The Pittsburgh Steelers offense will be under the microscope during the offseason. It all begins with the offensive coordinator hire, a decision that team president Art Rooney II says will be head coach Mike Tomlin’s. Then there’s the question of what will happen at quarterback.
One offensive area that demands further scrutiny due to the impact it has on both the passing and running game is the offensive line. The Steelers made moves to address it prior to the 2023 season, signing free agent G Isaac Seumalo and drafting T Broderick Jones in the first round. However, there were still struggles that compounded issues elsewhere on the offense.
When Rooney addressed the media at his end-of-season press conference, he was asked about the running game, and he spent some time discussing the offensive line, according to audio from 93.7 The Fan.
“I think we need to be better, offensive line,” Rooney said. “Those guys got better as the season went on, so there’s no denying that. But we’ll assess where we are, and then if there’s places we can make improvements, we will.”
Seumalo was a perfect example of a player who improved over the season. In fact, after a slow start, Seumalo posted the sixth-highest Pro Football Focus grade among guards starting in Week Three.
However, the overall offensive line did not fare so well in 2023. From that same link above, the offensive line finished 17th in the league per PFF. They were that high, thanks largely to their run blocking, which helped energize a playoff push. But there were plenty of struggles.
Jones did get inserted into the starting lineup fairly early in the season to help provide some push up front. However, he was put on the right side of the line rather than his natural left tackle position. He did a good job in the run game but struggled down the stretch in pass protection.
Most people would have predicted that Jones would be playing at some point in 2023, but they were expecting him to supplant Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle. The crew over at PFF would have supported that move as they graded Moore as the worst pass-blocking offensive tackle during the season. According to PFF, he gave up eight sacks, 39 quarterback pressures, and 55 hurries overall. It’s going to be hard for any quarterback to succeed behind that level of play, much less in an offense struggling under former offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
Then there was C Mason Cole, who had snapping issues crop up throughout the season. While he wasn’t terrible, his performance certainly put the center position into the conversation for needing an upgrade for 2024.
So the Steelers have a lot to think about when it comes to the offensive line. The run game certainly improved over the season, and consequently, so did the offensive line. However, there are major liabilities in the passing game. Will the Steelers flip Jones back to his natural left tackle position in hopes that he recovers his pass-blocking mojo and look for a right tackle? Or will they continue that experiment and add a left tackle for the second straight offseason? What about Cole and the center position?
