When the Pittsburgh Steelers released C Mason Cole early in the offseason, most people expected the Steelers to pursue a free agent to replace him. However, multiple centers have signed with other teams and none with Pittsburgh. So is a reunion with Cole at a lower price point a possibility?
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, no. During his Wednesday chat, Dulac was asked about Cole returning to the Steelers.
“Not expecting a Mason Cole return,” Dulac responded. “Though I will tell you the Steelers thought he was more of a quality backup than a starting center.”
The Steelers have a gaping hole at center without Cole. He signed with the Steelers ahead of the 2022 season and started every game in those two seasons. However, his issues in 2023 especially were well-documented. He himself addressed the issues with snapping during the season and took full responsibility.
Even with the issues, the Steelers still need to address the center position. As detailed above, the Steelers have failed to bring in any veteran options. If you were to produce a depth chart at this point in the offseason (a futile exercise, I know,) backup Nate Herbig would be Pittsburgh’s starting center. That fails to instill any confidence, especially with general manager Omar Khan’s insistence on the team’s effort to find “the next great Steelers center.”
So it looks like the Steelers at this point will be looking to the draft to address the center position. There will be a number of options early in the draft from Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson, Georgia’s Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, and West Virginia’s Zach Frazier.
How the center position plays out will bear watching, but it looks like a return for Mason Cole is looking incredibly unlikely. Then again, this offseason has seen the Steelers do some incredibly unlikely things like signing Russell Wilson, trading away Kenny Pickett, and trading for Justin Fields. So don’t count it completely out.
