PITTSBURGH — Michael Pittman Jr. picked a name on Wednesday, and it was one the Steelers may be tempted to remember when they are on the clock in the 2026 NFL Draft. If Pittsburgh chooses a receiver, Pittman said he hopes it will be Makai Lemon.
“I’m hoping that if we do draft one, that it’s going to be him,” Pittman said at the 2026 Toyota NFL Draft Flag Football Training Camp at the Ellis School in Pittsburgh. The veteran wideout hosted the camp alongside draft prospects Ty Simpson and Jordyn Tyson, and he also spoke highly of Tyson during the event.
The comment landed because Pittsburgh’s biggest hole heading into the draft is wide receiver, even after an offseason that left the roster in better shape elsewhere. The Steelers addressed cornerback by adding Jamel Dean in free agency, gave the running back room more depth with Rico Dowdle and made several low-cost additions at safety and along the defensive line. By the time the draft arrives, the team enters with no glaring holes — except the need for youth at receiver.
That need matters because Pittman and DK Metcalf are the two veteran wide receivers mentioned in the Steelers’ current setup, and both are nearing 30. The team’s search is not just for another body. It is for a player who can fit the next stage of the position group, not simply the present one.
Lemon, a USC receiver, arrives in that conversation with more than a reputation. He won the Biletnikoff Award as college football’s top pass-catcher, which makes him one of the more polished names likely to come up when teams sort through the position. Pittman’s endorsement gives that possibility a little more force, even if it was delivered in the loose setting of a flag football camp.
The Steelers’ move for Pittman came earlier this year, when they traded a sixth-round pick to Indianapolis for him and a seventh-round pick. That deal gave Pittsburgh another proven receiver. What it did not do was settle the long-term picture at the position, and that is why Pittman’s reaction on Wednesday carried more weight than a simple compliment at a youth camp.
If the Steelers do use the draft to address receiver, they may be looking for exactly the kind of player Pittman had in mind: young, productive and ready to grow into a room that still needs a future beyond the veterans already in it.