The Pittsburgh Steelers went into the 2024 NFL Draft with a dire need at center and had three logical names to fill that hole competently as a rookie starter. Duke’s Graham Barton, Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson, and West Virginia’s Zach Frazier were widely considered the top three centers in the draft class, often getting projected to Pittsburgh either in the first or second round.
When Pittsburgh bypassed center on Day 1 of the draft to select Washington OT Troy Fautanu, the hope was that either Powers-Johnson or Frazier would fall to them at #51 overall in the second round after Barton went off the board to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Round 1. Luckily for the Steelers, Frazier lasted that long as Powers-Johnson got scooped up by the Las Vegas Raiders several picks before, allowing Pittsburgh to take the last man standing of the “Big Three” at the position.
Nick Baumgardner and Scott Dochterman of The Athletic tend to agree that Pittsburgh snagged quite the value at a position of need with the selection of Frazier, naming the pick their favorite center selection of the draft.
“This is one of those player-team matches you make in mock drafts that seems so perfect, it can’t possibly work,” Baumgardner and Dochterman said about the selection of Frazier at 51st overall in the second round. “But it did for Pittsburgh — twice, really, with Frazier and first-rounder Troy Fautanu. At nearby West Virginia, Frazier (6-2 1/2, 313) started 46 games, including 38 at center. He was a four-time high school wrestling champion and a second-team All-America center last fall. In other words, the perfect Steelers center.”
Many wondered if Frazier would make it to 51st overall in the second round due to his extensive college experience as well as his caliber as a starting-quality center in the league. However, a lack of overall athleticism in comparison to Powers-Johnson and Barton, as well as the fact that he was coming off a broken leg suffered during the season, likely aided in his draft stock being suppressed just enough to fall into Pittsburgh’s lap in the second round.
The writers of The Athletic make a great point that the selection of Frazier in Round 2 actually highlights two near-perfect player-team matches, with the other being the selection of Fautanu in Round 1. Bypassing center on the first day of the draft allowed Pittsburgh to select the more premier position in the first round in a player they didn’t expect to be there in Fautanu, ranking potentially as high as seven out of 20 according to some detective work done by Steelers Depot’s very own Alex Kozora. Getting a player that many believed to be a top 10-15 prospect at 20 is quite the steal, and luckily for Pittsburgh, the center they needed fell right to them on Day 2 of the draft, allowing them to kill two birds with one stone.
The selections of Fautanu and Frazier may have very well completed Pittsburgh’s overhaul of their offensive line, drafting two players that both expect to start at some point during the 2024 season. They also embody that rugged toughness that the Steelers are looking to get back to upfront, having that physical demeanor to create an identity in the running game, something the Steelers want to lean on.
It would be hard to poke holes into Pittsburgh’s first two draft selections, as both addressed key areas of need, with players presenting great value relative to where they were picked. Hopefully, we’ll get to see both Fautanu and Frazier out there starting together for the Black and Gold sooner rather than later, allowing Pittsburgh’s win on paper to be made evident with their respective play on the field.
