The Pittsburgh Steelers are down in Mobile this week representing for the Senior Bowl, and wouldn’t you know it, head coach Mike Tomlin is front and center getting a good look at the offensive line prospects. Not that he doesn’t have held. Assistant offensive line coach Isaac Williams is serving on the coaching staff this week.
“You know he loves the bigs”, Williams said this week at the Senior Bowl, via Dale Lolley of Steelers.com. “He’s always going to linger and be around the bigs. That’s Coach T. That’s Pittsburgh. Any time you can get him on the field and listen to what he has to say, it’s valuable information”.
The Steelers are in the market for offensive line help once again this offseason despite considerable recent investments. They have signed four free agents to multi-year contracts over the past two offseasons, three as starters. On top of that, Tomlin has invested four draft picks on the offensive line over the past three years. That includes their current starting tackles, 2021 fourth-rounder Dan Moore Jr. and 2023 first-rounder Broderick Jones.
But the work is not finished, as owner Art Rooney II acknowledged earlier this week. “If there’s places we can make improvements, we will”, he told reporters. Center is high on the priority list with Mason Cole struggling. Most hope to replace Moore and move Jones to left tackle as well, so finding another right tackle is of interest.
Steelers defensive backs coach Grady Brown and outside linebackers coach Denzel Martin participated in last year’s Senior Bowl staff in addition to the team’s usual accompaniment. They did draft one player who participated at that time, second-round DL Keeanu Benton out of Wisconsin. Assistant general manager Andy Weidl acknowledged they gleaned more of his full potential from those practices.
It’s important, then, to have boots on the ground, something the Steelers have long believed in during the scouting process. That is why they participated in the founding of BLESTO. Hint: the S stands for Steelers. Tomlin and Williams should be looking closely at the offensive line prospects this week.
Ross McCorkle, who is down at the Senior Bowl covering the event for us, shared some of the prospects he is watching this week. That list includes tackles Taliese Fuaga, Tyler Guyton, and Graham Barton, as well as C Andrew Raym and G Trevor Keegan.
One of the big decisions the Steelers face this offseason is whether to retain Chukwuma Okorafor. Their primary starting right tackle for the past several seasons, his demotion and high salary leave him in a vulnerable spot.
If the team makes an early decision to move Jones to left tackle, then you can keep Okorafor. But they can’t reasonably retain him at his current salary to be a reserve. And either way, they may need help because Moore can’t be trusted on the right side.
