The Pittsburgh Steelers haul in the 2024 NFL Draft was solid from top to bottom, but one of the picks seems to be flying under the radar. With their fourth-round pick, the Steelers selected South Dakota State OG Mason McCormick, and he has been one of the least talked-about draft picks for the team. Some of that has to do with him being at a position where there is no immediate need, but there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the pick.
Mike Renner and Michael Felder held a live draft show on Bleacher Report’s YouTube channel, and had some great things to say about the selection of McCormick.
“Love this pick,” Renner said, reacting in real time to the selection of McCormick. “A top 100 guy on my board right there at number 87. One of the top 10 available for me. Getting him all the way down here [at No. 119].”
For several years prior to what he does now, Renner was an analyst for Pro Football Focus and offered up some interesting insight into why McCormick was such a great pick.
“PFF, we did studies on which positions do you want to draft high-end athletes to develop,” Renner said. “Which positions do guys who have good Combine testing that may be underperformed or maybe seen as projects in college, which position do they translate to the NFL? It was edge, it was corner, and it was interior offensive line.”
McCormick checks a lot of the boxes with his athleticism and size, measuring in at the combine at 6042, 309 pounds, with 32 7/8-inch arms. He ran a 5.08-second 40-yard dash and an impressive 4.45 in the short shuttle with a 35.5-inch vertical. He is a high-end athlete for the position.
With Arthur Smith as Pittsburgh’s new offensive coordinator, the Steelers will likely use more outside zone concepts that stretch the field horizontally. McCormick’s movement skills perfectly fit into that.
“NFL DTs are testing you laterally. They’re testing how quick you can get off the line, how quick you can react,” Renner said. “[McCormick] is a high-end athlete, ran a 4.45 short shuttle. You run a sub-4.5 short shuttle, the track record of those guys is high at the next level on how they develop…I think this guy is a future starter, not day one, but they don’t need him to be a day-one starter. I absolutely love this pick, and my lord, the Steelers – they are absolutely crushing this draft.”
If all works out as planned, the Steelers drafted four of their starting five offensive linemen for the future over the last two drafts. Broderick Jones last year, and then Troy Fuatanu, Zach Frazier, and McCormick this year. They all are more than capable athletes and should be great at executing Smith’s new offensive scheme in Pittsburgh.
It is nice to be able to address a position that isn’t an immediate need and take the best player available for a position that will become a need in the near future. With James Daniels on the final year of his contract and Isaac Seumalo on the wrong side of 30 years old, McCormick shouldn’t have to wait too long to have a shot at starting in Pittsburgh.
If the Steelers’ intended identity on offense wasn’t clear before, adding three offensive linemen over the first five picks should tell you everything you need to know. As the rest of the league moves towards pass-first offenses, the Steelers are going against the grain and betting on the smashmouth football that the team has been known for throughout its history. Mike Tomlin said the Steelers just want to roll people in an appearance on NFL Network on Saturday evening.
