For players like Zach Frazier and the teams potentially interested in drafting him, events like the NFL Scouting Combine are just as important for their medical evaluations as they are for any on-field drills or even interviews. An athlete’s resume is his game tape more than anything, as long as you know he’s healthy.
That’s why this pre-draft process is so important for Frazier, the 6-3 center out of West Virginia. While his work on the field speaks for itself, he last came off the field with a broken leg. “I knew something wasn’t quite right,” he recalled of the injury. “I didn’t hear the snap or anything, but I felt like my foot was kind of turned, and I just had a lot of pain.”
Needless to say, Frazier’s on-field work during the pre-draft process has been limited as he heals his leg. However, draft analyst Matt Miller is confident that his tape speaks for itself. Writing recently for ESPN, he said that the teams who need a center and feel good about his medicals are probably going to be looking at him very early.
“Frazier was a four-time West Virginia state champion wrestler in high school, and that level of agility, toughness, and strength is exactly what you want in a center prospect,” he wrote, comparing him to the Kansas City Chiefs’ Creed Humphrey. “Coming from a wide-zone scheme, he’s ideal for the modern NFL — and if teams are comfortable with his recovery from a leg injury that ended his 2023 season early, expect late round-one talk”.
Now, that’s not exactly music to the Steelers’ ears, who are probably hoping to land a center in Round 2. Frazier isn’t likely the first center off the board, though, that honor likely reserved for Jackson Powers-Johnson. The odds of two centers going in the first round don’t seem incredibly high, especially one with a broken leg.
Stranger things have happened, of course, and there are a handful of teams that could be looking at centers. The Dallas Cowboys are the team most mentioned, but the Seattle Seahawks are another potential candidate.
Even if Frazier isn’t selected in the first round, I’m not sure he will last until the 51st overall pick. That is where the Steelers select in the second round, which is why we’ve been discussing potential trade-up scenarios on the second day of the draft.
The Steelers are also looking for a starting right tackle that allows them to move Broderick Jones to the left side of the offensive line. That seems like their ideal target in the first round, but it’s less of a need due to Dan Moore Jr. They have a hole at wide receiver as well, and to a lesser extent at cornerback and the defensive line.
But if healthy, Frazier is likely a long-term plug-and-play starter at a position the Steelers have long coveted. No other team in football has a richer history at the center position, from Ray Mansfield to Maurkice Pouncey.
