{"id":845908,"date":"2026-03-31T23:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/845908\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T23:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:36:18","slug":"gerry-dulac-strongly-hints-steelers-are-interested-in-first-round-te","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/845908\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerry Dulac Strongly Hints Steelers Are Interested In First-Round TE"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers have done a good job addressing their needs in free agency, giving them flexibility in the NFL Draft. Still, one position that hasn\u2019t been considered a first-round priority for the Steelers is tight end. But the Steelers could surprise some folks if Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq is on the board when they make their first pick. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strongly hinted in his chat<\/a> today that Sadiq could be of interest to the Steelers.<\/p>\n

He cryptically referenced Sadiq when asked if the Steelers could draft a tight end.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely!! And I bet even before the end of day 2. This isn\u2019t going to happen, but there would be some sentiment to take one at No. 21 if a certain TE were still on the board,\u201d Dulac wrote.<\/p>\n

Later in the chat, he was asked to rank Pittsburgh\u2019s possible first-round pick between Vega Ioane, Jordyn Tyson, Makai Lemon, Denzel Boston, Emmanuel McNeil-Warren and Dillon Thieneman. His response was telling.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you say Sadiq?\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Sadiq hasn\u2019t been linked to the Steelers during the pre-draft process. But tight end is a Steelers need after cutting Jonnu Smith and seeing Connor Heyward sign with the Las Vegas Raiders. That leaves just Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington remaining from last season\u2019s tight ends.<\/p>\n

Washington took a leap last season while Freiermuth took a step back, though that was more due to lack of usage than anything he did wrong. He\u2019s a proven pass catcher, and the prevailing thought is that the Steelers will add depth to the room rather than someone like Sadiq, who could come in as a No. 1.<\/p>\n

It would be a surprising pick, but Mike McCarthy has had success using tight ends in his offense, including multiple ones. Dalton Schultz and Jake Ferguson thrived recently in his offense in Dallas, while players such as Jermichael Finley and Donald Lee had success with McCarthy in Green Bay. If the Steelers take Sadiq, they\u2019d have a formidable receiving duo with him and Freiermuth while Washington would remain the primary blocking tight end.<\/p>\n

Dulac doesn\u2019t seem to believe Sadiq will be on the board at No. 21 overall. If he is, he could be a surprising but intriguing option for the Steelers. In our scouting report<\/a>, Jake Brockhoff gave him an 8.6 (longtime starter) grade and compared him to Tyler Higbee, who\u2019s had a successful career with the Los Angeles Rams. He\u2019s a move tight end who could be a fun weapon for the Steelers\u2019 offense, and it seems as if he could be a real possibility for the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers have done a good job addressing their needs in free agency, giving them flexibility in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6600,28626,6,520,12744,57,2360,426,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-845908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-gerry-dulac","10":"tag-kenyon-sadiq","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-post-gazette","14":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","15":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","16":"tag-steelers","17":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116326419115851267","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}