When you think of the Pittsburgh Steelers, you typically tend to think of blue-collar, hard-nosed, and tough.
In past years, the Steelers haven’t exactly lived up to that standard as they went towards more of a finesse game.
But now, that pendulum is swinging back towards the tough, hard-nosed aspect. Pittsburgh played bully ball last season, leaning on the run game heavily and suffocating teams offensively. It’s what they want their identity to be under head coach Mike Tomlin moving forward, and GM Omar Khan did a good job of adding to that in the 2024 NFL Draft.
According to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, the Steelers landed “two of the toughest players” in the NFL Draft, West Virginia center Zach Frazier and North Carolina State linebacker Payton Wilson.
“The Steelers got two of the toughest players in the draft in West Virginia center Zach Frazier and NC State linebacker Payton Wilson. Not coincidentally, both are former standout high school wrestlers,” Feldman writes regarding the Steelers in his draft takeaways piece for The Athletic. “…College defensive line coaches thought Frazier was a beast, and he seems like a steal in the middle of the second round.
“But, it’s Wilson going at the end of the third round that really is worth keeping an eye on. He has top-20 talent, and I say that knowing that linebackers don’t typically have that kind of value anymore.”
Toughness is certainly something that both men bring in abundance to the plate.
Frazier, as is well known, crawled off the field on his final snap at West Virginia in a game against Baylor to avoid a timeout late in the comeback attempt, even after breaking his leg. That is remarkable.
Steelers’ offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, when discussing the selection of Frazier, stated that the moment of him crawling off the field is just who Frazier is. A tough guy, period.
The same goes for Wilson, who has battled through quite a bit of adversity during his time in college before putting together a dominant 2023 season, winning the Butkus and Bednarik awards as the nation’s top linebacker and top overall defender. Some believe he was the top linebacker in the draft, too.
Talent is undoubtedly there with both, but the toughness and edge that they play with puts it over the top.
That’s what the Steelers have seemingly been missing over the years, but now that they are aiming to get back to that bully-ball style, they are adding the right pieces. That includes Frazier and Wilson, who will undoubtedly set the tone from a toughness standpoint.
Having that high school wrestling background, where both were state champions — Frazier a four-time state champ in West Virginia with a 159-2 record and Wilson a North Carolina state champ at 43-0 — certainly helps.
But toughness won’t be the be-all and end-all. Toughness is key in football, but there’s more to it than that. Frazier and Wilson will have to prove at the NFL level that they bring much more to the table than toughness.
