Player: C Ryan McCollum
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: After going two years without playing, Ryan McCollum will start at center for the Steelers on Sunday. Head coach Mike Tomlin ruled Zach Frazier out for the Jets game, putting the backup in the spotlight. He played 19 snaps at the end of the Steelers win Sunday in Las Vegas after Frazier exited with an ankle injury.
Ryan McCollum played about 100 snaps, starting one game for the Detroit Lions, in 2021 as an undrafted free agent. He spent the next two years on the Steelers’ practice squad, never playing, but made the roster in 2024. He wouldn’t have if Nate Herbig didn’t suffer a season-ending injury, but here we are all the same.
Now the Steelers are preparing to make McCollum their ninth different lineman to start a game in seven weeks. The only lineman who will have started every game will be LT Dan Moore Jr., though Broderick Jones has played in every game, briefly demoted in Week 2.
Although he doesn’t have much playing experience, McCollum knows the Steelers’ system well. As mentioned, this is his third season with the team. He also worked with Moore in college as teammates at Texas A&M, so that doesn’t hurt.
Zach Frazier was having a very good rookie season as a Day-1 starter, but Ryan McCollum filled in admirably at the tail end of Sunday’s game. Everyone short of Mason McCormick already has at least a year of experience working with him, as well.
Prior to the last game, McCollum had played only on special teams, minus one snap. The Steelers used him as an extra blocker for a 4th-and-1 sneak that, um, failed. Largely because he missed his block. But he only lined up there because James Daniels had already left the Colts game with an injury. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t even gotten to rep that in practice beforehand.
On Sunday, though, he will have his first opportunity as a Steeler after preparing all week as a starter. That won’t magically turn his career around but consider it an audition for a primary backup role next year.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
