In Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier, the Pittsburgh Steelers could potentially start two rookie linemen. Their first- and second-round picks, respectively, both are the favorites to win starting jobs at their positions. Frazier arguably has the easier path with no incumbent center—and his challenger is not a natural center.
The Steelers decided that they needed to look elsewhere after watching Mason Cole struggle in 2023. They released him without replacing him, quickly kicking the tires on Mitch Morse before he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. They likely felt strongly about this year’s center class, of which Frazier was arguably the top true center.
And offensive line expert Brandon Thorn believes that Frazier can make an instant impact—though not a long-term one. He gives the impression that Frazier as a young starter is who he expects Frazier to be throughout his career.
“Frazier, I see like a David Andrews sort of center, a guy you could stick in there for a long time, he’s gonna be a huge benefit to… whatever quarterback you have in there, and he’s just gonna do everything pretty well and he’s gonna be a good run blocker and things like that”, Thorn told Robert Mays on The Athletic Football Show podcast. “That’s kind of how I see him being. So maybe like a top-10, top-12 center as a rookie. That wouldn’t surprise me at all. He’s an older prospect; he’s played a lot of football. I think he’s ready to go, right away”.
Right now, the best centers in the league include Creed Humphrey, Frank Ragnow, Erik McCoy, Tyler Linderbaum, and Ryan Kelly. One of the greatest to ever play, Jason Kelce, only retired earlier this offseason, so that’s one less contender. But Frazier is potentially more in line with the Andrewses, the Lloyd Cushenberrys, the Andre Jameses, the Aaron Brewers.
There are a lot of “solid” centers in the NFL right now, ranging from Tyler Biadasz to Garrett Bradbury. It will not actually be so easy for Zach Frazier to immediately crack the top third of the league. Of course, who is actually going to judge this outside of guys like Thorn and Pro Football Focus?
Pittsburgh set out this offseason to retrieve “the next great Steelers center”. They had the opportunity to draft either Graham Barton or Jackson Powers-Johnson in the first round but passed. Barton came off the board shortly thereafter, and Powers-Johnson went as a guard. That left Frazier for the Steelers to pick up in the second round.
Now he is competing with Nate Herbig for the starting job. Herbig, who backed up Kelce in Philadelphia, only has a few dozen snaps of meaningful experience playing center, however, and he learned it at the NFL level. Zach Frazier, on the other hand, is one of the most experienced college centers in years.
The only real question is how high his ceiling is. Most agree that he has a high floor, but can he be special? The Steelers have the legacy of Mike Webster, Dermontti Dawson, and Maurkice Pouncey to follow. Frazier doesn’t need to be those guys, but that is the standard here, and he will be unfairly judged accordingly.
