The Pittsburgh Steelers added one of the better guards in football when they signed Isaac Seumalo this offseason, and the signing is already paying dividends with Seumalo as a leader. Fellow OG James Daniels talked to reporters about how Seumalo has helped him out, even before they were teammates.
“It’s really good to just talk to him, just pick his brain on how he sees things,” Daniels said via the 93.7 The Fan Training Camp podcast. “Some of those Eagles o-lines, 2018, 2019, personally those are probably some of the best o-line’s I’ve seen on film since I’ve been here. I watched Isaac’s film when I was a young player.”
Daniels also said Seumalo is vocal on the field
“He’s really good. He talks so much on the football field,” Daniels said, with particular praise for how Seumalo explains to Daniels what he’s seeing when he makes calls with pressure or between plays.
Seumalo was arguably the best free agent guard available, and it was honestly a bit of a surprise when he signed in Pittsburgh. But he comes over from the Eagles where he was a member of a lot of very good offensive lines, and he immediately became the most experienced member of Pittsburgh’s offense.
He’s using that experience to help teach the rest of the o-line, including Daniels who was Pittsburgh’s best offensive lineman last year after coming over via free agency from the Chicago Bears. Pittsburgh’s line is pretty young despite a decent amount of NFL experience, but nobody’s been with a group as good as Seumalo has with the Eagles’ O-line.
He can bring a lot of what he learned in Philadelphia to the room in Pittsburgh, and coupled with his play on the field, he’ll be a major catalyst for the improvement of the Steelers’ line. If Pittsburgh’s line improves as it should, that’ll open the door up for a lot more offensive success. When the line got going in the second half of the year last year, the Steelers offense was a lot better and it correlated to a 7-2 record after their bye week.
As a whole, the offense should be better, and the offensive line improvement can drive that. The run game will be better, Kenny Pickett will have more time to throw, and Pittsburgh can control possession and wear teams out. It’s going to be a good group to watch this season, and it’s success could help pave the way for a successful season in Pittsburgh.
