{"id":887647,"date":"2026-05-10T17:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/887647\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T17:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:36:18","slug":"excellent-steelers-top-rookie-linemen-earn-immediate-praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/887647\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Excellent:’ Steelers’ Top Rookie Linemen Earn Immediate Praise"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s rookie minicamp. The team isn\u2019t in pads, let alone full contact. But so far, so good for the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 top rookie offensive linemen, Max Iheanachor and Gennings Dunker. Mike McCarthy offered an overview of both of the franchise\u2019s latest draft pick reinforcements.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, excellent,\u201d McCarthy told reporters when asked to evaluate them via a team-provided transcript. \u201cObviously, they definitely look like Pittsburgh Steelers linemen. I think you look for young men [who] definitely have the anchor to play the style of football we want to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuge emphasis and focal point on the O and D line here as far as how we want this team to look and play, and those guys fit right in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach speak runs rampant this time of year, and McCarthy spent time praising the rookie class up and down. Quarterback Drew Allar, wide receiver Germie Bernard,<\/a> and running back Eli Heidenreich all received similar glowing remarks. It\u2019s a contrast to Mike Tomlin, who often refrained from making such comments early on.<\/p>\n

Since Omar Khan became GM, the Steelers have drafted a first-round offensive tackle in three of the four classes.<\/a> They selected Iheanachor because of Broderick Jones\u2019 uneven play and 2025 neck injury that leaves his status unclear. Iheanachor is big and athletic with upside. Pittsburgh views him as less raw than the outside world, with McCarthy calling him \u201cplug \u2018n play\u201d during an interview last week with Mark Madden.<\/p>\n

Dunker is moving from tackle to guard and spent rookie minicamp working as the team\u2019s vacancy on the left side. A rugged run blocker, Dunker looks and plays like an old-school Steelers\u2019 lineman as Pittsburgh is building a healthy running game capable of providing more downfield runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s made a very good first impression,\u201d McCarthy said of Dunker.<\/p>\n

Dunker is poised to compete with veterans Spencer Anderson and Brock Hoffman at left guard this summer. Ideally, both rookies win starting jobs to provide immediate evaluation and return. That won\u2019t be decided for another four months. But McCarthy likes what he saw from both men during their first two NFL practices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s rookie minicamp. The team isn\u2019t in pads, let alone full contact. But so far, so good for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,34761,54564,7866,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":["post-887647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-football","tag-gennings-dunker","tag-max-iheanachor","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116551495367017982","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887647","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=887647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}