Many of the battles for starting jobs on the Pittsburgh Steelers are still underway. I don’t know that we have definitive evidence for anybody outside of Van Jefferson and the WR2 position at this point. But the center position is starting to sort itself out. According to one Steelers insider, a strong performance in the second preseason game could be enough to secure the job for rookie C Zach Frazier.
“I think Nate Herbig’s injury, and I’m not sure, I think Mike Tomlin was a little non-committal about whether he would play or not. I’m going to guess he probably won’t,” Gerry Dulac said via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s North Shore Drive podcast on Friday morning. “But if he does not, that further opens the door for Zach Frazier, who was very impressive in the first game.
“This gives them an opportunity to see him against other first teamers instead of second and third teamers that he faced the other night against the Texans. So if he performs in this game, and against their first teamers like he did last week, then come Atlanta, do not be surprised at all if Zach Frazier is the starting center.”
Frazier certainly did impress in the Steelers’ preseason opener. For one, he didn’t have any snapping issues, which was obviously an issue with the first-team unit in that game. He was able to do the routine things routinely, as Mike Tomlin likes to say. But those are the fundamentals that are expected, and his strong performance went beyond just that.
Frazier had the strongest performance out of all the rookies by a decent margin. Pro Football Focus gave him the highest grade out of all the rookies. He was steady in pass protection, allowing zero pressures in 19 pass-block snaps. But what stood out to me was Frazier’s performance in the run game. I thought his ability to execute reach blocks in the zone running game was really impressive. His use of hands was very solid. When he latched onto a defender, he showed off his impressive latch strength and did not let them go.
The below clip resembles a teach tape on how to execute a reach block on the 2-tech defensive tackle aligned over the guard. Frazier got both of his hands set, which helped get his feet around to seal off the defender from the play.
Even before Herbig got injured on the last day of practice at Saint Vincent College, Tomlin told the media that Frazier was set to receive an increased workload. The injury has accelerated that process, and Frazier took all the first-team reps against the Buffalo Bills in Thursday’s joint practice. If anything, that gives him even more of a leg up for Saturday’s preseason game as he now has practice reps against his upcoming competition.
Frazier is about to turn 23 years old and had 2,606 college snaps at center. He was the most experienced center in the draft, so it would be no surprise to see him earn the Week 1 starting job. At this point, it would be surprising to me if he didn’t.
