It’s no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers desperately need to upgrade the talent in the wide receiver room. Whether that occurs in free agency, through the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh — or both, it doesn’t matter. GM Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl just need to get it done.
With new head coach Mike McCarthy in the building and starting to build his coaching staff, one of the first hires he made was wide receivers coach Adam Henry. His presence in the wide receivers room could come into play during the draft process, due to his past experience at the collegiate level with one name in particular.
That would be Indiana’s Omar Cooper Jr., a player that Henry coached in his one season at Indiana in 2022.
Now, Cooper is one of the bigger names at the receiver position in the 2026 NFL Draft, a guy ticketed for mid-Day 2 in the 2026 NFL Draft, which could be right in the ideal window for the Black and Gold.
Cooper, listed at 6-foot, 205 pounds, made some of the best catches of the 2025 college football season, including the game-winner against Penn State on the road when he somehow got one foot down in the end zone.
Outside of that remarkable catch, Cooper had a heck of season for the national champion Hoosiers. In 16 games, Cooper hauled in 69 passes for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns. He earned second-team All-American accolades and was named second-team All-Big Ten in the process, too.
Now, he’s on the doorstep of the NFL and is one of the more intriguing receivers in the draft class.
That connection with Henry, though it spanned just one season, could play a factor in the interest the Steelers could have in Cooper. Henry coached at Indiana for just one season in 2022. That year, Cooper played just four games, seeing action primarily on special teams.
But entering that season, Henry raved about Cooper’s football IQ and work ethic.
“He’s progressed well. I got here and he was a guy that was signed here, so, just getting to know him. And, he has a good football IQ, better than what I thought, I didn’t really know,” Henry said of Cooper back in 2022, according to the Hoosiers’ athletic website. “But as far as picking up the offense and doing what we’re doing, I’m very pleased where he’s at, at this point. Now one time I told him it was probably after five practices, I was like ‘you’re doing a good job’ and then that day he didn’t practice so well so I said, ‘I’m going to stop telling you you’re doing a good job’.
“But he has a tremendous upside, and he’s a guy who listens, he takes notes, and again this is as a transfer of playing receiver and just the details of it, of being a trained receiver. For him, he has a large upside, but I like his football IQ.”
While Cooper didn’t catch a pass that season, his work in practice caught the attention of Henry. Now, there could be a chance for the Steelers to reunite Henry with Cooper.
Historically, when the Steelers hire a new position coach they like to draft a player at that position to give the new coach a young piece to work with.
In that past, former running backs coach Eddie Faulkner saw Benny Snell Jr. drafted in his first year. Former tight ends coach Alfredo Roberts saw the Steelers draft Pat Freiermuth in his first year in 2021. Former receivers coach Zach Azzanni saw the Steelers draft Roman Wilson in 2024. Even quarterbacks coach Tom Arth saw the Steelers draft Will Howard this past season.
Granted, it will be hard to do that this year with a largely new staff under McCarthy, but the history is there from the franchise. Plus, that connection between Henry and Cooper is something that the Steelers could — and should — lean on in the pre-draft process.
McCarthy stated in his introductory press conference that he likes receivers that can play all three positions, inside and outside. Cooper has shown the ability to do that in his career at Indiana.
We’ll see if the Steelers ultimately show interest in Cooper in the pre-draft process. Due to the history Henry has with him dating back a few years, chances are that they will.