news-engine

Dylan Cook last season graded out as the NFL’s fifth-best left tackle over the five-week span in which he was the starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has spent the entire spring and summer taking first-team reps, and the team depth chart lists Cook as the starter at right tackle. Not bad for a former junior-college quarterback who was approaching his 28th birthday before he even appeared in an NFL regular-season game. Yet neither his acclaimed late-season run protecting Aaron Rodgers’ blind side nor his steady status with the starters this preseason has compelled Cook to stay satisfied. “There’s definitely some validation,” Cook said after Tuesday’s practice at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, “but still a lot to prove. Small sample size. I only played five games last year. Still have got a lot to prove. We’ll see how this year turns out.” Part of how this year turns out will be shaped as soon as Thursday evening, when the Steelers conclude their preseason at the Buffalo Bills. There’s no reason to believe Cook won’t start that game at right tackle, the spot he has held virtually throughout all of organized team activities, minicamp, training camp and the preseason. But Cook is savvy enough to know that doesn’t guarantee he’ll hold that starting spot when the regular season opens Sept. 13. After all, the Steelers spent their first-round draft choice on a tackle. And that tackle, Max Iheanachor, was impressing everyone after the pads came on at training camp until he suffered an apparent neck/shoulder injury. Iheanachor returned to full practice this week, encouraging the staff enough that coach Mike McCarthy did not rule out Iheanachor playing Thursday. “I hope so,” McCarthy said Tuesday. “Just being out as long as even he was (Monday), he had some very impressive snaps.” Speaking before Tuesday’s practice, McCarthy expected Iheanachor to take on a “big workload” during what was the final padded practice of the preseason. “He’s definitely progressing,” McCarthy said of Iheanachor. “We’d all love to see him play Thursday night, and hopefully we take a big step today towards that.” Cook confirmed there were periods during Tuesday’s practice in which Cook was at left tackle and Iheanachor on the right side. That is in line with what had been happening at times at Saint Vincent when Iheanachor was healthy. But it also cannot be read into all that much under the regime of McCarthy, the first-year Steelers coach who likes to shuffle first-team reps around — at all positions, but among his offensive linemen in particular. “I just look at it as fighting for a spot,” Cook said. “Every year I feel like I’ve been fighting for a spot, so the mentality’s been the same every year.” Cook has had a prove-it mentality seemingly annually since he suffered a broken collarbone the first game of his senior year of high school in Butte, Mont. A two-year stint as a quarterback at NAIA Montana State-Northern Lights followed, then Cook walked on at the University of Montana and began a transition to offensive tackle. Getting cut a year after joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2022 didn’t deter him — and neither did missing all of the 2024 season because of a foot injury. Cook then spent the first 14 weeks of last season on the Steelers practice squad and eventually stepped in as the team’s fourth left tackle of 2025. Once he took over late in a win at the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 7, Cook stabilized the position for the Steelers. His 77.4 Pro Football Focus grade was the best for any Steelers tackle last season. Only four left tackles from the date of Cook’s first of five starts to close the season (including playoffs) had a better PFF grade. Management and the new coaching staff recognized that by way of Cook’s spring/summer first-team status. But Cook recognizes Iheanachor’s immense talent, and Cook also knows he must continue to perform well to hold Iheanachor off to be the starter in the opener against the Atlanta Falcons. “Yeah, I mean, I just wanna help the team win, but obviously that’d be awesome,” Cook said. “That’s definitely the motivation, that’s the main goal. But if that ain’t the case, whatever I can do to help the team win games is what I’ll do.”