Coming out of a rather busy offseason that saw the Pittsburgh Steelers make significant roster upgrades under GM Omar Khan, there is plenty of excitement regarding the Black and Gold ahead of the 2024 season.
While most of that excitement centers on the quarterback position and several new pieces defensively, there is quite a bit of buzz regarding the rebuilt offensive line that added three rookies this offseason, strengthening a group that improved late last season but now appears better.
For former NFL offensive linemen Alex Boone and Jeremiah Sirles, who host the podcast “The OLine Committee,” the Steelers are still around 20th in the NFL, so they are in the bottom half of the league. But there is a great deal of anticipation regarding the new-look group.
For Sirles, who played four seasons in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Minnesota Vikings, and San Diego Chargers, the Steelers are the No. 22 offensive line in football entering the 2024 season. While he likes the young pieces they added, he believes the biggest question is how a rookie center in Frazier meshes with a veteran quarterback in Russell Wilson.
“I got Pittsburgh here at 22. You got Jones on the outside, Broderick Jones. You got Isaac Seumalo from Eagles. He was there forever. He’s a great left guard. I think they’ll start Zach Frazier at center, the rookie from West Virginia,” Sirles said of the Steelers’ offensive line. “They’re gonna start him at center. Then, got James Daniels on the right at guard. And then I think you have Troy Fautanu, who’s starting at right tackle, the other first-rounder from Washington. …So, I think they will have two starting rookies. It’ll be interesting to see how the rookie center pairs with Russell Wilson.
“So that’ll be an interesting pairing. But I mean that team, again, they’re gonna rely heavily on the run game. But I’m curious what the scheme looks like now that Russell’s there.”
Having potentially two rookies in the starting lineup seems like a big ask, which is why it’s no certain thing that Troy Fautanu beats out Dan Moore Jr. and starts right away. With Frazier, there’s no real competition there outside of Nate Herbig, who has just 49 snaps at center in the NFL in his career.
It’s a very small sample size, and it’s not something you can really feel comfortable projecting at this point, especially with Frazier having had 2,600+ snaps at center in his collegiate career.
Meshing with a veteran quarterback who expects things to be a certain way, from communication to the snap of the football, can be tough for a young center. The Steelers saw Kendrick Green struggle in Ben Roethlisberger’s final season in a similar setup.
But Frazier is much more experienced as a center, knows what he’s seeing, and communicates well in the position, which was an issue for Green.
While there might be some growing pains between rookie center and veteran quarterback at times, the two should be just fine in 2024. This should help the Steelers’ offense take a step forward under first-year coordinator Arthur Smith and potentially get the Steelers back into Super Bowl contention.
For Boone, who played nine seasons in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, and Minnesota Vikings, the Steelers are one of the groups up front he’s most excited to watch in the NFL in 2024.
Toughness won’t be a problem for the Steelers’ offensive line. They have that in abundance.
In fact, there was quite a bit of that coming out of the 2023 season, as Broderick Jones played with an edge and was a tough player to deal with in the run game for defenders. Veteran guard Isaac Seumalo has made a career off of being that quiet, tough guy that people just don’t want to mess with.
But the Steelers got even tougher this offseason, adding some mean, nasty, physical pieces in Zach Frazier, Troy Fautanu, and Mason McCormick.
Steelers offensive line coach Pat Meyer called all three “ass-kickers” after the 2024 NFL Draft, praising the pieces that the Steelers added to the offensive line. Those pieces should fit in well in Pittsburgh, bringing that physicality and toughness, playing through the whistle, and helping set the tone up front, especially in the run game, as Pittsburgh looks to, in the words of head coach Mike Tomlin, roll people.
It’ll be very interesting to see how this group comes together and plays in 2024. There is some high-end talent available to the Steelers in the trenches now which fits the style of play Pittsburgh wants to utilize.
