Brown: Hey Steelers Fans, Now Is The Time To Dream Powerball Big When It Comes To The Rookies

Dare to dream, Steelers fans. And judging by Drew Allar jersey sales, you are. Mike McCarthy is probably rolling his eyes at the hype surrounding the Steelers youngsters after one preseason game. Heck, he might have had Gabe Rubio give Yahya Black a piggyback ride to the Acrisure Stadium players’ parking lot late Thursday night and Allar detail Aaron Rodgers’ car first thing Friday morning.

Just to remind them that they are, you know, rookies.

It is his job to keep them grounded. It is fans’ prerogative to dream big.

Powerball big.

And, right now, the possibilities for the latest Steelers draft class seem endless. That starts with Allar. If what he showed in his NFL debut is the start of something big, not a mirage, then the Steelers’ 2026 draft will be a success, no matter how the other players turn out.

That is how starved the Steelers are for a franchise quarterback. And how many fans still remember the David Woodleys and Kent Grahams that bridged the Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger eras.

Beyond Allar, very early signs point to the Steelers hitting on picks throughout the draft. And they had 10 of them, so if six or seven really pan out, that gives them a heck of a nucleus, especially if one of those is their third-round quarterback. Such a scenario is not likely, granted, but hardly outlandish. Consider the following hypotheticals:

• First-round pick Max Iheanachor, who did not even play Thursday night because of a minor upper-body injury, locks down the right tackle job for 10 years. It already looks like he will start there sooner rather than later. And maybe fellow rookie Gennings Dunker will play next to him in short order. If Dunker turns out to be a Mason McCormick clone, given his nasty disposition and Midwest roots, all the better.
• Daylen Everette contributes immediately at cornerback and then becomes a long-term starter after salary cap considerations force the Steelers to make hard decisions. Safety Robert Spears-Jennings eventually joins him as a secondary cornerstone – and makes many wonder why a player with his size, speed, and instincts lasted until the 224th pick of the 2026 draft.
• Germie Bernard and Kaden Wetjen are this year’s version of Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders. Relax, this isn’t a two-to-two comparison. But even if Bernard and Wetjen come within a couple of zip codes of the impact that Brown and Sanders had, it is a Steelers win.
• Rubio becomes the Chris Hoke to Black’s Casey Hampton. Enough said given the Steelers’ struggles to stop the run in recent seasons.

That’s not even mentioning tight end/fullback Riley Nowakowski (Conner Heyward 2.0?). And running back Eli Heidenreich, who offers a lot of intrigue even if his path to the Steelers’ 53-man roster looks daunting.

The early returns from this group – emphasis on early – are more than promising. And mid-August is the time to dream big. This isn’t going to be the Steelers’ historic 1974 draft class. But what if it turns out to be some combination of their 2004 and 2010 drafts?

That’s one lottery ticket the Steelers would love to hit.

Even if it’s not the Powerball.