As days have passed since the Pittsburgh Steelers’ failed attempt to land USC wide receiver Makai Lemon in the first round of the NFL Draft, I’ve narrowed my focus on what truly bothered me from that night.
I’m not upset that the Steelers ended up with Max Iheanachor as the first-round pick. He’s got the potential to be an outstanding offensive lineman.
It’s not even that I’m upset that Steelers general manager Omar Khan let the Philadelphia Eagles storm in and steal Lemon from under his nose at the last moment.
Makai Lemon was on the phone with the Steelers… until the @Eagles swooped in and traded up to get him ????
(via @nflnetwork) pic.twitter.com/oLI0T2yCZH
— NFL (@NFL) April 24, 2026
I’m more upset that Khan couldn’t figure out a trade to get back into the first round to nab Omar Cooper Jr. (Indiana) or KC Concepcion (Texas A&M), or even up in the second round to secure Denzel Boston (Washington).
Eventual second-round pick Germie Bernard was the best pass-catcher left on the board when the Steelers ended up taking him at No. 47. But most draft services had him rated in the second tier of receivers after the first six that included the names mentioned above, along with Jordyn Tyson (Arizona State) and Carnell Tate (Ohio State).
In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of TribLive and 105.9 The X agreed with that sentiment.
“If you would have told me they got Iheanachor and Boston, I’d have been OK. While that’s not a tumultuous upgrade, it is an upgrade,” Madden said. “Right away, you would have had three of a kind (with DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr.) at the top of your receiving chart. Concepcion would have fit in. Not quite as an equal in terms of the other team’s coverage, but there would have been concern. They are not worried about Germie Bernard. Not initially, for sure.”
While that was one misstep from Khan, Madden also thinks the Steelers blew the showbiz element of the night.
“It’s a two-part screw-up,” Madden continued. “If they really wanted Lemon, they should have traded up earlier and decisively. Overpay if you need to in order to get the guy you want for the big crowd pop at your home draft. I have people telling me that doing it at your home draft — making sure you get a guy that the crowd is going to go nuts for — that doesn’t matter. Of course, it matters. That’s one reason you got the draft here in the first place, for that moment, for a memorable pick. And they didn’t get that. They got a pick that had people scratching their heads.”
Madden puts the team’s inability to find a trade partner squarely on Khan’s shoulders.
“It’s because he’s not qualified to be a GM,” Madden insisted. “He does not have the communication skills or the football savvy that a GM needs to make a trade like that. You know how I know? Because he didn’t make a trade like that.”
Also during the podcast, Madden and I speak at length about the Steelers’ selection of Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, we preview Penguins-Flyers Game 5, we talk about the Pirates’ road trip and a pouty Andrew McCutchen.
