You only get one chance to make a first impression.
With the occasion being the 2026 NFL Draft on April 23-25, the City of Pittsburgh and the Omar Khan-Mike McCarthy era of Steelers football were in the spotlight.
By any metric, Pittsburgh's inaugural foray into hosting the 3-day extravaganza that the NFL Draft has become deserves to be judged as a smashing success. Cleaned up and primped for the occasion, the city's unique topography was resplendent under ideal spring weather conditions and came across picture-postcard perfect. The fans showed up in unprecedented numbers, with the NFL putting attendance at a record 805,000, which broke the previous mark of 775,000 set in Detroit in 2024. What could have been massive issues with traffic in a geographic area bound by rivers and squeezed by bridges were mitigated by a well-executed plan to utilize public transportation, and kudos to Sheetz for underwriting the whole thing.
As to the football portion of the weekend, the first draft class of the Omar Khan-Mike McCarthy era produced answers to some of the offseason questions, provided some intrigue in getting there, and all of it was done with a nod to upholding the on-field priorities that produced a lot of winning for the Steelers franchise.
The Steelers entered the weekend with 12 draft picks, and by dusk on Saturday they had made 10 of them. Included in those 10 were two more foundational pieces for the offensive line, another offensive weapon, a couple of safeties with good size and the proper on-field demeanor, a developmental quarterback with intriguing physical tools, and a few other guys who could become pieces the coaches can use to facilitate victory.
Bill Cowher had Antwaan Randle El. Mike Tomlin had a young Antonio Brown. By using a No. 4 (121 overall) on Iowa return specialist Kaden Wetjen, the Steelers were looking to do something similar for Mike McCarthy by adding a player specifically to juice the return game.
In the back-to-back college seasons of 2024-25, Wetjen was voted Big Ten Return Specialist if the Year both years. He posted 1,055 combined return yards in 2024 and 1,039 more in 2025. He also set a school record with a combined 6 TDs on kickoff and punt returns.
"Wetjen is a return specialist first and foremost," wrote NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein. "He's a threat to flip the field at any time as a punt returner. He eludes or breaks the first tackle, maneuvers around opponents in the open field with great vision. Better hang-time and faster contain should slow his production, but he'll still be a threat. He can handle pitch plays and swing passes from the backfield or shallow crossers and over-routes as a slot receiver. Wetjen offers immediate value as a returner, while a crafty play-caller is likely to install packaged plays for him each week."
The Steelers' special teams under coordinator Danny Smith always were among the league's most prolific in blocking kicks, but the team never committed the draft capital for a return specialist. In using their first pick of Day 3 on a 5-foot-9, 193-pound part-time wide receiver who often was the most dynamic player in an Iowa uniform, that changed.
"No. 1, he makes great decisions, good ball security," said current Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman. "Then he is what I refer to as 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. He can do it late. He's good in a tight area. He can make the shallow cuts. So he 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."
During unrestricted free agency, Connor Heyward left to accept a 2-year, $4.5 million contract with the Raiders, and the Steelers used their No. 5 pick (169th overall) on Riley Nowakowski to address that. A 6-2, 250 pound fullback who should further bolster special teams, how often Nowakowski is utilized could possibly hint at how McCarthy chooses to deploy his offense.
"When you look at Riley, his versatility jumps off the charts," said McCarthy. "When you go back to Wisconsin, he played in the two-back offense and played in the three-surface offense, where he played the fullback up on the line, had all the movement ability. He played a full year in a run-and-shoot one-back (formation), so he has a one-back running ability too. I cannot tell you how impressed I was with him and his story to leave Wisconsin and to go to Indiana to be a captain on the National Championship team. This is an outstanding pick. On top of that, I know I'm excited about it. I love the two-back offense. There's a lot of things that when you start in this league in the 1990s when two-back offense was a primary component with normal down and distance. Now to be able to bring something like that back … it's something I did a little in Dallas down there in 2023-24."
The 1936 NFL Draft was the first, with the original idea behind it being a way to manage the growing cost of player acquisition. But from those humble beginnings it evolved into a multi-media production that's as much about entertainment as it is about actual football. When the announcement of trades and/or picks is delayed either by a commercial break, or a feature package, or to continue a discussion among the network's talent, you're forced to the conclusion that at its core, it's a television show.
Part primetime drama and part reality TV, the 2026 NFL Draft closed with a story that was as touching as anything a network's entertainment division could've created. Eli Heidenreich was a key player on a Mt. Lebanon High School football team that won a state championship, and after graduating he accepted a commission to the United States Naval Academy where he continued his education and continued with his football career.
By the end of his senior season, Heidenreich owned the school single-season record with 941 receiving yards, and had tied the school record with 6 receiving TDs. He owned the school career record of 1,994 receiving yards and 16 receiving TDs. Because the Navy will allow a cadet to defer his military service if he can make an NFL roster, Heidenreich had made himself draft eligible, Commissioner Roger Goodell had extended a personal invitation for him to attend the event and wait in the Green Room to have his name called, and then the Steelers provided the fairy tale ending when they used their last seventh-round pick (230th overall) to keep his dream alive during a draft that just so happened to be in his hometown.
There wasn't a dry eye in the house as Heidenreich heard his name and made his way across the stage for his hug from Goodell with a Steelers cap on his head and a Terrible Towel in his hand. He would get an opportunity to earn a spot on the roster of a team he rooted for as a boy.
"I think everybody in the room felt (the emotion)," said McCarthy. "I felt it. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like to walk out there like that. Just really proud of him. I think the biggest thing for me as a coach is to create opportunities for all these guys, and especially for Eli."
"I think the biggest thing about me is you're getting a football player on offense who can do a lot of different things," said Heidenreich. "It's something I've been doing for almost 8 years now, high school and college, playing a few different positions at a high level. Then on special teams I played all four phases in college. So I'm able to contribute there and make a difference. The biggest thing is you look at the Steelers organization and the mentality that this team's been built off, and I think I bring that same thing, that toughness, that grittiness, that not only the Steelers, but the City of Pittsburgh has always been about."
A fitting ending to an event that sure made an impression.
