At the 2024 NFL Combine, Omar Khan was asked about the earlier-than-usual release of certain players from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster. He called it the “right thing to do”.
“I would say that with Pressley and Mitch and Mason and Chuks, once we made the decision that they weren’t going to be part of the 2024 team, it just felt like the right thing to do was to give those guys the opportunity to hit the free agency market sooner than later,” Khan said.
It was a nice gesture to help these players, who, by all accounts, were good human beings in the locker room. Trubisky reunited with the Buffalo Bills to be Josh Allen’s backup as he previously was before signing with the Steelers. Chukwuma Okorafor signed with the New England Patriots early on in free agency and has a good shot at beginning the season as a starter after something he said during the loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars got him removed from the starting lineup.
But Mason Cole and Pressley Harvin III remain free agents to this day with very little reported interest from NFL teams. Thanks to Khan, they had the extra time for their agents to work the phones with teams ahead of free agency but were unable to capitalize. Once the draft concluded and a fresh crop of young talent entered the league, their chances of landing on their feet took a hit.
It was a busy free agency period for the center position. Ten centers changed teams, and four signed multi-year deals around the league. He still remains near the top of the list of the available free agent centers and is one of the younger options at 28 years old. He has a little over four years of starting experience and was considered a leader in the locker room last year.
Cole didn’t have a great season in 2023, but he was a solid part of a struggling offensive line in 2022. He went from a 67.1 overall PFF grade in 2022 to a 57.3 last season.
He has almost exclusively played center throughout his career, other than 406 guard snaps in his six seasons as a pro. That lack of versatility could undoubtedly be one of the issues keeping him off a roster. Most teams carry one pure center as the starter but prefer to have versatile depth that can fill in at center or guard as needed. For the Steelers, those players figure to be Mason McCormick and Nate Herbig.
The fact that neither Harvin nor Cole have found their way onto at least a 90-man offseason roster doesn’t bode well for their chances of making a team by the start of the season. They could have to wait and see what injuries occur in training camp and the preseason for their next chance.
