{"id":945712,"date":"2026-07-14T23:57:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/945712\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T23:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:57:41","slug":"max-iheanachor-embracing-steelers-coaching-early-in-nfl-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/945712\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Iheanachor Embracing Steelers Coaching Early in NFL Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

All 90<\/a>\u2022Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"PittsburghPittsburgh Steelers rookie offensive tackle Max Iheanachor at practice on May 18m 2026. — Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

PITTSBURGH\u00a0\u2014 Few players in the Steelers\u2019 2026 draft class have a story quite like first-round pick Max Iheanachor.<\/a><\/p>\n

The offensive tackle\u2019s path to the NFL is anything but ordinary. After moving to the United States at 13 years old, Iheanachor didn\u2019t begin playing football until his freshman year of junior college. Just five years later, he heard his name called in the first round of the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

The rapid rise makes it easy to understand why the Steelers were willing to invest so heavily in his potential.That potential, however, still comes with plenty of room to grow. Although many expect him not to begin the season at left tackle, first-round picks aren\u2019t drafted to sit forever. Whether it\u2019s Week 1 or later in the season, the expectation is that Iheanachor will eventually earn a starting role and become a cornerstone of Pittsburgh\u2019s offensive line.<\/p>\n

For now, he\u2019s focused on the little things. One of the biggest adjustments during OTAs has been refining his technique, something he knows will ultimately determine how quickly he\u2019s ready for NFL football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d definitely say just trying to keep my push foot, keeping my toes in the ground more. Our coach at Arizona State talked about the same thing, but they\u2019re just emphasizing it more here,\u201d Iheanachor said at OTAs. <\/p>\n

Those details may seem small, but they\u2019re exactly the type of coaching points that can help bridge the gap between college football and the NFL.<\/p>\n

Considering Iheanachor has only been playing organized football for five years, there\u2019s still plenty of technical development ahead. That\u2019s also part of what makes him such an intriguing prospect. While he may be one of the rawer first-round picks in the class, he also possesses one of the highest ceilings.<\/p>\n

His combination of rare size, athleticism and steady improvement throughout his football journey is what convinced the Steelers to make him a first-round selection. Now, the focus shifts toward turning that potential into production.<\/p>\n

\"SteelersPittsburgh Steelers first-round pick Max Iheanachor speaks to the media during an introductory press conference at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Friday. \u2014 Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now<\/p>\n

71 \u2022 Max Iheanachor, Offensive Tackle, Arizona State
6-foot-5, 364 pounds, 22 years old, 1st pro season<\/p>\n

Acquired:\u00a0The Steelers selected Iheanachor with the 21st overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft, making him the first offensive lineman selected by Pittsburgh since Troy Fautanu in 2024.<\/p>\n

MAX IHEANACHOR COLLEGE CAREER<\/p>\n

\"PittsburghOct 18, 2025; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils offensive lineman Max Iheanachor (58) against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Mountain America Stadium. Mark J. Rebilas \/ Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Iheanachor\u2019s rise to becoming a first-round pick is about as unconventional as it gets. After moving to the United States from Nigeria at 13 years old, he never played a snap of high school football. Instead, he enrolled at\u00a0East Los Angeles Community College, where he first learned the game after originally standing out as a basketball player. He spent\u00a0two seasons (2021-22)\u00a0at ELAC, quickly developing into one of the top junior college offensive tackle prospects in the country and earning a four-star JUCO rating.<\/p>\n

That development earned him a transfer to Arizona State, where he spent the next\u00a0three seasons (2023-25). Iheanachor saw action in six games with five starts during his first year in Tempe before taking over as the Sun Devils\u2019 full-time starting right tackle in 2024. Over three seasons at Arizona State, he appeared in\u00a032 games with 31 starts, started the final 29 games of his career and allowed just\u00a0three sacks in 1,159 career pass-blocking snaps.<\/p>\n

His best football came during his final season. In 2025, Iheanachor earned\u00a0Second-Team All-Big 12\u00a0honors after not allowing a single sack while surrendering only three quarterback hits and 11 hurries all season. He also accepted an invitation to the\u00a0Senior Bowl, where he continued to boost his draft stock against some of the top edge rushers in the country.<\/p>\n

MAX IHEANACHOR COLLEGE STATS<\/p>\n

SeasonSchoolGPGSSacks AllowedHonors2021East Los Angeles Community College\u2014\u2014\u2014Began football career2022East Los Angeles Community College\u2014\u2014\u2014Four-star JUCO recruit2023Arizona State650Earned first collegiate starts2024Arizona State14143Full-time starting right tackle2025Arizona State12120Second-Team All-Big 12, Senior Bowl InviteArizona State Career32313Started final 29 consecutive games<\/p>\n

MAX IHEANACHOR PRE-DRAFT TESTING<\/p>\n

Measuring in at 6-foot-5\u215e and 321 pounds, he put together one of the better athletic performances among offensive tackles at the NFL Combine. Iheanachor ran a 4.91-second 40-yard dash with a 1.73-second 10-yard split, added 25 bench press reps, a 30.5-inch vertical jump and a 9-foot-7 broad jump. Those numbers earned him a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 9.91 out of 10, ranking him among the most athletic offensive tackle prospects in this year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

SALARY CAP AND CONTRACT<\/p>\n

Iheanachor signed his rookie contract shortly after being selected in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

The deal is a fully guaranteed four-year contract worth $20.692 million and includes an $11.598 million signing bonus. As a first-round pick, his contract also includes the Steelers\u2019 fifth-year team option, giving Pittsburgh the ability to keep him under contract through the 2030 season if they choose to exercise it.<\/p>\n

MORE STEELERS ALL 90<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alan Saunders provided reporting from Pittsburgh. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: All 90<\/a> Arizona State<\/a> Max Iheanachor<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> Steelers News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All 90\u2022Pittsburgh Steelers Pittsburgh Steelers rookie offensive tackle Max Iheanachor at practice on May 18m 2026. — Ed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":944789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32673,6221,7,54564,6,15,57,426,2395],"class_list":["post-945712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl-draft","tag-all-90","tag-arizona-state","tag-football","tag-max-iheanachor","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-steelers","tag-steelers-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116921044161299663","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945712","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=945712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}