Making a 53-man roster in the NFL is a tough task, especially for a seventh-round pick. It’s a long, challenging road, and the odds are stacked against you.
So, the more you can do for a football team, the better.
Pittsburgh Steelers rookie running back and wide receiver Eli Heidenreich has the advantage of being a multi-positional guy thanks to his dual-threat abilities on offense, giving him a leg up when it comes to looks from the coaching staff.
He’s earned plenty of praise so far this offseason from first-year head coach Mike McCarthy, and new special teams coordinator Danny Crossman stated during Organized Team Activities that Heidenreich will get a lot of looks on special teams.
Fortunately for Heidenreich, he brings a great deal of special teams experience from his time at Navy.
Heidenreich played 234 snaps on special teams at Navy, including 62 snaps on kick return and 61 snaps on punt return. He also returned nine punts in college, giving him that experience. For David Cole, who was Heidenreich’s position coach at Navy, there’s one clear trait Heidenreich has that will help him stand out on special teams when called upon.
Grit.
“Wow, man, he’s just a gritty guy. Playing on special teams is all about effort, and his effort is elite,” Cole said in an interview with Steelers Depot. “He was our punt returner in 2024, and we kind of took those duties away from him just to kind of scale back on how many miles we were putting on his legs. But he was a really good punt returner the first day he came back there. I worked with him a little bit, and he just was natural at it. Could judge the ball, could see it off the toe, could see the nose, could see the way it was diving.
“He was fearless going up in there, catching the ball as well, too. And obviously, he was one of our starting gunners on the punt team, and he did a phenomenal job there, just being relentless.”
Special teams is all about effort and having the right mindset. While he was a star offensively for the Midshipmen in 2024 and 2025, Eli Heidenreich willingly stepped into the fray on special teams and did whatever his team needed him to do to help win games.
When he wasn’t lighting up defenses as a runner or a receiver, setting Navy’s all-time receiving record during his career, Heidenreich was running down the field on kick and punt coverage, making tackles and throwing his body around for the betterment of the team.
Now in Pittsburgh without a true position offensively and facing an uphill climb, Heidenreich will have to tap into his Navy roots from a special-teams perspective to try to earn a spot on the 53-man roster. He’ll have to show those special teams abilities in the preseason, too, on top of trying to make plays offensively.
It can be tiring, but Heidenreich has experience doing it.
“You gotta think, too, that’s coming off of offense as well too, so, to be able to do that, running so many plays on offense and being one of the main targets on offense and you gotta go down there and be one of the first three guys down there to stop the punt returner, that shows a testament to his mental toughness,” Cole added of Heidenreich. “Just his grit, his passion for the game. He was on kickoff his first two years here before I got here, and he was one of the top performers on kickoff as well, too.
“So, just his grit, his passion, his love for the game, him understanding that that’s how he was going to make the bus his first two years, I think he understands that.”
Heidenreich has said and done all the right things since being drafted by the Steelers. He’s quick to point out he’s a football player first, rather than having a true, defined position. He’s willing to do whatever is asked of him, especially on special teams.
That’s his path forward, and what could give him an advantage over someone like second-year pro Kaleb Johnson in the running backs room. When it comes to that position battle, special teams will be the ultimate separator.
Eli Heidenreich will have to tap into his grit to give him a chance in the NFL.
