Let’s be honest, it’s been a minute since the Steelers had good, consistent play at the center position. Gone are the days of Maurkice Pouncey, only to be replaced by the eternal suffering that is Kendrick Green and Mason Cole.
Pittsburgh, of all teams, has famously built offenses around the strength of the center position with the likes of Pouncey, Dermontti Dawson and Mike Webster.
On the recent Pro Football Focus NFL Podcast, Steve Palazzolo and Sam Monson poked fun at this ol’ adage of great Steelers centers as Monson declared his Senior Bowl hot take that Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson is next in line.
“They [Steelers] need an upgrade at center,” Monson said. “They need a big center. Enter stage left Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson, 320 pounds of monster. Where the Steelers, picking at number 20 in the first round, select him, add him to the list of immediate deified centers…boom! Hall of Fame 15 years time. Book it. Done.”
Obviously, there’s a bit of a jab here at Kendrick Green being the most recent Steelers center to start as a rookie. However, Powers-Johnson does fit the bill, and Palazzolo agreed.
“The guy is 6-foot-3, 334 at center and it’s like the widest dude I’ve ever seen…he is a Steeler,” he said. “He is absolutely a Steeler. I love it. I love this take.”
Monson also described earlier in his rant that Powers-Johnson is a fit for the incoming Arthur Smith offense. He said that Smith wants to use power-scheme type of runs, needing large offensive linemen to do so.
As our Alex Kozora wrote in his great Big Book On Arthur Smith article, Smith runs a physical, wide-zone system, so having a mauler at center certainly helps.
Of the Steelers greats listed below, Powers-Johnson would actually be the biggest after weighing in at the Senior Bowl over 330 pounds. Below are the sizes of the former Steelers centers:
Maurkice Pouncey: 6-4, 304 pounds
Dermontti Dawson 6-2, 288 pounds
Mike Webster 6-1, 255 pounds
Obviously, eras have lot to do with the difference in size here with players getting bigger, faster and stronger, but it’s still interesting that Powers-Johnson would take the cake here (and at 334 pounds, that’s literal).
Even Smith’s most recent center during his time in Atlanta, Drew Dalman, didn’t tip the scale as much as Powers-Johnson, coming in at 300 pounds.
But his size is truly only an added bonus for Powers-Johnson, and he uses it well, stonewalling rushers as he has all week at the Senior Bowl, leading many, including the boys at PFF to theorize that he may be the caliber of a first-round player.
The Steelers will almost surely upgrade the center position this offseason with Jackson Powers-Johnson near the top of that list, but whether the next starter at the position is destined to be a Hall of Famer remains to be seen. Here’s hoping.
