With their final pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers aimed for a Swiss Army knife for offensive line coach Pat Meyer to take under his wing and mold.
So far in training camp and in his preseason debut, Spencer Anderson is exactly what the Steelers were hoping for.
An experienced four-year offensive lineman at Maryland, Anderson is leaning on his versatility to make a case for a 53-man roster spot in Pittsburgh as a rookie.
Anderson played all five positions throughout his college career along the offensive line, starting multiple games at each position. Though he went through the pre-draft process as a center, that versatility was very enticing for NFL teams, ultimately landing him with the Steelers as a seventh-round pick.
In his NFL debut with the Steelers last Friday night at Raymond James Stadium against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Anderson saw 37 snaps in the preseason opener, playing left guard, right guard and right tackle. Anderson didn’t receive his first offensive snaps until late in the second quarter and those came at the right guard position. Right guard was his primary position last season at Maryland. Against Tampa Bay, Anderson played his first two offensive series at right guard, totaling 13 snaps.
After his debut at right guard, Anderson slid out to right tackle for seven snaps, a position he played more than 1,100 snaps at in college.
He continued to move around after that, playing left guard for the entire fourth quarter, registering 17 snaps on five series at the position. Left guard was a position Anderson barely played in college, registering less than 50 snaps there.
Of the 37 snaps, 22 were pass plays with the other 15 being runs. The rookie offensive lineman did not allow any sacks, hits or hurries on the night, and his Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade was 84.6, the best of anyone on the team. His run blocking grade, however, was just 46.1, one of the worst on the team. His overall initial PFF grade from the Steelers’ 27-17 win is listed as 56.7.
Overall, it was a solid debut for Anderson, who looked much better in pas protection than in the run game. Based on his versatility and some of the attention he’s generating at this point, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some of Anderson’s film from the preseason opener.
Let’s take a look.
In the second quarter against the Buccaneers, Anderson got into the game at right guard. One of his first reps was in pass protection, and Anderson did quite well.
On Mason Rudolph’s strike to tight end Connor Heyward up the seam, Anderson did a great job of sealing the edge against the defensive tackle. Really nice job overall from Anderson of staying patient with his initial punch using his footwork to get into position. Sealing the edge and punching, he runs the defensive tackle up the field for the win, creating a clean pocket for Rudolph to deliver the strike downfield.
Later on the same drive, Anderson showed a little fire and physicality in pass protection. Remember, pass protection doesn’t mean passive!
Anderson does a sound job of handling the initial rush and then passing off the stunt. Once he passes it off and picks up the looping linebacker, he has a strong initial punch, stunning the defender. From there, he goes in for the finish, striking with violence to end the rep.
Really efficient hand usage in tight with sound placement overall. Lots to like here.
It was a night of ups and downs overall for Anderson, which was to be expected.
Same drive in pass protection again, Anderson gets caught on his heels and is rocked backwards into the lap of Rudolph on the bull rush. Pad level and overall functional strength were concerns for me with Anderson coming out of Maryland. Some of those concerns showed up on tape Friday night, much like what happens here.
He stands straight up, opening his chest, which invites the defensive tackle in. From there, the punch to the chest and the leverage from the defensive tackle walks Anderson right back into the lap of Rudolph.
Run blocking isn’t quite Anderson’s strength. He had some serious ups and downs in that department against the Buccaneers and got off to a slow start overall.
Here on the zone block, Anderson gets caught in between trying to help in front and behind him between center Nate Herbig and right tackle Le’Raven Clark.
He has to have better feel there, and communication needs to be better in that situation. Clark needed no help at all after reaching and running on the defensive tackle, winning the rep. Herbig needed all the help he could get. That’s where Anderson should have been.
Instead, he gets caught looking backside instead of frontside and misses the opportunity to help. That leads to the Tampa Bay defensive tackle shedding Herbig and making the stop at the line of scrimmage.
Moving to right tackle on the next series, Anderson had a strong rep in the run game.
Great job of reaching and running, staying in between the defender and the running back, giving Greg Bell a lane to cut back off of.
That’s a tough block to make for anyone, so sometimes linemen just focus on getting their head across the front of the defender and running with him. That’s really solid from Anderson and likely earned him some praise in the film session. Good reach and run to win the rep. It doesn’t always have to be pretty.
Functional strength in the run game has to improve though.
Here on the combo block with first-round left tackle Broderick Jones, Anderson gets tossed away like a rag doll, leading to the defensive tackle splitting the combo block and making the stop.
Anderson has a good initial pop into the chest and is then looking inside to climb to the linebacker, but he’s too high and doesn’t have his base underneath him, leading to him getting thrown aside. Jones doesn’t do a great job either and gives Anderson a bit of a blow to the back as well. That undoubtedly helped, but Anderson has to have a better base and play strength here.
Same thing in the clip above. I’d like to see him at least have a stalemate at the line of scrimmage, rather than being driven into the backfield and nearly blowing up the play with the penetration allowed.
It was a concern in college in the run game, and it remains so in the NFL. He just isn’t going to displace guys all that often in the run game and isn’t strong enough in that area.
Overall, it’s hard not to like a lot of what Anderson did in the preseason opener, considering he moved all over the offensive line, playing three different positions with positive reps at all three spots. He certainly seems more comfortable at right guard, but it’s nice knowing that he has that versatility overall in a pinch.
Hopefully he can build off the strong performance and keep stacking good days, forcing his way onto the roster.
