The Pittsburgh Steelers lost starting RG James Daniels for the season Sunday in Indianapolis. According to Spencer Anderson, the players were already aware of the severity of the injury while the game was still going on. What they don’t know is who will take over his spot for the remainder of the season.
On the first drive of the game, Daniels tore his Achilles in pass protection. Anderson, originally slated to rotate at left guard, replaced him for the remainder of the game. He may start there for the rest of the season, but he will have to battle Mason McCormick—eventually.
“That’s devastating news to hear. We knew about it on the sideline already, so we tried to go out there and get the win for him, but came up short”, Anderson said about Daniels’ injury and its severity. “But as far as moving on, next man up. We have to move on from it. Obviously, it hurts us from a veteran standpoint, given that Isaac [Seumalo] and Dan [Moore Jr.] are the only [healthy] vets in the room. But we’ve got to grow up fast and be ready whenever our number’s called”.
The Steelers signed James Daniels as an unrestricted free agent in 2022. He has been a stabilizing piece of an otherwise unstable offensive line but was unlikely to be retained before hitting free agency in 2025. The team moved Anderson to guard and drafted McCormick as preparatory moves for that eventuality.
Well, that eventuality is now their current reality, Daniels soon to go on the Reserve/Injured List. That is likely to be the last snap he plays in a Steelers uniform, and whoever replaces him now will have a leg up for replacing him next season. While Mason McCormick ousted Spencer Anderson from the starting left guard spot, he may not do so at right guard.
McCormick is very inexperienced on the right side while Anderson has much more playing time there. It’s one thing to move players around during the offseason, but we’re talking about a need for a Daniels replacement on Sunday. That’s not a lot of time, and McCormick didn’t even play right guard during the preseason.
In fact, both McCormick and Anderson played a lot of left guard in training camp with the first-team offense. While James Daniels was a mainstay, the Steelers gave LG Isaac Seumalo plenty of rest days. McCormick and Anderson rotated in with the starters on those days.
The Steelers, unfortunately, did not win Sunday’s game for Daniels. And their next step is figuring out who is going to take over at right guard next. Seumalo is still nursing an injury, so McCormick and Anderson may both have to play at least this next game.
If that is the case, then McCormick will remain at left guard and Anderson will play right guard, as he did after replacing Daniels this past Sunday. McCormick then will have an uphill battle in proving he is just as strong on the right as the left side.
