With the 51st pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Zach Frazier. Not just a center out of West Virginia, but, they hope, the “next great Steelers center.” That’s the mission they set themselves out on to find this offseason, and he is the answer the search yielded.
Many offensive line experts do believe that Zach Frazier was the best center in this draft class. He is the most experienced, having played over 2,5000 college snaps there. Graham Barton only played there his first college season, and Jackson Powers-Johnson doesn’t have many starts.
Former Steelers pro personnel coordinator Doug Whaley is also high on the selection of Frazier. He recently called him a “plug-and-play guy” on the Armstrong Neighborhood Channel, and Whaley had a very specific reason that he liked him so much.
“He brings the attitude you want. I like him because you can put him on an island as a center,” he said of Frazier. “Most centers, you’re usually having help for them in pass pro or they’re giving help. But I think he can be soloed up one-on-one.”
As Whaley points out, the center is frequently a “helper” position, particularly in pass protection. Often enough, they are looking for somebody to block or assisting one of the guards. Failing that, especially against hulking 3-4 nose tackles, you may have a guard help block the nose.
While center is the least valued offensive line position for this reason, a great center still makes a difference. The Steelers did a lot with Maurkice Pouncey that nearly all of the rest of the league simply could not. Sure, he had his struggles with, say, Vince Wilfork, but he was a center you could ask to give it a try. Whaley believes Frazier is that type of center.
“He’s got that wrestling background, so that means he plays with leverage, he’s got good grip strength. I think another thing he can do, too, is block in space, and not to mention he’s just a mauler,” he added, saying that Frazier doesn’t have “a lot of limitations to his game.”
Frazier is not the most fleet-of-foot athlete, but by center standards, he is not wanting. His testing numbers this offseason also reflected a season-ending injury. I don’t know that the Steelers will ask him to pull from the center position frequently, but they’ll run it. I mean, they had Ramon Foster pulling sometimes and he managed it.
Pittsburgh struggled at the center position after Pouncey’s retirement in 2020. They drafted Kendrick Green as his successor, but he failed after his one season as a starter. The Steelers then turned to free agency, signing Mason Cole in 2022, starting for the next two seasons.
But they saw enough in those two years to cut bait with one year left on his contract. The Steelers briefly explored the veteran market before turning their focus to the draft. They landed Zach Frazier, but it’s up to him to live up to the legacy of the position.
