{"id":889003,"date":"2026-06-24T07:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/889003\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T07:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:51:20","slug":"greg-cosell-sees-immediate-roles-for-pair-of-steelers-rookies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/889003\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Cosell Sees Immediate Roles For Pair Of Steelers Rookies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout a busy offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers placed a significant emphasis on upgrading the offensive side of the football<\/a>, adding a number of new players to help fit new head coach Mike McCarthy\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n

Veterans like wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., Rico Dowdle, and Brock Hoffman were acquired to shore up areas of need, along with the return of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who reunites with McCarthy.<\/p>\n

While those veterans will have key roles in 2026, longtime NFL analyst Greg Cosell believes a pair of rookies will make big contributions to McCarthy\u2019s offense this season.<\/p>\n

Appearing on the latest episode of the Ross Tucker Podcast, Cosell spoke highly of two young offensive pieces in wide receiver Germie Bernard and running back\/wide receiver Eli Heidenreich.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like Bernard a lot. I think he\u2019s just one of those guys that\u2019s gonna be a good pro. And when I say that, do I mean, he\u2019s gonna catch 80 balls for 1,200 yards? No, but I think he\u2019s a really good player,\u201d Cosell said, according to video ia the show\u2019s YouTube page.<\/a> \u201cHe\u2019s physical, he\u2019s competitive. I wouldn\u2019t say he has a lot of juice, but he\u2019s got a little more than you think. So I really, really like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to like with Bernard. He was considered one of most complete receivers in the 2026 draft, and while he doesn\u2019t have any flashy traits that makes him stand out among the rest of the receivers, he\u2019s just a rock-solid player.<\/p>\n

Bernard is a great route runner, has good hands, plays a physical brand of football and will block his tail off. That all aligns with what the Steelers tend to look for in a receiver, and now they\u2019ll have that in abundance behind DK Metcalf and Pittman.<\/p>\n

He still has to beat out Roman Wilson for the WR3 role, but the Steelers\u2019 receiver room looks much better right now than it has in recent years, and Bernard is a big part of that. He should have a sizable role as a rookie, even with a quarterback in Rodgers who notoriously has little patience with young pass catchers.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s Heidenreich, who has multi-positional versatility and is a popular name ahead of training camp due to his story, and his ability to make plays while wearing multiple hats.<\/p>\n

The question is if he\u2019ll even make the 53-man roster, but Cosell believes he will.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s gonna play, \u2019cause he can do a lot of things for you,\u201d Cosell said of Heidenreich. \u201cHe\u2019s big, he\u2019s physical, he\u2019s a movable chess piece. Again, he may play 18 snaps a game, but I think there\u2019s going to be a place for him in the context of his offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after the Steelers drafted Heidenreich, McCarthy opened some eyes by stating they would open up the playbook for the versatile weapon. What that means remains to be seen, but he\u2019s going to get a real chance to grab a roster spot.<\/p>\n

He is Navy\u2019s all-time leading receiver, and he ran for more than 1,000 yards in his career, too. Heidenreich can handle a role on special teams,<\/a> too, making him a very intriguing bottom-of-the-roster option in Pittsburgh, one who could see a role offensively under McCarthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout a busy offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers placed a significant emphasis on upgrading the offensive side of the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":889004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[39],"tags":[310578,2788,360522,1232,1545,360523,62,939,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-889003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-eli-heidenreich","tag-germie-bernard","tag-greg-cosell","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-ross-tucker-podcast","tag-sports","tag-trending","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116803999624848302","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}