The Pittsburgh Steelers have looked to rebuild their offensive line over the past few offseasons, and one of the first building blocks in that endeavor was signing OG Isaac Seumalo as a free agent last offseason. Seumalo came over from the Philadelphia Eagles, and he was an instant-impact starter for the Steelers last season. Ahead of the 2024 season, Pro Football Focus named Seumalo the most underrated player on the Steelers.
“Seumalo was part of arguably the NFL’s best offensive line while in Philadelphia, and although he did not get off to a good start in Pittsburgh, he soon proved why the Steelers signed him as a free agent in 2023. Excluding the first two weeks, he earned a 78.3 PFF overall grade, which ranked sixth among guards during that span.”
Despite his rough start, Seumalo still blossomed last season and was a huge part of Pittsburgh’s offensive line. This season, with better talent around him, the line as a whole should be significantly better after the additions of Zach Frazier and Troy Fautanu as rookies. Seumalo’s locker is next to Fautanu’s, just as it was next to Broderick Jones’ last season, so it speaks to how the team views Seuamlo as a leader and someone who could be the key to helping unlock some potential out of this young offensive line.
After signing James Daniels two offseasons ago, the Steelers solidified their guard room by adding Seumalo and Nate Herbig last offseason. It’s a room that got stronger when they drafted Mason McCormick in the fourth round. On paper, this is the most talented and well-rounded offensive line the Steelers have had in years, and Seumalo is going to have to play up to the usual standard he showed last season for things to really get rolling.
There’s no doubt that he doesn’t get the credit leaguewide he deserves, as people have speculated that he or Daniels could be benched for McCormick, which doesn’t seem likely at all. While McCormick certainly looks like a future starter and maybe as soon as 2025, people underrate Seumalo and Daniels to the point in this case of considering them as backups, so naming Seumalo as the team’s most underrated player certainly makes a lot of sense.
We’ll see if the line can live up to the potential that it seemingly has as we sit here in May. If it does, Seumalo will be a big part of that and maybe start to garner some respect outside of Pittsburgh.
