Whether by the start of the season or the end, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line is expected to look at least 80 percent different than it did just two years ago. Whether rookie first-round tackle Broderick Jones starts right away is up in the air, but free agent left guard Isaac Seumalo certainly will.
And they join an interior that already features two free agents acquired in 2022 in center Mason Cole and right guard James Daniels. According to quarterback Kenny Pickett, though, it’s Cole who is the nucleus of the group.
“Mason’s definitely the leader of the room”, he told defensive lineman Cameron Heyward on his Not Just Football podcast. “It kind of branches out from him, him being the center, with some of the Mike points and stuff like that that we’re doing”.
“He’s just another veteran guy that’s played a lot of football. Really smart, knows the game”, he added of the sixth-year veteran, who now has 56 career starts under his belt. “I think he’s one of the more underrated players on our team with how talented he is, too. He’s a guy that I love having up front”.
And the love is a two-way street. Cole has been highly complimentary of the young quarterback throughout his journey thus far, well before he was in the starting lineup to the end of last season when he called Pickett a “special talent”.
A third-round draft pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2018, Cole has had inconsistent opportunities. He started every game as a rookie due to injury before the team acquired a Pro Bowl center a year later, then moved back into the starting lineup. After being traded to the Minnesota Vikings in 2021, he found himself behind a first-round pick, but ended up starting seven games, including at guard, due to injury.
In spite of his spotty starting history—he had 39 starts in his first four seasons—the Steelers saw enough in what he did on the field to believe he could be their starting center. And they plugged him in right away, starting all 17 games, missing only a few dozen in-game snaps due to injury.
There has been some external debate about what his role might be this year based on the Steelers’ personnel moves this offseason, some believing they might move Daniels to center and plug Nate Herbig in at guard, making Cole a backup instead.
If you listen to any of his coaches or teammates talk about him, however, the story is very clear: he is a part of the nucleus not just of the offensive line, but of the offense, and of the team as a whole. He is a hub of communication not just on the field and in the locker room, but also outside of the locker room with the media.
And as Pickett believes, he’s a better, more talented player than he is often given credit for. He did play better last season when he wasn’t dealing with a variety of injuries. Now sandwiched between Seumalo and Daniels and hopefully avoiding injuries, in his second year in this offense, he should be primed for the best season of his career.
