With James Daniels suffering a season-ending Achilles injury and Isaac Seumalo ready to return from his pectoral injury, the Steelers are forced to shuffle their offensive line around yet again. That appears to include moving Mason McCormick from his natural left guard spot to make way for Seumalo, shifting him over to right guard.
There were at least some legitimate questions over what the plan would be for the o-line moving forward. Seumalo started the entire 2022 season at right guard for the Philadelphia Eagles, though he has mostly been on the left side throughout his career. McCormick, on the other hand, played almost exclusively at left guard in college with very little experience on the right side.
According to some videos from Wednesday’s practice posted by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko on X, McCormick appears to be practicing at right guard.
From left to right, that means the offensive line should be Dan Moore Jr., Isaac Seumalo, Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick, and Broderick Jones. That will be the fourth unique configuration of starting offensive linemen in just five weeks, and it is going to need to stay that way with depth running extremely thin.
Not every offensive lineman is able to switch back and forth so easily, but that is usually a bigger issue at tackle than it is on the interior at guard. McCormick is ready for the challenge in his second career start, this time on Sunday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys.
“There’s not a big difference. A lot of stuff is just flipped,” McCormick said in a video posted by Yardbarker’s Aaron Becker on X. “You do a lot of the same things on both sides. It’s just getting comfortable with it, and it’ll be a smooth move over there. I’m ready for it.”
“I’m ready for all three,” McCormick said about playing left, right, or center in another video posted by Becker.
He talked like a veteran when asked about injuries along the Cowboys’ defensive front.
“This is the NFL. You can say what you want about who’s out, who’s in. If you’re not ready to roll, you’re gonna get run over,” McCormick said in a video posted by TribLive’s Chris Adamski on X. “These guys, they got some really good ball players out there, and I look forward to the challenge.”
Spencer Anderson could also be rotated in, at least for now, as McCormick gets his feet underneath him. For what it’s worth, Anderson told the media on Monday that he feels more comfortable at right guard than he did on the left side. He played most of his college snaps on the right side.
