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Steelers Rookie Tracker Week 1 Recap: Interviews & Analysis

Bo Marchionte

Host · Writer

10. Eli Heidenreich, Seventh Round Selection
230th Overall Selection
- School: Navy
- Position: Running Back
- Status: ACTIVE
- Stats: 2 kickoff returns, 47 yards
SLEPT LIKE A BABY

Eli Heidenreich figured his first NFL work would come on special teams.

He was right.

The seventh-round pick returned two kickoffs for 47 yards, joining fellow rookie Kaden Wetjen in Pittsburgh’s return game and getting his first NFL contact out of the way immediately.

That first play mattered more than the box score suggested.

“Anytime you’re playing football, I feel like that first play you get out there, it really shakes off the nerves,” Heidenreich said. “We started off the game out there on special teams, me and Kaden, so I think that really helped.”

Heidenreich said there were moments when he allowed himself to absorb what was happening — briefly during pregame and again afterward while looking into the crowd.

Between those moments, there wasn’t much sightseeing.

“Once the game’s actually rolling, you’re locked in out there.”

His offensive role can wait. Week 1 was about establishing himself in the kicking game, exactly where Heidenreich expected his first opportunities to arrive.

“It was all special teams, kind of as I was figuring,” he said. “There’s a lot of things I’ll be able to improve on.”

Two returns. Forty-seven yards.

Not a spectacular beginning.
1. Max Iheanachor, First Round Selection
21st Overall Selection
- School: Arizona State
- Position: Offensive Tackle
- Status: ACTIVE
- Stats: No individual statistics
THE FIRST CALL

Max Iheanachor didn’t know when his first NFL snap would arrive. He did know what to do while waiting for it.

“Just waiting patiently, being on the sideline, more watching our tackles, how they attack different plays, then watching the defenders,” Iheanachor said.

The waiting ended when starting tackle Troy Fautanu briefly exited to be evaluated, sending Pittsburgh’s first-round pick onto the field.

Then came a small detail worth remembering: Pittsburgh passed on Iheanachor’s first NFL play.

For a rookie tackle coming cold off the sideline, that’s hardly hiding him. The Steelers trusted their first-rounder to step directly into the protection rather than insulating him with an immediate run call.

There was also familiarity around him. Iheanachor had already worked alongside different combinations of Pittsburgh’s offensive line during practice.

“We got reps next to each other in practice at some point, so it’s not bright and new when it happens out there,” Iheanachor said.

His debut wasn’t long enough to produce a meaningful body of work. It didn’t need to be.

Fautanu left. Iheanachor’s number was called. Pittsburgh dropped back to pass.

For a first-round tackle getting his first taste of NFL football, that’s a quiet little vote of confidence.
2. Germie Bernard, Second Round Selection
47th Overall Selection
- School: Alabama
- Position: Receiver
- Status: ACTIVE
- Stats: Zero Targets
THREE SNAPS

Germie Bernard’s first regular-season NFL appearance was more cameo than debut.

The Steelers’ second-round receiver entered with 28 seconds remaining in the first quarter and played three offensive snaps. He finished without a target.

His first sequence wasn’t exactly frame-worthy. Bernard lined up with a defender across from him at 6:19 before a delay-of-game penalty wiped out the play. On the next snap, he aligned on the left side before another flag — offensive pass interference — helped kill the possession.

Welcome to the NFL. Now punt.

If Bernard was carrying nerves into his debut, he hid them well. Asked how he slept the night before, his answer came without hesitation.

“I slept wonderful,” Bernard said. “I feel like when you prepare the right way, you’re able to be confident. You’re able to just be at peace.”

Bernard allowed himself to absorb the surroundings before kickoff, searching the stands for his parents. Once the ball was in play, that stopped.

“When the game’s going, I’m locked into the game.”

There wasn’t a catch, target or highlight to carry home from his first Sunday.

Just three snaps.

For Bernard, Week 1 was less about making an entrance than finally crossing the line between waiting for an NFL game and playing in one.
3. Drew Allar, Third Round Selection
76th Overall Selection
- School: Penn State
- Position: Quarterback
- Status: INACTIVE
- Stats: No individual statistics
THE WAIT CONTINUES

Drew Allar’s first NFL regular-season Sunday came without a helmet.

The Steelers made their third-round quarterback inactive, leaving his professional debut on hold for at least another week.

