A year and a half ago, Spencer Anderson seemed like a longshot to make the Pittsburgh Steelers 53-man roster. A rookie seventh-round pick, he could now open the 2024 season as a starter—albeit a temporary one. He is in contention to fill in for left guard Isaac Seumalo, who is sidelined for a few weeks.
That’s not bad considering he hardly played there in college. Though Anderson has guard experience, and even center, he was primarily a tackle at Maryland. And that’s how he saw himself—until he had to step in. Now he is embracing it, hoping to make it his own. He told reporters yesterday he believes it is his strongest position.
“I believe so, yeah”, Anderson said, via the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “When I was in college, my coach came to me. We had a couple injuries, and he was like, ‘Hey, I need you to go from right tackle to guard’. I was like, ‘Man, I’m a tackle’. And then I kind of liked it.
“I’m like, ‘Hmm, it’s less space inside, everything happens faster, you go against equal athletes, not speedy guys as T.J. [Watt] and [Nick] Herbig. I kind of didn’t like it at first, but obviously it was the best thing for me. I’ve kind of taken it personal to make it my own”.
Seumalo suffered a pectoral strain during practice last week. Though he escaped the worst, he may still miss the first three or four games of the season. As a result, the Steelers have to turn to either Spencer Anderson or Mason McCormick.
Early indications point to Anderson as starting with the upper hand, but the Steelers are reportedly allowing them to compete. Anderson is the one with a year of experience under his belt, even if he didn’t play in games last year. McCormick has a stronger pedigree as a fourth-round pick but is only a rookie.
A year ago, Anderson relied upon his versatility to increase his value. During training camp and the preseason, he played left and right tackle, left and right guard, and center. While he has moved around some this offseason, he logged a lot of snaps at left guard.
That is partly because the Steelers liberally supplied Seumalo with rest days, allowing Anderson and McCormick valuable first-team reps. Anderson received the majority of the first-team reps, but McCormick began receiving more late in the process.
Many view this as an audition, though, to start at right guard next year. The Steelers are unlikely to re-sign James Daniels after this season, so they will need to replace him. Whoever earns this initial opportunity between Spencer Anderson and Mason McCormick could have an early upper hand.
Anderson obviously hopes that will be him, and for multiple reasons. Should he earn that opportunity, he won’t have to generalize. Few utility players seem to get the opportunity to graduate to a specialized starter, as Matt Feiler once did. The phrase “jack of all trades, master of none” applies here, but a starter must be a master.
