Steelers draft Jonnu Smith replacement: How Indiana's Riley Nowakowski solves need in TE depth chart

The Pittsburgh Steelers released Jonnu Smith this offseason, but they didn't leave his TE depth chart spot open for long.

With the 170th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, they chose Indiana national champion Riley Nowakowski.

The pick was announced by Michael Keaton:

It also fits in a great way.

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How Riley Nowakowski fits Steelers' TE depth chart

Pittsburgh still has Darnell Washington and Pat Freiermuth.

Nowakowski is different, though. He fits the Jonnu role.

Jonnu was used all over the field for the Steelers in 2025.

At Indiana, en route to a national championship, Nowakowski did similar things.

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He didn't catch a ton of passes, although he was great after the catch and did what it took to win games.

He can do a lot of what Jonnu Smith did.

Now, the Steelers will see how Nowakowski's game translates to the NFL.

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