There isn’t much statistical archaeology required here. Allar didn’t dress and therefore never had an opportunity to enter the game.

Still, his status is worth tracking because quarterback development rarely follows the same timeline as the rest of a rookie class. While teammates were collecting their first snaps, tackles and returns, Allar’s Week 1 work remained behind the scenes.

That doesn’t make the afternoon insignificant. It simply makes his rookie story different.
4. Daylen Everette, Third Round Selection
85th Overall Selection
- School: Georgia
- Position: Cornerback
- Status: ACTIVE
- Stats: 1 tackle
There are worse ways to introduce yourself to the NFL.

Daylen Everette stepped onto the field for his first defensive snap and immediately found the football coming his way.

Atlanta handed the ball to Brian Robinson. Everette diagnosed the run, saw where it was headed and came downhill.

“I seen how everything was flowing, seen it was going to bounce,” Everette said. “So I just came down to make the tackle.”

One defensive snap. First NFL tackle.

Later, the rookie cornerback found himself covering Drake London, another reminder that the gradual climb from college football to the NFL disappears quickly once the game starts. The names get bigger. The assignments get harder. The basic rules of playing corner do not change.

Everette admitted there were nerves, but offered a pretty good explanation for why they belonged.

“Nerves are normal if you care about the game,” Everette said. “At the end of the day, it’s still football, which is something I love.”

That might best explain his debut.

There was no dramatic easing-in period. Everette entered, diagnosed a run and made the tackle.

“Yeah, it felt good just because it was my first play in the NFL.”
5. Gennings Dunker, Third Round Pick
96th Overall Selection
- School: Iowa
- Position: Guard
- Status: INACTIVE
- Stats: No individual statistics
SUNDAY IN STREET CLOTHES

Gennings Dunker’s NFL debut will have to wait.

The Steelers’ third-round offensive lineman was inactive for Week 1, making him one of the members of Pittsburgh’s rookie class who did not dress.

There were no snaps to grade, no individual statistics to dissect and no first-play moment to preserve.

For an offensive lineman, that waiting period can be particularly uneventful from the outside. The work happens during the week, while Sunday’s active roster ultimately determines whether a rookie gets the opportunity to put any of it on film.
6. Kaden Wetjen, Fourth Round Selection
121st Overall Selection
- School: Iowa
- Position: Return Specialist/Receiver
- Status: ACTIVE
- Stats: 2 punt returns, 13 yards | 1 kickoff return, 27 yards
SPECIAL DELIVERY

Kaden Wetjen didn’t need an offensive touch to leave Week 1 with the football in his hands.

Pittsburgh’s fourth-round pick made his regular-season debut where his skill set gave him an immediate path onto the field: special teams.

Wetjen returned two punts for 13 yards and added a 27-yard kickoff return, giving him three return opportunities in his first NFL regular-season game.

There were no quotes necessary to dress this one up. The numbers explain his initial role.

Wetjen’s value entering the league was never confined to where he lined up at receiver. His acceleration, open-field ability and return experience offered Pittsburgh another avenue to get him involved while his offensive role develops.

Week 1 showed exactly that.
7. Riley Nowakowski, Fifth Round Selection
169th Overall Selection
- School: Indiana
- Position: Fullback | Tight End
- Status: ACTIVE
- Stats: 1 assisted tackle
THE NEW BATTERING RAM

Riley Nowakowski spent part of the night before his NFL debut doing something thousands of rookies have probably done before him.

Staring at the clock.

“No, a little bit nervous,” Nowakowski said when asked if he slept well. “Just tossing and turning. I looked at my phone, checking time.”

By Sunday, there was no more waiting.

Nowakowski opened on special teams before getting his first offensive snap with 7:37 remaining in the second quarter. Pittsburgh put him at fullback and sent Jaylen Warren behind him, giving the undrafted rookie a lead-blocking assignment on his first NFL offensive play.

Then he came off the field.

One snap.

Significant nonetheless.

Nowakowski received additional fullback work in the second half and finished with an assisted tackle on special teams. He immediately noticed the speed difference in the kicking game.

“Everybody’s a little bit faster, a little quicker,” he said.

His own review wasn’t generous.

“Probably didn’t have my best game ever,” Nowakowski said. “Definitely a lot to improve on.”
8. Gabe Rubio, Sixth Round Selection
210th Overall Selection
- School: Notre Dame
- Position: Defensive Lineman
- Status: INACTIVE
- Stats: No individual statistics
THE CLASSROOM CONTINUES

Gabe Rubio spent his first NFL regular-season Sunday as an inactive.

