Football
Pittsburgh Steelers first-round OT Max Iheanachor is still raw, but his flashes are hard to ignore. Despite picking up football just five years ago, he allowed only two sacks across 31 college starts. That includes holding No. 2 overall pick David Bailey to zero sacks, a matchup that shows the clearest views of Iheanachor’s potential.
Before diving into his matchup with Bailey, it’s worth revisiting his only other college test against a first-round-caliber pass rusher. In 2024, he faced No. 23 overall pick Malachi Lawrence (UCF) and didn’t allow a single sack or pressure.
Max Iheanachor vs. Malachi Lawrence (2024)
“The biggest thing when you watch linemen play, you wanna see them strike and stick,” Mike McCarthy said in his press conference after the pick. “And with that, the balance and the footwork. His ability to stay alive on second or third reaction when he does engage, I think it’s all over the video.”
He put all of those traits on display.
Here he is striking and sticking to Lawrence with great punch placement and latch strength. His anchor holds up much better when he succeeds with his hands.
In terms of footwork, look how smoothly he mirrors and changes direction. Eventually, Lawrence got free, but he wasn’t a threat until eight seconds into the play. Some players sacrifice their base with narrow feet while changing direction, but Iheanachor glides back and forth with his feet evenly spaced.
Lawrence tried to cross his face here, and Iheanachor made quick work of him with quick feet and a strong latch to channel him inside to help.
Iheanachor sometimes waits too long to shoot his hands, resulting in poor punch placement. This wasn’t a terrible rep, but his punch landed wide, and Lawrence was able to chop down the outside punch to create a path into the backfield.
He also played well against Lawrence in the run game, initiating first contact and driving his inside arm to steer him out of the hole. He isn’t a road grader, but he can definitely win with good technique.
Max Iheanachor vs. David Bailey (2025)
Bailey was a bigger challenge for Iheanachor. He surrendered two pressures, but that’s to be expected against the No. 2 overall pick. Bailey had a whopping 14.5 sacks and 19.5 TFL last season as a consensus All-American.
Bailey’s rare blend of speed, power, and hand technique is a lot to deal with, but Iheanachor’s patience paid off several times in the matchup. A late punch isn’t always ideal, but it prevented Bailey from swiping away his punches and winning early on multiple occasions.
It even resulted in Bailey face-planting into the grass once as he misread Iheanachor’s patience and whiffed on his punch entirely.
Where that can backfire is failing to make first contact, giving up his chest, and rapidly getting pushed into the pocket.
Here is one of the pressures that Iheanachor surrendered. He’ll get plenty of work against this move in practice against T.J. Watt and Nick Herbig. The key is winning with the inside arm rather than exposing the outside arm to a swipe.
This isn’t a perfect rep, but it shows off a lot of what Iheanachor does well. He exploded out of his stance with quick feet to win the angle battle, absorbed a long arm while delivering one of his own, and kept a wide base with even footwork to mirror. It forced the QB to step up, but that’s normally fine when there isn’t immediate interior pressure.
I compared him to Broderick Jones in my full scouting report, but pro comps are never an exact science. They are both sometimes late to the punch, but Iheanachor’s method seems more calculated to avoid counters. When he commits to shooting his hands, it already looks much better than the other former Steelers first-rounder. Hopefully, these clips against top competition help ease anxiety surrounding the pick.
Iheanachor more than held his own against both matchups. The next step is consistency, particularly with his punch timing and first contact. If he can clean that up, he has a legitimate path to early playing time, even if he opens the year outside the starting lineup.
Read More Ross McCorkle