Offensive tackle Dylan Cook is playing for a starting spot.
Offensive tackle Dylan Cook is playing for a starting spot.
The Steelers are hoping Max Iheanachor will make his NFL debut Thursday night in the preseason finale in Buffalo after missing three weeks of training camp with an upper body injury. Missing that much time is usually too much to overcome for a rookie trying to win a starting job, but there are signs the Steelers are not yet comfortable naming Dylan Cook as their starting right tackle.
Center Zach Frazier, left guard Mason McCormick and left tackle Troy Fautanu have played 38 snaps in the preseason while right guard Spencer Anderson has played 49. Cook has played 65 snaps, including some into the second half last week against the Jets.
Earlier this week when Iheanachor returned to practice, Cook was bouncing between right and left tackle in the open viewing window for reporters while Iheanachor was getting some work with the starters.
Coach Mike McCarthy has done a lot of mixing and matching with his linemen throughout camp, but it’s getting late in the process. The decisions the coaches have made regarding who is playing where and for how long suggests the door is still open for Iheanachor to win the job.
There is no doubt Iheanachor is the long-term answer at the position, but Cook’s play in the coming days also will be part of that evaluation. He made his NFL debut last December, a few weeks shy of his 28th birthday, and started the final five games. He played well enough to earn this opportunity, but he knows he must win the job convincingly before he is named a starter.
That’s the way it is for every undrafted free agent competing against a No. 1 pick. If it’s close, the coaches will go with the younger player with bigger upside.
“Small sample size, still a lot to prove,” Cook said of his play at the end of last season. “Then we draft a first-round tackle and still a lot to prove. The mentality never really changed. I’m just trying to play my best football.”
Cook is certainly used to proving himself. He was a lightly recruited player coming out of high school and began his college career at Montana State-Northern, an NAIA school with a 2,000-seat stadium, before playing his final four years at Montana.
Cook spent six years in college and it took him another four years to finally play a game in the NFL. He originally signed with Tampa Bay as an undrafted free agent in 2022, but he did not make the team. He’s been with the Steelers since 2023, but he was on the practice squad for most of the past three seasons.
“Every year I feel like I’ve been fighting for a spot,” Cook said.
The final preseason game is the final opportunity for many young players to state their case for a roster spot, but for Cook it’s the rare opportunity for a middle-aged veteran to nail down a starting position.
Here’s a look at some of the other players who need strong a performance against the Bills:
Will Howard
Even if Howard already has the team made, it feels like he needs a game to quiet a growing number of critics. He’s been the quarterback on seven drives and led the Steelers to points on only one of them — a two-minute touchdown drive at the end of the first half in the preseason opener against the Packers.
Against the Jets it was punt, punt, interception, interception.
Rookie Drew Allar, by contrast, led the Steelers on three touchdown drives against the Packers and did not turn the ball over against the Jets.
Howard has to be markedly better than Allar if he’s ever going to be a serious competitor to be the team’s starting quarterback in the future. He was a sixth-round pick by the previous coaching staff. Allar was a third-round pick of the current staff.
These snaps against the Bills are huge for Howard. He might not get another opportunity to play again until next preseason.
Travis Homer, Kaleb Johnson and Lew Nichols
Do the Steelers go with the veteran special teams player, last year’s third-round pick or a camp riser as their No. 3 running back behind Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle?
Here’s how McCarthy views the competition: “For these running backs, after the first two, it’s who's playing the best? Who's playing the best on offense? Who's contributing, particularly a first-, second-, and third-down player. I think every play caller in the league would prefer to play with running backs that can play on first, second, and third down. You create tremendous tendencies when you start running your backs in and out of the game based off what down and distance it is. We prefer not to play that way. So that's a big part of it, and then really the determining factor a lot of times in that third and fourth running back is what kind of player he is on special teams?”
Homer hasn’t done much with his opportunities as a running back in the preseason. He carried four times for eight yards against the Packers and did not get any carries against the Jets.
Homer hasn’t played much at all as a running back during his first seven seasons in the league. He has 90 career carries and only seven in the past three seasons. He’s first and foremost a special teams player.
Johnson is the opposite. He doesn’t play on special teams, but he showed some signs of life against the Jets when he carried 10 times for 39 yards. He’s been at his best running between the tackles and has struggled when he’s had opportunities to bounce runs outside for bigger gains.
The dark horse in the competition is Lew Nichols, who probably has had the best camp among the three.
This one might be discussed deep into the weekend. The 53-man roster must be set by 6 p.m. Sunday.
One other option for the coaches: keep only two running backs on the 53-man roster and use the practice squad to stash and develop the others.
Roman Wilson and Germie Bernard
There is no doubt Wilson is in the lead for the No. 3 receiver job. He’s taken advantage of important reps in practice with the first-team offense and has developed a chemistry with Aaron Rodgers.
The issue with Wilson is he hasn’t played well in either preseason game. Granted, Rodgers hasn’t played, but Wilson only has three catches for 23 yards in the first two games. Additionally, he was the target on both interceptions Howard threw against the Jets.
There has been some debate about who was at fault for those turnovers, but Wilson is going to have a short leash if there are similar issues when Rodgers is the one throwing him passes.
Much like the situation at right tackle, Bernard, the No. 47 overall pick in this year’s draft, is the future. He hasn’t flashed as much as Wilson in practice and hasn’t had as many opportunities to work with Rodgers, but he did have four catches for 51 yards against the Packers and showed off his ability to run after the catch.
Bernard needs more time to absorb the playbook, but he can continue to put pressure on Wilson with a big game against the Bills.
First Published: August 26, 2026, 4:14 p.m.