Pittsburgh Steelers fans found themselves sweating out the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft as they screamed at the screen for general manager Omar Khan to trade up for C Zach Frazier. As it turns out, Khan didn’t have to trade up to get his man—but that doesn’t mean the wait was easy.
“The reality is we’re going through it exactly like everybody else is,” he told Randy Baumann on the DVE Morning Show. “You don’t know who the people ahead of you are picking. Obviously, it’s well-documented [Frazier was] a guy that we were targeting. We did have conversations about moving up; obviously, that didn’t happen.”
“I think it was Washington that was on the clock before us, and we were pretty much on pins and needles like everyone else was waiting to see who they would pick,” Khan added. Zach [Frazier] was still there, and I can’t tell you how excited I am that he was there and we were able to pick him. He’s a Steeler.”
Many believe the West Virginia center is a plug-and-play starter. The Steelers need one, given that they released Mason Cole, their previous starter. After two years of Cole, having Frazier step into the lineup will provide a different dimension.
The center position has been a primary occupation for those outside of the Steelers. Many expected that Cole was a cut candidate, but they figured they would find a replacement. After kicking some tires early on with some veterans, however, they settled for their draft options, including Frazier.
Many expected the Steelers to draft Graham Barton in the first round to play center. If T Troy Fautanu did not fall to them at 20, perhaps they would have, but with Jackson Powers-Johnson and Frazier still on the board, they felt they could wait.
Barton eventually went off the board several picks later, but both Powers-Johnson and Frazier survived into Round 2. The Las Vegas Raiders ended up taking the former first, drafting him as a guard. But Frazier sat untouched for the first 50 picks, ripe for the Steelers’ picking.
Many offensive line experts argue that Frazier is the best pure center in this class. After all, Barton spent most of college playing tackle, and Powers-Johnson has limited starting experience. Frazier, on the other hand, played 3,212 college snaps, 2,669 at center. You’re not going to find a more experienced lineman at a single position.
While they may have taken Barton, I think Frazier may be the pure center the Steelers liked the most. Khan did acknowledge that they had conversations about trading up for him. I’m sure they’re glad they didn’t have to, of course.
At the same time, it’s nice to know that Khan and the rest of them are in the same boat as us. Only they have a red emergency phone, and they get to call all the shots. Even assuming Frazier fell to the Steelers, we, as fans, couldn’t make them draft him. Fortunately, we didn’t have to try.
