This isn’t about Max Iheanachor. You won’t find a single Steelers’ fan that doesn’t want the young man to do well. His success gives our team a greater chance of winning and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. What this is about, is the Steelers’ Organization. For a group of experienced people like Mike McCarthy, Andy Weidl and Art Rooney II, they sure did come off looking like newbies last night in round one. The fact that Omar Khan, the team’s General Manager, assumed he had USC Wideout Makai Lemon in his back pocket at pick number 21 was the first mistake.
As reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Steelers were on the phone with Lemon. At the same time, the Philadelphia Eagles traded with hated rival Dallas to move one spot ahead of the Steelers. Lemon was gone and Khan must have looked and felt like Mr. Rodgers putting the clown mask on. Suddenly, the Steelers were on the clock.
With Vega Ioane gone along with other top offensive tackles, the 21st pick seemed destined to be a wide receiver like Omar Cooper, Jr or maybe one of two safeties in Dillon Thieneman or Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. Instead, the Steelers chose Iheanachor. There is no denying the ceiling for this young man as his athletic profile is excellent and his ability to learn and absorb information has been almost off the charts.
The problem is that he’s played football for less than five years. A native of Nigeria, he didn’t even come to America until he was 13 years old. As a first round draft pick, the Steelers cannot wait on Iheanachor. He has to be a contributor from day one whether that’s at right tackle or left. I’m of the opinion that the only time you can get away with a first round player not playing is when they are a quarterback. Everyone else has to be on the field.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about this was that the build up didn’t match the outcome.
Iheanachor could go on to an all-pro career which all of us hope he will do, but he should have never been the selection here. They could have traded down (yes, you need a partner) and gotten him later in the first or even the top of the second but the Steelers didn’t pull it off. They did nothing but shrink on the biggest stage they’ve had in years and they’ve only got themselves to blame.
