Coming into the 2023 season, there were high hopes and expectations for a revamped offensive line for the Pittsburgh Steelers, especially after the franchise traded up in the first round to acquire Georgia’s Broderick Jones and signed veteran guard Isaac Seumalo, seemingly completing the rebuild in the trenches.
Then, the games in the regular season started.
To date, the Steelers’ offensive line has been largely hit or miss, with more bad than good performance on the season. That said, the line is coming off an impressive showing against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football in Week Nine, paving the way for 155 rushing yards and a touchdown while not allowing a single sack of quarterback Kenny Pickett.
Despite the strong performance, the 33rd Team still sees the Steelers’ offensive line as one of the worst in the NFL, ranking it No. 27 in the league Tuesday in the latest positional rankings.
“Adding Isaac Seumalo has brought steadier guard play than last year, but the Pittsburgh Steelers are not a cohesive unit,” 33rd Team’s Maxx Forde writes regarding the Steelers’ offensive line. “They are adequate in pass protection but don’t generate much in the way of run blocking. Nothing pops off the screen with this group.”
After a rough start to his Steelers tenure, Seumalo has settled in nicely at left guard for the Black and Gold. On the season, Seumalo grades out at a 65.8 overall from Pro Football Focus, including a 64.3 in run blocking and a 65.3 in pass protection, allowing just 14 pressures and no sacks on the season.
He’s started to find his game as a run blocker for the Steelers in recent weeks, especially on Thursday night against the Titans.
Left tackle Dan Moore Jr. has had his ups and downs on the season, grading out at a 45.9 overall, including a 31.3 in pass protection allowing 27 pressures and two sacks. That said, he’s put together a solid stretch of games over the last three weeks, allowing just seven pressures while taking over games as a run blocker at times.
Right guard James Daniels has quietly been steady, much like Seumalo. Daniels has allowed just 11 pressures on the season, grading out at 65.9 overall on the season. Center Mason Cole has been a mess for the Steelers and arguably the weakest point on the offensive line, regressing hard from a season ago.
Cole holds a grade of 48.9 overall, including a 34.3 in pass protection, allowing 16 pressures and two sacks on the season, tying with Moore and right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor for the team lead in sacks allowed along the line of scrimmage. Okorafor grades out at a 61.6 overall and may have lost his starting job to Jones, who looked good against the Titans making his first start at right tackle.
Though the numbers are a bit ugly — 79 pressures allowed by the starting offensive line — the group might be rounding into shape based on the performance in two of the last three weeks, that being wins over the Los Angeles Rams and Titans.
If Pittsburgh can consistently run the football, that will take pressure off the group to protect Kenny Pickett 40-plus times a game and will allow the Steelers to play to their strength in the trenches, which is coming off the line with power and moving people in the run game.
