What Mike DeFabo Has Found Most ‘Impressive’ In Max Iheanachor’s Rapid Ascent

There have been a few standouts in training camp so far, but the most notable and meaningful one is rookie offensive tackle Max Iheanachor. The Steelers’ first-round draft pick, he has come to life since the team put the pads on. Referring to earlier days as “playing in pajamas”, he has taken his game to another level this week. While he has to continue that, he looks to be on the fast track to starting.

“For the most part, I have only good things to say about Max Iheanachor”, Mike DeFabo said on The Yinziders podcast. He said that he had waited for him to hit his “welcome to the NFL moment”, but he hasn’t had any. Encouraged by what he has seen, he compared Iheanachor’s early practices favorably to that of Broderick Jones, a fellow former first-round offensive tackle.

There was one element of the past two practices in particular that stood out to DeFabo, though. While Iheanachor has put in good work against all of the Steelers’ pass rushers, DeFabo finds how he has fared against their best speed rusher the most significant.

“Nick Herbig is maybe one of the bigger ones that I think shows what Max Iheanachor brings”, DeFabo said. “One of the reasons why he even started playing football is because his lower-body movement and his athleticism and his lateral agility is just so different for a guy of that size and of that stature. Against a speed rusher like Nick Herbig, his ability to push him wide and get the proper leverage on him and use his length, I think that was impressive”.

The Steelers have invested three first-round draft picks in the tackle position since 2023. Broderick Jones was the first, but he appears to be on the outs. Troy Fautanu is cemented as their left tackle, but Max Iheanachor could be the first of the three to start on opening day of their rookie season. A caveat, though, as it appears Fautanu would have in 2024 had he been healthy. He started in Week 2, over Jones, only to suffer a season-ending injury.

The “knock” on Max Iheanachor, such that there is one, is that many worry about his lack of football background. He only began playing the game at the college level, but he did log a decent amount of playing time while there.

While he evidently looked more like a rookie during the four-day acclimation period, Iheanachor pretty clearly took a step forward once the pads came on. Now he has to continue to stack good days, and especially do it in the preseason.

If it’s not Iheanachor, the Steelers’ opening-day starting right tackle will likely be Dylan Cook. Cook filled in at left tackle following Broderick Jones’ season-ending injury toward the end of last year. Thus far, he has been running with the starters and is listed on the first-team unit on the first depth chart of training camp. But we’ll see what that depth chart looks like a month from now.