Pittsburgh Steelers first-round pick Max Iheanachor knows what will be asked of him in his rookie year.
There has been a ton of debate about where and when Pittsburgh Steelers rookie offensive tackle Max Iheanachor where play since the team selected him with its first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. However, fans finally have their answer to the first question.
Iheanachor recently revealed that he expects to play at right tackle to begin his NFL career.
“Right side,” Iheanachor said when asked what side he prepared to play on during rookie minicamp.
That certainly makes sense after Iheanachor spent the majority of his collegiate career at right tackle, and he was quite successful, too.
In 2024, he started all 14 games at right tackle for Arizona State, and then in 2025, he started 12 more games at right tackle and was named second-team All-Big 12 Conference.
The question that remains is when will Iheanachor play with Steelers 2023 first-round pick Troy Fautanu playing that role for the past couple of seasons.
The most obvious answer is moving Fautanu to left tackle as he has a lot of experience playing on that side from his collegiate days. But Pittsburgh won’t force that move if left tackle Broderick Jones is healthy.
If Jones is healthy, Iheanachor could be riding the bench to begin his NFL career, but that could be what’s best for him, given his limited amount of experience playing football.
Iheanachor was born in Nigeria and then moved to Compton when he was 13 years old. He grew up playing soccer and did not start playing football until he enrolled at East Los Angeles College .
Iheanachor stands at 6-foot-6, 321 pounds with 33 7-8-inch arms and nine-inch hands. He also recorded a 4.91-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, which was among the fastest for tackles.
Alan Saunders provided reporting from Pittsburgh.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Steelers Reveal Plans For First-Round Pick Max Iheanachor
Related Headlines
