There are infants old enough to remember when the Steelers were a model NFL organization.
But it’s been a rough last 12 months, made infinitely worse Thursday night by general manager Omar Khan, who embarrassingly was on the phone with receiver Makai Lemon, telling him that he would be their first-round pick (No. 21) when another line rang in Lemon’s camp.
The Eagles traded up from No. 23 to No. 20 to pick Lemon and make the Steelers pay for a cardinal sin: Calling before you are on the clock.
“Hey, why is Philly calling?” Lemon asked Khan.
A voice identified by ESPN as belonging to Lemon’s agent said, ‘This is Philly. They just traded for you. Philly’s picking you right now.”
The Steelers, who were hosting the draft for a record crowd of 320,000 fans, pivoted to reach for offensive tackle Max Iheanachor and then Khan and head coach Mike McCarthy tried to feign like that was the plan the whole time.
“We feel really great that he was still there when we were picking,” Khan said. “You trust your board. The way it shook out, it brought us to the position. It was the right pick for us.”
Khan said that he had opportunities to trade up and trade down but “didn’t want to move away from” Iheanachor. Riiiight.
“All those things that happen around us affect the conversations,” a shrugging Khan said. “That’s just the draft.”
The draft blunder comes as the Steelers are being held captive by free-agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ retirement consideration for the second consecutive offseason, with seemingly no viable Plan B.
And after steady hand Mike Tomlin surprisingly resigned in January, leaving the Steelers to conduct a coaching search for just the fourth time since 1969 and break their mold of young defensive-minded assistants to hire the 62-year-old third-timer and Pittsburgh native McCarthy.
Here are other winners and losers of the first round:
Brissett would have lost some leverage in his contract holdout from voluntary workouts if the Cardinals wound up drafting quarterback Ty Simpson.
But, with Brissett’s job security increasing after the Rams took Simpson, he should get his raise from $9.19 million, including only $1.5 million guaranteed. No other quarterback in this class poses any immediate threat to start over Brissett.
Could the head coach have sounded any less enthusiastic about the Simpson pick?
What a strange choice by general manager Les Snead to not have one of the NFL’s top quarterback gurus – and an annual threat to retire early – even meet MVP Matthew Stafford’s successor before choosing him at No. 13.
You wonder if McVay wanted a win-now piece for the Super Bowl contenders.
The two worst records in the NFL since 2017 belong to the Jets (44-105) and Giants (44-104-1).
Well, the Giants landed two of their top-five players in linebacker Arvell Reese and offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa and the Jets improved their pass rush with David Bailey while getting two dynamic pass-catchers to take some of the pressure off of Garrett Wilson (Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper Jr.).
Both teams had two top-10 picks in 2022 and didn’t turn around their miserable fortunes. Maybe it’s different this time.
In the conversation to be picked as early as No. 4, Bain slipped to No. 15 to the Buccaneers.
Maybe it was his historically short arms. Maybe it was the recent revelation that he was involved in a fatal car accident while in college.
There’s a $27 million difference in being pick No. 4 and No. 15.
Everyone knew that the Cowboys needed to target defense with both of their first-round picks.
They managed to do it, drafting maybe the class’ best overall defensive prospect (Caleb Downs) at No. 12 because of safety devaluation and trade two fifth-rounders to move up one spot while getting two fourth-rounders to move back three spots.
Oh, and receiver George Pickens signed his franchise tag to end a holdout threat.
Imagine staying up until nearly 11 p.m. only to see your team trade down three times and not make a first-round pick.
One of those deals was with the rival Patriots, who selected offensive tackle Caleb Lomu at No. 28.
That can’t work out as poorly as trading No. 10 to the Chiefs in 2017 and birthing Patrick Mahomes as a Bills-killer, right?
The game plan was simple: Use two first-round picks to get an offensive lineman and a receiver in either order.
Mission accomplished with right tackle Spencer Fano (No. 9) and receiver KC Concepcion (No. 24). And the Browns added a third-rounder and a fifth-rounder in the process by trading down from No. 6.
Not only did the Vikings make the biggest reach to take defensive tackle Caleb Banks at No. 18 (he was No. 56 on The Post’s Big Board), but they drafted someone who said the quarterback that he wants to hit the most is J.J. McCarthy.
Watch out in practice!
— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) April 24, 2026#Vikings DL Caleb Banks when asked which QB he wants to hit the most in the NFL back in March, said JJ McCarthy:
“I’m definitely gonna have to come hit him for sure.” pic.twitter.com/XvbELAGped
For the first time in NFL history, the only two first-round running backs (Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price) played for the same school.
The last time running-back teammates were first-round picks (with other backs) was in 2008 (Arkansas’ Darren McFadden and Felix Jones).
Love’s Cardinals will face Price’s Seahawks twice per year.
You won’t find many pre-draft media rankings that didn’t list either Jermod McCoy or Colton Hood as the No. 2 cornerback. No. 2 and No. 3 (in either order) was the consensus for the college teammates.
And yet neither was drafted, with Chris Johnson (No. 27 to the Dolphins) as the surprise No. 2 cornerback.
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