NFL Looking Into Steelers' Makai Lemon Call During 2026 NFL Draft: Report

It’s been a rough offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Steelers general manager Omar Khan is still waiting for four-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, 42, to make his final call on whether to return to Pittsburgh next season. In the meantime, Khan made a call to USC wide receiver Makai Lemon during the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night. The Steelers came up empty-handed there, too.

The Steelers intended to draft Lemon with the 21st overall pick, but the Philadelphia Eagles swooped in by trading with the Dallas Cowboys to move into the 20th overall pick to select Lemon before the Steelers could. In this video, Lemon is on the phone with Khan while his inner circle jumps around and celebrates. Then, Lemon asks, “Hey, why is Philly calling me?” His agent rushes in to inform him that the Eagles just traded for him.

Luckily for us, the NFL Network caught it all on camera.

Unluckily for the Steelers, potentially, the NFL Network caught it all on camera.

Former Eagles executive Jake Rosenberg reposted the Lemon video alongside a copy-and-paste of an NFL rule that basically states only teams that are officially “on the clock” are permitted to “have discussions with the representative of one or more draft-eligible players not yet selected (or discussion with the players themselves).”

Obviously, the Steelers were not yet “on the clock” at No. 21 overall if the Eagles moved up to No. 20 and stole Lemon from under Pittsburgh’s nose.

ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio looked into the matter. After making some calls himself, he reported that a league source told him, “The league reviews all aspects of the Draft the week after its conclusion,” including Khan’s call to Lemon.

For those who don’t know, the Steelers ended up pivoting and drafting Arizona State offensive tackle Max Iheanachor 21st overall. The Lemon whiff aside, the biggest news to come out of the Steelers’ draft was selecting Penn State quarterback Drew Allar in the third round. See the full draft class here.

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This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 5:18 PM.