Pittsburgh Steelers rookie C Zach Frazier had a lot of expectations on him coming into the season. The Steelers have a grand history of high-quality centers. Both Dermontti Dawson and Mike Webster are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Then there was Maurkice Pouncey, nine-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro.
So Frazier had a lot to live up to, and he started the season off with a bang. TE Pat Freiermuth praised him after the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons for the number of pancake blocks he had. And Frazier really hasn’t let up.
“He might be the best offensive lineman right now on this line,” said former Steelers DL Chris Hoke on KDKA Nightly Sports Call on Sunday. “I think Dan Moore Jr. is playing at a high level and James Daniels is playing really, really well. The reality is, this guy is a football player. He’s a physical, low-center-of-gravity kind of guy. He’ll get on you and he finishes you. Go back and watch the film of this game and you’ll see how many times he’s driving guys 7, 8, 9, 10 yards down the field and the guy gets tackled for a 2-yard gain. He does his job. He’s nasty. He’s a Steelers type of player. I’m excited for his future.”
When the Steelers took on the Chargers on Sunday, it was a big-time matchup. The Chargers had the best scoring defense in the league while the Steelers had the second-best. So Frazier and the offensive line had their work cut out for them. Yet Frazier was up to the task, only allowing one pressure on 35 pass-blocking snaps.
Under offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, the Steelers want to establish the run. And Frazier was a big part of that in Week 2 against the Denver Broncos. His strength shows up on tape over and over again whether anchoring in the passing game or driving defenders out of the way in the run game.
No one is surprised if they watched Frazier play at West Virginia in college. Alex Kozora broke down Frazier’s film for Steelers Depot prior to the draft, and he saw the strength, physicality, and mentality all over the place. He summed Frazier up like this: “If you’re looking for physical, nasty, and old-school, Zach Frazier is your kind of guy.” That sounds like the quintessential Steelers lineman. And so far, that’s exactly what Frazier has been.
Now, the Steelers’ run game hasn’t been explosive yet, only averaging 3.6 yards per attempt. But Frazier is doing his part to help keep it afloat. And in terms of the passing game, Justin Fields is in line for taking the fewest sacks in a season of his career. He’s being sacked at his lowest rate in his career on 7.41 percent of his dropbacks. He’s never been below 10 percent.
And Frazier only has three games under his belt in the NFL.
