PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was a perfect ending to a perfect Pittsburgh draft, Naval Academy star and Mt. Lebanon native Eli Heidenreich selected by the Steelers Saturday while he sat in the NFL Draft Green Room, where two days earlier the greatest players of 2026 hung out.
After an emotional moment with family and friends and an NFL Network camera, Heidenreich was on his own, with the videographer, to make a couple hundred foot walk down a walkway with logos of all the NFL teams hanging on each side. He touched the Steelers logo made out of steel by a local artist as he emerged to the stage.
He describes what he saw.
“It was pretty incredible,” Heidenreich said to reporters at the UPMC Rooney facility on the South Side. “I think the biggest thing is that I turned that corner and you see the city skyline in the background and the crowd is 90% black and gold. It’s all Steelers fans out there. It was such a cool moment, everything came together. I was pretty overwhelmed with emotions.”
His first Steelers memory was Super Bowl XLIII when the Steelers beat Arizona and James Harrison’s 100-yard interception return for a touchdown. It made such an impression on him he asked his dad for a Harrison jersey, which he did get later that summer.
Now he will wear that same team jersey.
“I think leading up to the Draft there is always some buzz going around, especially from your agent,” Heidenreich said. “He’s hearing things from different teams, but I think that buzz was probably the loudest from the Steelers. I definitely had some sort of inkling coming into the draft that the Steelers were interested. Time started ticking down at the end and I saw they had one more pick. I was hoping, back of my mind I was like ‘come on’. Then the call came through and it was pretty cool.”
The Navy star said it hasn’t hit him yet that all this has happened. He thinks maybe after a sleep, he’ll wake up Sunday morning and realize ‘I’m a Pittsburgh Steeler now’.
This isn’t a ceremonial decision, Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy said he has plans for one of the best offensive players in recent Navy history.
Steelers select Eli Heidenreich in 7th round
“You are getting a football player,” Heidenreich said. “On offense, I can do a lot of different things, it’s something I’ve been doing for eight years now (high school and college).”
That includes playing on all four special teams unit. He says he attacks the game with a Steelers mentality of toughness and grit. And it will only be about training and learning playbooks for the first time in his life.
“I think the biggest thing that I’m looking forward to is devoting 100% of my time to football,” Heidenreich said. “The last four years I’ve had this juggling match of military, academics and football and having time for everything. This is the first time I’ll really have all of my time to dedicate to football.”
Heidenrich will graduate from the Naval Academy on May 22 and be commissioned into the US Marine Corps reserves. But he will be at all of the practices and games as long as he’s in the NFL. He said he may have to do some public service work for the military and after his career he will have the chance to serve in an active role.
Saturday night it was about the present. Spending time with family, friends and 20 of his Navy teammates who drove up for the weekend to celebrate a rare accomplishment.
Heidenreich said the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh is making people realize ‘this city rocks’. So do some of its residents.
LISTEN to what Eli Heidenreich said about being drafted by the Steelers
LISTEN to what Eli Heidenreich said about being drafted by the Steelers
