about the quarterback position, this guy can throw the football. And I think he throws it as well as any quarterback in this draft class. He has an effortless arm. He can make every single throw on the field. And he’s a better athlete than I think given credit for. … His intelligence as a football player and his arm talent and all those things, I think he has a very high ceiling.”
Allar did struggle in big moments throughout his career at Penn State. He had a 1-6 career record against AP-ranked top-10 opponents, and in those games, he completed 50.3% of passes and averaged 5.5 yards per attempt.
But McCarthy has a reputation as a quarterback guru, and he’s betting on himself that Allar can be his latest successful project. And with Rodgers still undecided on his 2026 plans, Allar’s immediate future is also up in the air. He could wind up battling it out with 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard for the starting job or the duo could spend the 2026 season developing in hopes of earning the starting job in 2027 — unless the Steelers go back to the quarterback well and select one out of what seems to be a talented 2027 class.
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What Drew Allar brings to the Steelers
What Drew Allar brings to the Steelers
TBD and unknowns
Gabriel Rubio, DE, Notre Dame, 6th round (No. 210)
Eli Heidenreich, RB, Navy, 7th round (No. 230)
It’s hard to find anyone more unknown in the 2026 draft than Rubio, who wasn’t an NFL combine invite. But even without getting a look at him in Indianapolis, the Steelers’ brass noticed the 6-5, 320-pound defensive end as they watched Notre Dame.
“If you’re really big, you’re really long, somebody’s going to find out about you,” Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said. “That’s usually the case. So when you watch the [Notre Dame] tape, they got a bunch of players going to the league everywhere. You’re like, ‘Who’s this big, tall guy right here, who’s playing?’ Thankfully for us, our scouts hit the road, and they work it hard.”
Rubio missed the final six games of his senior season with an injury, but in five starts he recorded 13 tackles and had half a sack and half a tackle for loss. The Steelers clearly fell in love with his raw physical attributes, but his viability as an NFL player is still unclear.
The Steelers’ final pick was the feel-good story of the draft as they selected Heidenreich in front of his hometown crowd, giving him a moment to remember as he walked out on the draft stage after hearing his name called Saturday afternoon.
A Navy product who thrived in the program’s signature triple-option scheme, Heidenreich was an ultra-versatile offensive threat as he led the team with 51 receptions and set a school record with 941 receiving yards. He also tied a school record with six receiving touchdowns. His combine measurables were similar to those of Christian McCaffrey, so it’s possible he winds up being an ultra-value pick as a seventh-rounder.
But with the Steelers also using a fourth-round pick on Wetjen and having other running backs and receivers on the roster, Heidenreich could wind up being an early roster cut.
