The Pittsburgh Steelers had several members of their 2023 draft class play extensively Friday night in the preseason opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. One of those players who received a lot of burn in the Steelers’ 27-17 win was offensive lineman Spencer Anderson. As it turned out, Anderson, who was selected in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft, played the second most snaps on offense Friday night. On top of that, Anderson played three different positions on the offensive line.
Anderson didn’t receive his first offensive snaps until later in the second quarter and those came at the right guard position. That was his primary position last season at Maryland. Anderson played his first two offensive series at right guard on Friday, a total of 13 snaps.
After cutting his NFL teeth at right guard, Anderson moved to right tackle for the next two offensive series, which both came in the third quarter of the Friday night contest. He logged just seven total snaps at that position. Anderson logged nearly 1,100 offensive snaps at right tackle during his college career at Maryland.
After a short amount of playing time at right tackle, Anderson then switched to left guard for the entire fourth quarter. He played 17 total snaps at left guard over a span of five series, one of which was just the final kneel down to end the game. At Marland, Anderson logged a little less than 50 total offensive snaps at left guard.
Of those 37 total plays that Anderson was in for on Friday night, 22 were pass plays with the other 15 being runs. He 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 for Friday night is listed as 56.7.
After the game on Friday night, Anderson talked about playing various positions against the Buccaneers.
“Yeah, offensive line coach Pat [Meyer] told me I was going to start the second quarter at right guard,” Anderson said, according to quotes provided by the team’s media department. “He wanted to take a couple drives at tackle and that was on the bomb that Mason [Rudolph] threw to Calvin [Austin III]. I then went back to left guard and he wanted me and Broderick [Jones] to play next to each other. So, wherever I was I didn’t really care as long as I’m on the field showing my abilities.”
We knew when the Steelers selected Anderson in the draft that he was a position-flexible player during his college career. Heck, he even played some center at Maryland. So, with that, it wasn’t overly surprising to see him get time at three different offensive line positions on Friday night. More than likely, we’ll see him play more at those three positions in the team’s final two preseason games.
At some point this week, we’ll likely have a film room on Anderson posted on the site so be on the lookout for that.
