Another center option is off the board for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After Mitch Morse signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars this morning, Lloyd Cushenberry III, Russell Wilson’s former center in Denver, is expected to sign with the Tennessee Titans, per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones.
Cushenberry seemed like more of an option for the Steelers with the team reportedly signing Wilson and after they missed out on Morse despite making an “aggressive push.” Cushenberry joins a Titans team that had one of the worst offensive lines in football and will bring 57 career starts to Tennessee.
The Titans also reportedly agreed to terms with RB Tony Pollard, which will signal the end of Derrick Henry’s tenure with the Titans. Pollard will team up with RB Tyjae Spears in an offense that also features QB Will Levis and WR DeAndre Hopkins. Aaron Brewer, the Titans’ center last season, is a free agent and could be an option for the Steelers as he has experience playing under new Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
Pittsburgh now has missed on two of the top centers on the open market in Morse and Cushenberry, and it becomes more likely that the Steelers will target a center in the early rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft. The team can still sign a veteran to have someone capable of playing the position beyond Nate Herbig and Ryan McCollum on the roster and then look to the draft for a more long-term solution. Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson and West Virginia’s Zach Frazier remain the top two options with names like Georgia’s Sedrick Van Pran-Granger and Arkansas’ Beaux Limmer options further down the board.
While we don’t know whom the Steelers will target at center, we do know they’ll add someone to the room. After releasing Mason Cole, it’s one of the team’s biggest holes and the Steelers will look to fill it this offseason with a better option than Herbig.
With needs at inside linebacker, cornerback and safety in addition to center, the Steelers will surely be active in free agency. With the legal tampering period barely two hours old, action has yet to really pick up on the free agency market, but losing out on two of the top centers early probably stings a bit for Pittsburgh. It’ll be interesting to see the course of action the Steelers take at the position, but Morse and Cushenberry are now out of the equation.
The contract details were announced for Cushenberry. He is getting paid $50 million over four years to make him one of the top-paid centers in the league, per Brad Spielberger on X.
