The Pittsburgh Steelers had a busy draft this year, adding 10 players to their roster. However, their final pick may have earned the most attention. They spent their final seventh-round pick on Navy’s Eli Heidenreich, a Pittsburgh native. His selection was arguably the greatest moment from the draft, with Heidenreich walking onto the stage in Pittsburgh and getting to celebrate. Still, that is only the beginning of Heidenreich’s dream. While he faces an uphill battle to the 53-man roster, Mike McCarthy has nothing but good things to say about him.
“Eli’s a natural football player,” McCarthy said Tuesday via the team’s YouTube channel. “He’s very instinctive, has an excellent skill set. He’s picked up the offense. His position flexibility has been fun. He’s had a tremendous start. I’m very impressed with him.”
It’s tough for seventh-round picks to make any team’s roster. And the Steelers’ large influx of rookies this year could make Heidenreich’s path to the Week 1 roster even more difficult. There are more dogs fighting for a scarce number of bones.
However, several seventh-round picks have made the Steelers’ 53-man roster in recent years. Carson Bruener and Donte Kent both made the team’s initial 53-man roster last year. While the team didn’t have a seventh-round pick in 2024, Spencer Anderson stuck with the Steelers as a rookie after being their final seventh-round pick in 2023.
Heidenreich has stood out so far, and McCarthy has continually emphasized how important versatility is to him. That’s one of Heidenreich’s biggest strengths. He’s seen a lot of time at running back and wide receiver and could be a fun weapon for McCarthy to deploy.
Still, the Heidenreich’s best shot at making the 53-man roster is likely through special teams. He can return kicks, but he’ll improve his chances if he also shows a willingness to do the other dirty work on special teams. That tends to be the path for many late-round picks to stick with teams. And Heidenreich sounds prepared to do whatever is asked of him.
McCarthy obviously isn’t going to disparage any rookie at this point in the offseason. However, it sounds like Heidenreich has done all the right things to this point. If he continues to impress in training camp when the pads come on and the preseason, then he could earn a spot on the Steelers’ 53-man roster.
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