Pittsburgh Steelers OL Spencer Anderson recently confirmed that, as of now, he has moved exclusively to guard full-time. Last season, he practiced at both left and right tackle, left and right guard, and even center. Ordinarily, teams ask players to do more, but if they ask you to do less, it can be a good sign.
That is especially true for offensive linemen, who need to generalize as reserves but specialize as starters. And I can’t help but wonder if Mike Tomlin asking Spencer Anderson to focus on guard isn’t preparation for 2025.
Starting RG James Daniels will be a free agent in March, and it doesn’t sound like he is in their plans for the future. General manager Omar Khan even cited Daniels’ contract status as one of the reasons they drafted Mason McCormick. McCormick could be a candidate to play right guard in 2025, but the Steelers may view Anderson as one, too.
Former Steelers OL Matt Feiler followed a similar path. He earned his initial opportunities as a utility man but eventually settled at tackle. He did move to guard, where he cashed in with the Chargers in free agency. While he is currently a free agent, he is certainly a good model to aspire to for Anderson.
During his college career, Anderson logged over 1,100 snaps at tackle, another 850-plus at guard, and almost 400 at center. While he moved all around last offseason, he did primarily play guard during the preseason. Still, some felt that the Steelers viewed tackle as his strongest position. Some even wondered if he might be a candidate to start at right tackle this year if they didn’t draft one.
But guard is the only position at which we can reasonably anticipate a starting job opening up any time soon. The Steelers have first-round picks Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu at the tackle positions and Zach Frazier at center. But Daniels is a pending free agent and Isaac Seumalo will be turning 31. Guard is the key to a starting job right now for Anderson.
I sense that the coaches want to see how much Anderson can show them if they allow him to dedicate himself to one position fully. They already know that he can play tackle and center—that’s why he made the team last year. They know about his versatility, but now they want to see his ceiling.
And it’s a good time for them to find out if they can avoid paying Daniels free agency money. He should go into next offseason as a 27-year-old with 97 career starts, which is plenty desirable. He should make some bank for himself a second time. And if the Steelers have an alternative in Spencer Anderson or Mason McCormick, then they can move on. After all, they’re hoping to pay Jones, Fautanu, and Frazier down the line.
Matt Feiler, soon 32, first made a 53-man roster at age 25. Since then, he has started 79 of 91 games. That’s not a bad legacy for a former college free agent out of Bloomsburg who spent three years in two different organizations on practice squads. Anderson has all of two career snaps right now, but he could be a 1,000-snaps-a-year guy as soon as 2025. That is, if he shows the coaches this summer that he deserves that chance.
