The Pittsburgh Steelers went heavy on the trenches in the 2024 NFL Draft, taking Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier with their first two selections and then grabbing Mason McCormick with their fourth-round pick. NFL analysts Brett Kollman and E.J. Snyder talked up the Steelers’ draft on their Bootleg Football podcast, naming it one of their favorites while praising the offensive line rebuild in particular.
“When you look at this line, top to bottom, how they basically reinforced the front line of this team and said quarterback play’s gonna be important but not as important as it was because there’s gonna be way fewer plays where we just expect the quarterback to win despite massive amounts of pressure, sort of take the team on his back,” Snyder said. “They knew they didn’t want to set the team up like that so they didn’t, and they got all our favorite top offensive linemen. This is going to a very, very difficult offensive line to deal with.”
Kollman pointed out that Pittsburgh’s offensive line was its biggest non-quarterback weakness over the last few years and this draft showed a change in philosophy with the Steelers targeting multiple high-level offensive linemen instead of taking them later and trying to draft and develop. It was the second year in a row the Steelers took an offensive lineman in the first round after selecting Broderick Jones in 2023. The Steelers then doubled up on the line by taking Frazier in the second, giving them potentially two plug-and-play starting linemen in Fautanu and Frazier.
Ever since Omar Khan and Andy Weidl took over, the offensive line has been a focus. Last year, the Steelers signed Isaac Seumalo in addition to drafting Jones, and their work in the draft this year makes it clear just how important building the line to them. The Steelers are going to rely on their rushing attack this season under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, and building up the trenches will allow both Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris to potentially excel this season.
Additionally, Snyder said, it also means that the quarterback won’t have to play hero ball, be it Justin Fields or Russell Wilson, and the extra time to throw will be crucial for both of them as they were among the most-sacked quarterbacks last season and had the slowest time to throw in the league.
With Smith running the offense, the Steelers can get back to being a physical, ground-and-pound football team, and getting some maulers up front will certainly make that easier to do. The Steelers couldn’t go into the season without addressing the offensive tackle and center position, and they did so in a big way. They took one of the top tackles in the entire class in Fautanu and the most experienced collegiate center in Frazier while adding key depth in McCormick with James Daniels entering a contract year.
It was an impressive haul by the Steelers, and their offensive line should be much improved from last season. It’s going to be fun to see how much the improved offensive line can change the dynamic of the offense and see just how far this team can go if it’s putting more points on the board.
You can listen to Snyder and Kollman’s full thoughts on the Steelers and their other favorite drafts below.
