NFL · 1 hour ago

Steelers Mike McCarthy on Eli Heindenreich: “Eli did enough to make it.”

Bo Marchionte

Host · Writer

Eli Heidenreich Was the Surprise. Maybe We Just Weren’t Looking at Him the Right Way

Eli Heidenreich spent most of August hanging around the back end of the Steelers running back rotation.

Maybe that was the problem.

We were looking at the rotation instead of the player.

When Pittsburgh trimmed its roster, the seventh-round pick out of Navy survived while the running back room around him changed considerably.

Kaleb Johnson, who often worked just ahead of Heidenreich, was traded to Green Bay. Lew Nichols III and Travis Homer appeared to have stronger cases for spots behind Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle.

Then 6 p.m. arrived Sunday.

Heidenreich was still a Pittsburgh Steeler.

McCarthy didn’t dress up the decision with some grand declaration Monday. In fact, his explanation was almost perfectly NFL.

“Everybody that earned the roster spot, really, it’s a big deal,” McCarthy said while discussing both the 53-man roster and practice squad. “Everybody’s earned their opportunity here.”

Then came the important part.

“Eli did enough to make it.”

At first glance, it qualified as one of the more interesting surprises of cutdown weekend.

Take another look at his final season at Navy and it starts making considerably more sense.

Heidenreich carried the football 77 times for 499 yards, finishing third on the team in rushing.

Fine.

Now forget the rushing numbers for a second.

Weapon In the Passing Game

Navy completed 106 passes as a team.

Heidenreich caught 51 of them.

Read that again.

One player caught 51 passes. The rest of Navy’s offense combined caught 55.

That changes the conversation.

Heidenreich wasn’t simply another running back competing for the same touches as Warren, Dowdle, Johnson, Nichols and Homer. His college resume suggested something considerably stranger and potentially more useful.

He can line up in the backfield. He can move around. He can catch the football. He can create after the catch. And after spending his college career in Navy’s unconventional offense, carrying the ball isn’t foreign territory either.

That versatility gives Mike McCarthy another piece on the offensive chessboard rather than another version of something he already owns.

There could eventually be a tell attached to it. If Heidenreich enters certain personnel packages, defenses may begin leaning toward pass. Pittsburgh will have to counter that tendency if it develops.

But that’s a problem for later.

First, you have to give defenses something worth identifying.

Heidenreich now has that opportunity.

Sometimes that’s the whole damn scouting report in September.

There is another interesting thread developing within Pittsburgh’s personnel decisions.

Pittsburgh Sticks with Their Own

Donte Kent, another seventh-round selection, has continued earning the organization’s confidence despite dealing with injuries. Corey Trice has experienced his own difficult road while Pittsburgh repeatedly showed patience and belief in his ability.

Late-round players aren’t supposed to receive anything.

They have to make somebody inside the building uncomfortable with the idea of losing them.

Heidenreich apparently reached that point.

What’s interesting is that his personality doesn’t exactly scream roster-bubble desperation.

Asked about balancing the need to flash during preseason games without pressing so hard that mistakes follow, Heidenreich described almost the opposite approach.

“Not making any moment too big or any moment too small,” Heidenreich said. “Just kind of keeping that steady head.”

That’s not a bad mentality for a seventh-round rookie whose NFL existence could seemingly change with every practice rep.

Heidenreich said his routine has become increasingly important, something reinforced both during his final years at Navy and now by Steelers veterans.

“Mentally preparing the right way and doing the same thing, but also taking care of your body,” Heidenreich said. “I have a lot to learn still.”

There was no attempt to pretend otherwise.

That’s where he is.

A rookie figuring out professional football as quickly as professional football demands he figure it out.

Even the physical side produced an amusing moment.

Asked about being viewed as a powerful runner, Heidenreich looked almost surprised by the description. It’s something I’ve overheard coaches complementing Heidenreich on during practice since May.

“That’s kind of a first time,” he said.

He laughed it off before getting to something more revealing.

“I work hard. I feel like I put the time in weight room, on the field try and be as explosive as I can.”

Maybe that’s Heidenreich’s story right now.

We spent August trying to figure out where he fit among Pittsburgh’s running backs.

The Steelers may have kept him because he doesn’t quite fit.

Warren is Warren.

Dowdle is Dowdle.

And sitting behind them is a who caught nearly half of Navy’s completed passes last season while also carrying the football 77 times.

Heidenreich didn’t need to beat those guys at their jobs.

He needed to convince Pittsburgh he could provide a job nobody else in the room could quite do.

Apparently, he did.