Depending on how Makai Lemon and Max Iheanachor see their careers pan out, Thursday night could come back to haunt the Pittsburgh Steelers . Mike McCarthy’s team was on the phone with Lemon, the USC receiver, ready to draft him before the Philadelphia Eagles traded up and interrupted.
“Why is Philly calling?” Lemon asked Steelers general manager Omar Khan when the Eagles’ decision-makers rang him.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reached out to the league on Friday about the rule regarding calling prospects when another team is on the clock, wondering if the Steelers could face any punishment for what happened. The league said that it “reviews all aspects of the Draft the week after its conclusion.”
Apr 23, 2026; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Southern California Trojans receiver Makai Lemon during the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrisure Stadium. — Kirby Lee / Imagn Images
“Obviously, the Steelers’ call to Lemon will fall within the scope of that review,” Florio wrote Saturday. “It seemed to be an innocent mistake, and the Eagles likely would have picked Lemon in that spot even if they couldn’t have made the perfunctory phone call before doing so. Besides, the embarrassment of having it known that tackle Max Iheanachor was Plan B is arguably punishment enough.”
Iheanachor, a native Nigerian who didn’t play football until college, will start out as an offensive tackle for the Steelers, who also have Broderick Jones , Troy Fautanu and Dylan Cook in that position room. McCarthy wound up adding a wideout in the second round, plucking Alabama’s Germie Bernard .
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Makai Lemon NFL Draft Debacle Could Hurt Steelers Twice
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