{"id":872173,"date":"2026-04-22T20:48:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/872173\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:48:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:48:21","slug":"ryan-wilson-has-heard-tight-end-could-be-in-the-conversation-for-steelers-in-1st-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/872173\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Wilson Has ‘Heard Tight End Could Be In The Conversation’ For Steelers In 1st Round"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a new head coach, and that\u2019s created a little more uncertainty about what direction they could go in the first round. They have several more obvious needs, such as offensive line and wide receiver. However, they\u2019ve got 12 picks,<\/a> so they could wait to attack those positions late on Day 2 or 3. Analyst Ryan Wilson recently shared some of the intel he\u2019s heard about where the Steelers could go in the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard offensive line,\u201d Wilson said Wednesday on CBS Sports HQ.<\/a> \u201cI\u2019ve heard tight end could be in the conversation. So, maybe Kenyon Sadiq here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tight end isn\u2019t the most obvious<\/a> need for the Steelers. They look like they have two potential starters there in Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington. While Freiermuth had a down season in 2025, not all of that was his fault. He was given few opportunities, and when he was targeted, he showed that he can still make plays.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Washington made strides as a receiving threat, and he continued to show that he\u2019s an elite blocker. He serves as a good complement to Freiermuth.<\/p>\n

However, the Steelers could add to their tight end room because they lost Jonnu Smith and Connor Heyward this offseason. Perhaps Mike McCarthy doesn\u2019t see Freiermuth or Washington as the long-term option at the position, either. Washington is going into the last year of his contract, so he might not be in Pittsburgh for much longer.<\/p>\n

Sadiq seems like the only tight end<\/a> who could get taken on Day 1. He spent all three of his collegiate seasons at Oregon, and he caught 80 passes for 892 yards and 11 touchdowns in that time. While he needs to work on his technique as a blocker, he\u2019s very athletic and has a lot of potential. He could be an interesting weapon to add to the Steelers\u2019 offense.<\/p>\n

Still, the Steelers have some more pressing needs than tight end. Maybe they could target Sadiq depending on how the board breaks. However, if one of the top offensive linemen or wide receivers is available, then that might be a better direction to go in.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers have a new head coach, and that\u2019s created a little more uncertainty about what direction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[4830,7,28626,6,520,57,2360,3246,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-872173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-cbs-sports-hq","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kenyon-sadiq","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-ryan-wilson","16":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116450328764040176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872173","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=872173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}