The sixth-round defensive lineman did not dress, delaying the first game action of a rookie season that has already placed him inside a pretty valuable classroom.

Rubio entered a defensive line room led by Cam Heyward, giving the rookie the benefit of learning his position from one of the most accomplished defensive linemen of his generation.

A sixth-round pick doesn’t arrive with a guaranteed role. The pathway usually comes through development, opportunity and proving capable of handling whatever handful of snaps become available.

So, his first NFL Sunday belongs in the book, but his first NFL play does not.
9. Robert Spears-Jennings, Seventh Round Selection
224th Overall Selection
- School: Oklahoma
- Position: Safety
- Status: ACTIVE
- Stats: 1 special-teams tackle
THE FIRST MARK

Robert Spears-Jennings didn’t have to wait long into his rookie season to put his name on an NFL stat sheet.

With 5:59 remaining in the second quarter, the seventh-round safety recorded his first career tackle on special teams.

It wasn’t an interception, a crushing hit from the secondary or one of those plays destined for a rookie highlight package.

It was something more practical for a seventh-round pick trying to establish himself: production in the phase of the game where young defensive backs often earn their keep.

Spears-Jennings arrived in Pittsburgh with the physical traits and defensive upside that made him intriguing beyond his draft position. But late-round rookies rarely get to skip steps.

Special teams is one of them.

His first NFL regular-season contribution came there.

That single tackle is modest statistically, but it also represents the first tangible return from a rookie whose path to more defensive opportunities can be helped by making himself useful elsewhere.
10. Eli Heidenreich, Seventh Round Selection
230th Overall Selection
- School: Navy
- Position: Running Back
- Status: ACTIVE
- Stats: 2 kickoff returns, 47 yards
SLEPT LIKE A BABY

Eli Heidenreich figured his first NFL work would come on special teams.

He was right.

The seventh-round pick returned two kickoffs for 47 yards, joining fellow rookie Kaden Wetjen in Pittsburgh’s return game and getting his first NFL contact out of the way immediately.

That first play mattered more than the box score suggested.

“Anytime you’re playing football, I feel like that first play you get out there, it really shakes off the nerves,” Heidenreich said. “We started off the game out there on special teams, me and Kaden, so I think that really helped.”

Heidenreich said there were moments when he allowed himself to absorb what was happening — briefly during pregame and again afterward while looking into the crowd.

Between those moments, there wasn’t much sightseeing.

“Once the game’s actually rolling, you’re locked in out there.”

His offensive role can wait. Week 1 was about establishing himself in the kicking game, exactly where Heidenreich expected his first opportunities to arrive.

“It was all special teams, kind of as I was figuring,” he said. “There’s a lot of things I’ll be able to improve on.”

Two returns. Forty-seven yards.

Not a spectacular beginning.
1. Max Iheanachor, First Round Selection
21st Overall Selection
- School: Arizona State
- Position: Offensive Tackle
- Status: ACTIVE
- Stats: No individual statistics
THE FIRST CALL

Max Iheanachor didn’t know when his first NFL snap would arrive. He did know what to do while waiting for it.

“Just waiting patiently, being on the sideline, more watching our tackles, how they attack different plays, then watching the defenders,” Iheanachor said.

The waiting ended when starting tackle Troy Fautanu briefly exited to be evaluated, sending Pittsburgh’s first-round pick onto the field.

Then came a small detail worth remembering: Pittsburgh passed on Iheanachor’s first NFL play.

For a rookie tackle coming cold off the sideline, that’s hardly hiding him. The Steelers trusted their first-rounder to step directly into the protection rather than insulating him with an immediate run call.

There was also familiarity around him. Iheanachor had already worked alongside different combinations of Pittsburgh’s offensive line during practice.

“We got reps next to each other in practice at some point, so it’s not bright and new when it happens out there,” Iheanachor said.

His debut wasn’t long enough to produce a meaningful body of work. It didn’t need to be.

Fautanu left. Iheanachor’s number was called. Pittsburgh dropped back to pass.

For a first-round tackle getting his first taste of NFL football, that’s a quiet little vote of confidence.

Steelers Rookie Tracker Week 1 Recap: Interviews & Analysis

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