Coming off a decent first season after signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency, there was a good feeling regarding center Mason Cole entering Year Two in the Black and Gold. Though he wasn’t anything spectacular in 2022, he solidified a position of great need for the Steelers and was expected to do so again in 2023.
But like a few on the offense overall, Cole took a significant step backwards in 2023.
Cole became a weak point of the Steelers’ offensive line, struggling to snap the football consistently and really coming undone from a pass-blocking perspective. Due to his struggles in 2023, the Steelers find themselves back at square one at the position, needing to find that foundational piece that the franchise has come to know historically.
Now that the season is behind us, it’s a time for reflection and analysis, and that will focus on my Steelers positional grades season review. Today, we’ll look at center, taking an individual look at the only player who saw snaps at the position for the Steelers, that being Cole.
Steelers’ Positional Grades Season Review: QBs
Steelers’ Positional Grades Season Review: RBs
Steelers’ Positional Grades Season Review: WRs
Steelers’ Positional Grades Season Review: TEs
Steelers’ Positional Grades Season Review: OTs
Steelers’ Positional Grades Season Review: OGs
MASON COLE: Grade — D-
The one good thing that can be said about Cole coming out of the 2023 season was that he was incredibly durable once again. After missing just 46 snaps in 2022, Cole didn’t miss a single snap this season, playing all 1,071 on offense in 2023. He was the only Steeler with 100% of snaps played offensively.
Despite that durability, Cole had major issues. He started to develop the yips, really coming undone down the stretch snapping the football. He missed high, low, and wide and really struggled to snap consistently in shotgun. It hindered the Steelers’ offense at times, too, and led to some pointed comments from head coach Mike Tomlin during the season.
Not only did he struggle snapping the football, Cole was a mess in pass protection. He allowed 31 pressures and two sacks on the season, grading out at an ugly 39.6 as a pass blocker from Pro Football Focus. That was second-worst on the Steelers behind left tackle Dan Moore Jr. and second-worst among all NFL centers who played at least 600 snaps, trailing only New York Giants rookie John Michael Schmitz.
Cole did have some moments in the run game though and played some decent football in that area on the season. But it wasn’t enough to make up for the issues he had elsewhere as those issues were significant.
