Each and every summer, when offensive line guru and film savant Brandon Thorn drops his offensive line rankings and top 15 at each position for Trench Warfare, it’s a must read.
That was the case again this summer, especially with the Pittsburgh Steelers finally landing an offensive lineman inside Thorn’s top 15 rankings, that being free agent signee Isaac Seumalo at left guard.
One seemingly glaring omission in his top 15 rankings at each position though was Steelers right guard James Daniels, who had a career year with Pittsburgh in 2022 after coming over from Chicago as a free agent and solidifying himself at the right guard position.
To his credit, Thorn responded to a question in the comments from a fellow writer regarding the omission of Daniels and went in-depth on why the Steelers’ standout right guard didn’t crack his rankings at the position.
“I think he is definitely in that ‘missed the cut’ bucket as a solid starter. I think last year was probably the best year of his career. He’s always had tier three and two flashes with that caliber of ability, but has been extremely inconsistent for various reasons,” Thorn said in a comment on trenchwarfare.substack.com. “I still saw clean, glaring losses in pass-protection as a result of shaky technique that make it difficult to put him in the top 15, but based on his traits/ability + last year being the best year he’s had I think it’d be fair assuming that is his new floor moving forward. Ideally we see it for more games with more consistency in pass-protection, particularly on true drop-back passes when he has to win 1v1.”
While Thorn didn’t list Daniels at right guard as part of the “missed the cut” group, instead listing only Miami right guard Robert Hunt, he very clearly — based on his comment — believes Daniels is right there as part of the “missed the cut” bucket.
After coming over from Chicago, Daniels settled in nicely at right guard, becoming the leader of a young offensive line. He had a rough start to his tenure in Pittsburgh, really struggling in training camp and early in the season, but after learning offensive line coach Pat Meyer’s independent hand usage technique and really finding himself as a leader, Daniels took off.
Daniels played 1,160 snaps on the season and allowed just 20 total pressures and zero sacks on 686 pass blocking reps, according to Pro Football Focus, finishing his first season as a Steeler with an overall grade of 67.1. The young guard was a massive upgrade over Trai Turner from the previous season and looked like a huge building block in front of quarterback Kenny Pickett and running back Najee Harris.
Without a doubt, Daniels was the best player on an offensive line that absolutely exceeded expectations in 2022. Signed to a three-year deal in free agency, Daniels stepped into the starting right guard job and became the offensive line’s quiet leader, one who led by example and was as consistent as they come.
The 24-year-old stayed healthy all season, not missing a single snap and playing a key role in the second-half turnaround the offensive line experienced. That led to a step forward for the offense as a whole and the Steelers went 7-2 down the stretch.
Though Daniels might not be inside Thorn’s top 15 ahead of the 2023 season, if he can put together another strong, consistent 2023 season for the Black and Gold, he should find himself in that discussion next summer. Consistency is the key, at least in Thorn’s eyes. The ability is there. Now it’s about finding that week-to-week consistency for Daniels.
